Latest Carlson, Horowitz and More

Here's what's new in the last several days:

Nightrise by Anthony Horowitz is the third installment of The Gatekeepers series and continues the struggles of the Gatekeepers against the evil Old Ones.

Tamar: A Novel of Espionage, Passion and Betrayal by Mal Peet interweaves the stories of a Dutch resistance fighter in WWII and his 15-year-old granddaughter, to whom he leaves a box full of clues to his past when he commits suicide in 1995. This one looks very good, but there are holds on it, so I haven't gotten to it yet.

It's Kind of a Funny Story is author Ned Vizzini's humorous account of a New York City teenager's time in a psychiatric hospital after crumbling under the pressure of getting into a fiercely competitive school. Vizzini writes from experience, having spent some time in a psychiatric hospital himself.

Impulse by Ellen Hopkins is written in free verse. It combines the stories of three teens in a psychiatric hospital after attempting suicide. No, we're not suddenly bring tons of books on mental illness. These two just happened to come in at the same time. This one looks much more serious than It's Kind of a Funny Story.

Moon White: Color Me Enchanted is the latest by Melody Carlson. This one has Heather exploring Wiccan spirituality at the urging of her stepmother, but becoming estranged from her Christian friends in the process.

The Trap by John Smelcer is the story of 17-year-old Johnny, an Alaskan Native American, and his grandfather, in alternating chapters. Johnny becomes worried when his grandfather is late coming back from checking his traplines, but it might be disrespectful to begin a search. What he doesn't know is that his grandfather has caught his own leg in one of traps and is just out of reach of his supplies.