High

Set in a world where some people are born with a Grace - a unique, sometimes uncanny, gift - this is the story of Katsa, whose Grace, demonstrated at an uncomfortably early age, is for killing. This makes her a perfect tool for her uncle, King Randa. But Katsa chafes at the way she is being used - and even more at the injustices she sees around her.

In 1664, 16-year-old Griet enters the Vermeer household as a servant. Daughter of a Delft tile maker, she has a natural eye for color and design. Daily, she cleans the studio, learning much about how Vermeer sees the people he paints. As his attention focuses on her, she slowly becomes one of his subjects.

In April 1992 a young man from a well-to-do family hitchhiked to Alaska and walked alone into the wilderness north of Mt. McKinley. His name was Christopher Johnson McCandless. He had given $25,000 in savings to charity, abandoned his car and most of his possessions, burned all the cash in his wallet, and invented a new life for himself.

Taking us from Afghanistan in the final days of its monarchy to the present, The Kite Runner is the unforgettable and beautifully told story of the friendship between two boys growing up in Kabul.

Ray Bradbury is a storyteller without peer, a poet of the possible, and, indisputably, one of America's most beloved authors. In a much-celebrated literary career that has spanned six decades, he has produced an astonishing body of work: unforgettable novels, essays, theatrical works, screenplays and teleplays, and numerous superb short-story collections.

High-school senior Tyler Miller used to be the kind of guy who faded into the background: average student, average looks, average dysfunctional family. But ever since he got busted for spraying graffiti on the school, and spent the summer doing outdoor work to pay for it, he stands out like you wouldn't believe.

World War II is over and a family, mourning a son missing in action, plants a memorial tree and tries to go on with their lives. A storm blows down the tree and a devastating family secret is uprooted, setting the characters on a terrifying journey towards truth.

Charlie Gordon knows that he isn't very bright. At 32, he mops floors in a bakery and earns just enough to get by. Three evenings a week, he studies at a center for mentally challenged adults. But all of this is about to change for Charlie. As part of a daring experiment, doctors are going to perform surgery on Charlie's brain.

Beka Cooper is finally a Dog, a full-fledged member of the Provost's Guard, dedicated to keeping peace in Corus' streets. But there's unrest in Tortall's capital. Counterfeit coins are turning up in shops all over the city, and merchants are raising prices to cover their losses. The Dogs discover that gamblers are bringing the counterfeit money from Port Caynn.

The magic is out of control!

On a journey to Gold Ridge, the four young mages-in-training, Daja, Sandry, Tris, and Briar, find their special magics overlapping, sometimes in frightening and destructive ways. One burst of this combined magic leads Daja to create an astonishing vine made of living metal.

This is a story about craft, about work, about magic, and most of all about the pleasure and difficulty of friendship. It begins when four young misfits with a talent for magic (and trouble!) arrive at Winding Circle Temple.

"Is this my hidden Mutant Power, the ability to screw up absolutely any decent situation?"

"Not long after I moved with my family to a small town in New Hampshire, I happened upon a path that vanished into a wood on the edge of town." So begins Bill Bryson's hilarious book, A Walk in the Woods.

Jakkin risks everything--his freedom, his dragon, even his life--to rescue his beloved in this stirring sequel to Dragon's Blood.

Jakkin, a 15-year-old bond boy, works with many others in Sarkkhan's worm farm/nursery on the desert planet Austar IV. Jakkin plans to steal a baby dragon from the farm to raise, hoping to train the dragon to fight and earn him enough money to buy himself out of bond, as well as the dragon's freedom.