Acceleration by Graham McNamee
Duncan’s working in the lost and found when he comes across a journal outlining a psychopath’s journey from torturing animals and setting fires to his current plan to kill one of three women. And so begins his quest to find this potential murderer and possibly lay some of his own demons to rest. Great for those interested in FBI profiling and forensic psych, plus Duncan and his friends go to the library and find useful information. Yeah!

Utterly Me, Clarice Bean by Lauren Child
The first chapter book featuring the Clarice Bean character from Child’s picture books, this story is utterly charming. There is bouncy text and lots of little pictures and perfect for those pre-teens who’ve outgrown Junie B., Judy Moody and Ramona.

The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale
In a retelling of a Grimm fairy tale, misfit Princess Ani’s must leave home to fulfill an arranged marriage to a neighboring prince (and thereby, eliminate the threat of war with the country). Betrayed by her lady-in-waiting, Ani ends up disguising herself, living and working as a goose girl, until she can find a way to reclaim her rightful place, stop the marriage of the prince to the false princess and prevent a war. And of course, there is romance and happy endings and the villans get theirs in the end. This is a beautifully told story and the girls who are into Meg Cabot are eating it up.

Don’t Panic: Douglas Adams and the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Neil Gaiman
I love the Hitchhiker’s Guide series as well as just about everything else Douglas Adams has done so I thought I’d give this one a whirl. It’s a biography, of the Hitchhiker series in all its media formats (radio, tv, film, plays, etc.) and to a lesser degree of Adams himself. Not a must read, but if you are curious about how it all came about, it’s not too bad. And there’s some great one-liners as well.