Young Survival

Valora Luck has two things: a ticket for the biggest and most luxurious ocean liner in the world, and a dream of leaving England behind and making a life for herself as a circus performer in New York. Much to her surprise though, she's turned away at the gangway; apparently, Chinese aren't allowed into America. But Val has to get on that ship. Her twin brother, Jamie, who has spent two long years at sea, is there, as is an influential circus owner, whom Val hopes to audition for. Thankfully, there's not much a trained acrobat like Val can't overcome when she puts her mind to it.

It's no easy job being the town nutcase. Ella knows from experience. She's grown up in a quaint little place with people who pretend the extraordinary isn't happening around them. They ignore the bumps in the night and won't talk about doors closing by themselves or items moving mysteriously. They also won't talk about the old woman who haunts the streets. Those who do are fibbers, begging for attention. But Ella knows it is no lie - when the lightning cracks and the rain thrashes, someone goes missing: a child, lost to the night.

After a family trip turned disastrous when their truck broke down in the middle of an old logging road in Oregon, Francie is now back in British Columbia. People try to make things as "normal" as possible for her, but they don't understand that trying to be normal in your old life that's exploded is the worst feeling in the world.

Furnace Penitentiary: the world's most secure prison for young offenders, buried a mile beneath the earth's surface. Convicted of a murder he didn't commit, sentenced to life without parole, "new fish" Alex Sawyer knows he has two choices: find a way out, or resign himself to a death behind bars, in the darkness at the bottom of the world. Except in Furnace, death is the least of his worries.

Best friends Tamanna and Yasmine cannot believe their good fortune when a school is set up in their Afghan village; however, their dreams for the future are shattered when the Taliban burn down the school and threaten the teacher and students with death. As Tamanna faces an arranged marriage to an older man, and the Taliban target Yasmine’s Western-educated family, the girls realize they must flee.

Maximum Ride and her "flock" - Fang, Iggy, Nudge, Gasman, and Angel - are just like ordinary kids, only they have wings and can fly. It may seem like a dream come true to some, but their lives can morph into a living nightmare at any time. Angel, the youngest member of the flock, is kidnapped and taken back to the "School" where she and the others were experimented on by a crew of whack job.

Gutsy and her friends, along with Benny and his crew, have just survived a massive attack on New Alamo by the Night Army - a mix of mindless shambling los muertos and sentient half-zombie ravagers. She's also reeling from the revelation that the residents of her town were the lab rats of the biological testing facility linked to creating the most dangerous zom, the Raggedy Man, who controls all of the living dead. And the first raid was only a test. The real Night Army is coming, and this time, it'll be a handful of survivors against seven billion zombies.

Returning from his training with Gold in the strange world of Somerset, Arbor is immediately forced into yet another battle - this time against multiple enemies. Worse, he receives reports of disturbing activity coming from the Goldenleaf Forest, and dire warnings of a threat that Laedrin will not be able to handle. The future holds many uncertainties - the hardest of which comes when Arbor is forced to make a choice between rescuing his sister from herself, and keeping the peace in his own lands.

It is 1992, and Bihac, Amra's hometown, is a multicultural city with Muslims, Croats, and Serbs. But when tensions escalate, the Serbs turn on their Bosnian neighbors. The Serbs control the army, and now they have peaceful Bihac surrounded. Soon Amra and her family are dealing with starvation and the threat of brutal violence; school, friendships, and the attentions from a new boy have to take a back seat to finding food and the tragic fallout from rising bigotry and ethnic hatred. Through it all, a stray cat, Maci, serves as a guardian spirit to the entire family.

Knox was born into one of the City's wealthiest families. A Patron, he has everything a boy could possibly want - the latest tech, the coolest clothes, and a Proxy to take all his punishments. When Knox breaks a vase, Syd is beaten. When Knox plays a practical joke, Syd is forced to haul rocks. And when Knox crashes a car, killing one of his friends, Syd is branded and sentenced to death. Syd is a Proxy. His life is not his own. Then again, neither is Knox's. Knox and Syd have more in common than either would guess.

Xander Liu survived the alien invasion - just barely. For more than a year, he has outsmarted, hidden from, and otherwise avoided the ruthless intruders, the Nahx, dodging the deadly darts that have claimed so many. When the murder of his friend leaves him in the protective company of August, a rebellious Nahx soldier, Xander is finally able to make his way back to human controlled territory and relative safety. But safety among the humans is not what it seems.

Oscar is a happy dogg - a rambunctious kid who loves being a Dogg Scout. Molly is a clever katt who just knows she's destined for fame and fortune as an actress. For their whole lives, Oscar and Molly have been told that katts and doggs hate each other. One day, they each get hopelessly lost in the woods, but those lifelong prejudices flare up when they cross paths. Slowly, they realize the only way to survive and find their way home is to...work together?

A man and his brother escape to a rural retreat when disaster strikes America.

Lilac's birthright makes her the Queen of Renovia, and a forced marriage made her the Queen of Montrice. But being a ruler does not mean making the rules. For Lilac, taking the throne means giving up the opportunity to be with love of her life, the kingdom's assassin, Caledon Holt. Worse, Cal is forced to leave the castle when a horrific set of magical attacks threatens Lilac's sovereignty. Now Cal and Lilac will have to battle dark forces separately, even though being together is the only thing that's ever saved them.

Taj is the most talented of the aki, young sin-eaters indentured by the mages to slay the sin-beasts. But Taj's livelihood comes at a terrible cost. When he kills a sin-beast, a tattoo of the beast appears on his skin while the guilt of committing the sin appears on his mind. Most aki are driven mad by the process, but 17-year-old Taj is cocky and desperate to provide for his family. When Taj is called to eat a sin of a member of the royal family, he's suddenly thrust into the center of a dark conspiracy to destroy Kos.

Early on in his life, Matt craved a return to nature. When he became an adult, he set aside his comfortable urban life and lived entirely off the land. In this riveting narrative that brings together epic adventure and spiritual quest, he shows us what extraordinary things the human body is capable of when pushed to its limits. He learns the secrets of the Tarahumara Indians, which help him run the 1,600-mile Pacific Crest Trail in just 58 days and endure temperature swings of 100 degrees.

Welcome to the Home for Wayward and Misbegotten Creatures, an institution run by evil Miss Carbunkle, a cunning villainess who believes her terrified young charges exist only to serve and suffer. Part animal and part human, the groundlings toil in classroom and factory, forbidden to enjoy anything regular children have, most particularly singing and music. For the Wonderling, an innocent-hearted, one-eared, fox-like eleven-year-old with only a number rather than a proper name - a 13 etched on a medallion around his neck - it is the only home he has ever known.

In the future the UN has brought back an ancient way to keep the peace. The children of world leaders are held hostage - if a war begins, they pay with their lives. Greta is the crown princess of the Panpolar Confederacy, a superpower formed of modern-day Canada. She is also a child of peace, a hostage held by the de facto ruler of the world: the great artificial intelligence, Talis. The hostages are Talis' strategy to keep the peace: If her country enters a war, Greta dies.

It's been happening since Min was eight. Every two years, on her birthday, a strange man finds her and murders her in cold blood. But hours later, she wakes up in a clearing just outside her tiny Idaho hometown - alone, unhurt, and with all evidence of the horrifying crime erased.

Technology has developed to the point where a person can be placed in a sleep state: a cross between suspended animation and a drug-induced coma. Just as the trial of the new technology is being completed, an unusual comet is discovered approaching Earth, bringing with it radiation that will wipe out all life on the planet.