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Jessica
Much to her parents' chagrin, 5-year-old Ruthie has a devoted invisible friend named Jessica When Ruthie accidentally spills juice, Jessica gladly takes the blame. When Ruthie's parents plan to hire a baby sitter and go to a movie, Jessica gets a tummy ache and needs them to stay home. "There is no Jessica," her parents keep insisting. "But Ruthie knew there was," the author keeps repeating. Kevin Henkes's Popsicle-colored watercolors and detailed pen-and-ink drawings invite us into Ruthie and Jessica's fantasy world. Through his handwritten cartoon dialogue, we are privy to their tender conversations and confidences. When it's time to start kindergarten, Ruthie's father suggests that Jessica stay home. But of course Ruthie brings Jessica anyway. On that fateful day we discover what Ruthie knew all along--there really is a Jessica! Children who believe in imaginary playmates will find their soul mate in Ruthie. And parents who fret over the isolation of an absorbing imaginary life will find comfort in the story's happy ending. All families will appreciate the twists of fate that allow a child's fantasy world to joyfully overlap into the real one. School Library Journal Best Book of the Year, Horn Book Fanfare Honor List, IRA/CBC Children's Choice, American Bookseller Pick of the Lists. (Ages 3 and older) --Gail Hudson.
Price: $2.99
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Playmates
Spenser smells corruption in a college town. Taft University's hottest basketball star is shaving points for quick cash. All manner of sleaze -- from corrupt academics to hoods with graduate degrees -- have their fingers in the pot. Spenser's search takes him from lecture halls to blue collar bars and finally into a bloody confrontation with almost certain death. But Spenser saves an arrogant young athlete -- even though it nearly kills him to do it. "Spenser is a tough as they come and spiked with a touch of real class." (Kirkus Reviews).
Price: $2.29
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Whoops! But It Wasn't Me (Charlie and Lola)
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Ted
Long a legend to fans of Dungeons & Dragons and Magic: The Gathering, Tony DiTerlizzi is finally getting his due with a broader audience. The gifted, prankish artist (and now writer, too) debuted in 2000 with the delightfully deranged Jimmy Zangwow's Out-of-This-World Moon Pie Adventure and shows no signs of letting up with the equally weird and wonderful Ted. As the story goes, Ted--the "big, raspberry-colored oaf" who was DiTerlizzi's imaginary childhood pal--was a little jealous about the Moon Pie Adventure and wanted in on the next book. So with a little help from this towering, pink, floppy-eared fluff ball, DiTerlizzi recounts how he and Ted first met over bowls of raspberry cereal and games of Monopoly-Twister. But, of course, Father will have nothing to do with this, so an elaborate campaign begins to convince him of Ted's existence, involving wall murals, impromptu indoor swimming pools, and all other sorts of mischief. DiTerlizzi's dense, signature style is back--bordering on '50s-traditional but with a healthy touch of dementia--and his imaginative use of color and shadow makes every spread a treat. Though it might not have quite the zip of Jimmy Zangwow, this sophomore effort solidifies the start of DiTerlizzi's promising new career. (Ages 4 to 8) --Paul Hughes.
Price: $1.95
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The Blue Girl (Firebird)
Imogene Yeck, former gang member and current fairy butt-kicker, is the cool "blue girl" at the center of Charles de Lint's latest urban fantasy novel. Seventeen-year-old Imogene jumps at the chance to lose her bad girl reputation when her family moves to a new town. She purposely lays low at Redding High, only making friends with Maxine, a shy, studious girl who is Imogene's opposite in every way. Despite a few run-ins with the ruling football jock and his cheerleader girlfriend, Imogene keeps her temper in check and even lends some of her bravado to Maxine, who begins to come out of her straight-A shell. Things are going well for the new friends--until the day Imogene meets Adrian, the benign ghost of a boy who died in the school's parking lot. Adrian and Imogene's unusual connection attracts the unwelcome attention of Redding High's resident Little People, or fairies. Affronted by streetwise Imogene's lack of belief in them, the fairies set into motion a malevolent prank that will not only turn Imogene completely blue from head to toe, but pit her, Adrian and Maxine against some of the most frightening beings of the Otherworld--the soul-sucking Anamithims. de Lint's Blue Girl reads like a really well-executed episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer--smart and thought provoking, without taking itself too seriously. Although the action builds slowly, the final scene, involving a bucket of blue paint, a knife fight, and green monster blood, is absolutely worth it. Buffy fans who enjoy meeting Imogene and Co. will also want to check out Holly Black's dark fairy tale, Tithe, and Nina Kiriki Hoffman's modern ghost story, A Stir of Bones--Jennifer Hubert.
Price: $3.89
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Max's Dragon
Max is looking for words that rhyme. His dragon is in his wagon – or was, for now its tail has left a trail, which Max follows He finds an umbrella on the ground— “Found, ground,” he says, while his older brothers mock him for believing in dragons and sitting under an umbrella when it isn’t even raining. But Max believes in possibilities—and when he can show his brothers not only a dragon in the stormy clouds but also a dinosaur, they begin to come round. When Max demonstrates the power of his rhyming words to tame the dinosaur and the dragon and make the rain come, he wins them over completely. With amusing wordplay and beguiling illustrations, Kate Banks and Boris Kulikov celebrate language and imagination in a collaboration that is bound to be oodles of fun for everyone. .
Price: $8.70
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Lulu Atlantis and the Quest for True Blue Love
Lulu Atlantis has a big problem: her new baby brother, Sam. With him in the picture, Mother certainly doesn’t need her around. Luckily, she has her best friend, Harry, a top-hat-wearing daddy longlegs spider to turn to. Over the course of four enchanting chapters, the two friends rescue a skunk stuck in a yogurt pot, encounter gangster bakers, seek out the Secret Ingredient to make Sam’s oatmeal edible, and contend with a monster (not to mention an evil cat named Princess Fancy). Through it all, Harry stands by Lulu Atlantis, his one and only True Blue Love, as she searches–quests!–for some True Blue Love of her own. With irresistible black-and-white chapter-opening art, plus an imaginative story with a classic feel, this is the perfect choice for young middle-grade readers..
Price: $7.45
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