Random Publishing Group

Children's Bookwatch, Nov, 2004

Random Publishing Group

1745 Broadway, New York NY 10019

www.randomhouse.com/kids

These powerful new novels are recommended picks for advanced middle school through high school grade levels: all over leisure reading with a touch of class. Kelly McWilliams' novel Doormat (0385731-68X, $15.95) tells Jamie's discovery of her best friend's pregnancy. How can Jamie help Melissa, who wanted to be model, and who seeks Jamie's help when she discovers her pregnancy? There's not much Jamie can do: Melissa refuses to tell her parents, and Jamie refuses to be used. A realistic story of a changing friendship faced with trouble. Tamora Pierce's Trickster's Queen (0375814671, $17.95) provides an inspiring sequel to her Trickster's Choice fantasy and is a recommended pick for high school readers and above. Familiarity with Trickster's Choice will lend a background making it easy to appreciate Trickster's Queen: here Aly Homewood is now a slave in a foreign land--and her new people's only hope for surviving a visit by their trickster god. Aly is also the leader in an underground movement to put a new queen on the throne, so she has her hands full when the queen-to-be- is lost and adversity arises from other arenas as well. A gripping fantasy, Trickster's Queen is hard to put down. Meg Rosoff's How I Live Now (0385746776, $16.95) is predicted to be an award-winning novel: it's that good. It's rare that a first novel provides the magic and compelling voice that wins over more experienced writers' productions, but How I Live Now more than accomplishes this, telling of Elizabeth, caught in a war in England which changes society and life as she knows it. Elizabeth's struggle to cope with changes involving loss of home, freedom, and basic societal structure and communications is nothing short of riveting, and How I Live Now is a thought-provoking pick hard to put down. Grace Cavendish's 'Lady Grace Mysteries' is an absorbing new series blending a classic mystery format with historical insights. Assassin (03-85731513, $6.95) provides the first book in the series: set at Queen Elizabeth's court, spunky and rebelliou girl sleuth Lady Grace, amateur detective and 13-year-old lady-in-waiting to Queen Elizabeth, is recovering from her mother's untimely death and the proposition of marriage from three suitors. On the eve of her formal ball, murder changes the mix and sets Grace to an investigation holding few clues and much danger Betrayal (0385-731523, $6.95) has Lady Grace in a new title reserved for those who pursue wrongdoers of the Crown, thanks to her success in ASSASSIN: when a fellow lady-in-waiting vanishes, it's up to Grace to hone her detective skills to find out why. The blend of historical adventure and action makes these leisure reads compelling. Gary Paulsen's Molly Mcginty Has A Really Good Day (0385325886, $12.95) presents the trials of a middle school girl in revealing Molly, the most organized sixth grader at Our Lady of Mercy Middle School. It's a binder which holds the key to her skills as Molly keeps everything in order in her life--until it disappears and throws her world into chaos.