Life As We Knew It -- Susan Beth Pfeffer

Life in Howell, PA is pretty normal for 16-year old Miranda. She is close to the end of her sophomore year of high school, she is about to be a sister again (her dad's second wife is pregnant and they've asked her to be the godmother), and she is semi-obsessed with a famous ice-skater from her home town. And the big news around town and around the world is the meteor scheduled to impact the Moon. Everyone expects this even to be a change from the norm -- an opportunity to gaze at the heavens and see something fascinating. But nobody expects the tragic events that ensue. Because when the meteor hits the moon, it is a greater impact than was anticipated, and the moon is knocked out of orbit and into a closer orbit to Earth. At first, nothing changes. Well, nothing except that the moon looms large outside in the night sky. But by the morning after the impact, news is pouring in about tsunamis along all coastlines, chaos, and death. And that is only the beginning.

Within weeks, Miranda's whole life is changed. Electricy is gone, schools are closed, stores are emptied, and people are moving away in hopes to find that things are better somewhere else. Miranda struggles to enjoy a "normal" summer in spite of everything, but finds that her childhood is gone and she must take on the responsibilities of an adult to help herself and her family survive. Only time will tell if it is enough.

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader -- C. S. Lewis

While their brother and sister Peter and Susan are away, Edmund and Lucy find themselves back in Narnia with their whiney cousin Eustace. Their adventure starts when they manage to accidentally enter a painting in the house where they are staying, and they find themselves aboard the Dawn Treader with King Caspian and his crew aboard. Caspian and his men have set out to travel as far East as possible in order to find seven of Caspian's father's dearest friends who had been sent out years before to explore the lands, but who never returned. One of the crew on the journey is Reepicheep, a mouse who believes his destiny is to go to the end of the world.

As the Dawn Treader's occupants travel the known lands, they gain experience and knowledge. But before long, they sail off into the unknown and find many curious lands full of dragons, darkness, magic, and greed. They find that they have opportunities to grow and learn individually with the situations with which they are faced on the different lands. And each of them improves personally through the trials they face on their journey.

Sizzling Sixteen -- Janet Evanovich

Book 16 finds Vincent Plum's Bail Bonds in heaps of trouble and Stephanie Plum the one everyone looks to for rescue. Vinny has been kidnapped by some very angry creditors, and they want their money (over a million dollars) or else Vinnie dies and the bonds office gets blown up. Which would mean Lula, Connie, and Stephanie would be without jobs. Thus begins a series of schemes to free Vinnie, which include breaking and entering, stealing, and stink bombs -- lots of stink bombs.

While trying to rescue Vinnie, Stephanie also needs to earn money to pay rent. So she decides it's probably a wise idea to try to capture some outstanding FTAs. These efforts do not prove any easier than rescuing Vinnie, and take her up against a guard-alligator, a stampede of cattle, and a huge man who isn't phased by tasers.

Amidst the chaos of work, Stephanie deals with her romance life -- which is off-again with Joe and just this side of sizzling with Ranger -- and her own personal emotions... Does she even want to be a bounty hunter anymore? With the clock ticking and Vinnie's creditors unhappy about the money he owes them, it may not matter, because Vincent Plum Bail Bonds may not be in existence much longer!

Death du Jour -- Kathy Reichs

In Canada for a brief two weeks in part to do a favor for a Catholic church there by indentifying the bones of a nun who is being considered for sainthood, Temperance Brennan anticipates a quick open-and-shut case and a return to North Carolina on schedule. What she gets instead is involvement in brutal and seemingly senseless murders that cross two countries, two states, and touch entirely too close to home for her own comfort.

The morning after retrieving the bones of the nun, Tempe is called out by Andrew Ryan, the handsome detective, to attend a crime scene where a massive fire had burned the night before. In the burned home, a total of seven victims are found: one elderly lady, four adults, and two infants. As Tempe and Ryan work to uncover the reason for the brutal murders, they find connections to other murders in the area. Meanwhile, one of the nuns at the church calls on Tempe to help her find her missing niece, which leads Tempe to a professor at McGill University. Before long, it becomes apparent that a cult may be involved with the murders in the burned home -- and possibly even the disappearance of the nun's niece. More horrifying for Temperance is that her own sister may be unwittingly involved with the same cult.

Together Ryan and Tempe track down lead after lead in an attempt to get at the truth. But can they find the person behind the murders before it is too late for Tempe's sister Harry?

Always Looking Up -- Michael J. Fox

Several years after his decision to quit working on his tv series Spin City due to his Parkinson's Disease, Michael J. Fox examines his life and the years since his semi-retirement. He focuses on what he considers to be the four pillars of his life: family, faith, politics, and work; and explains how his disease and his decisions since diagnosis have affected each area of his life. The result is full of humor, sincerity, honesty, and most significantly, optimism.

Bunnicula -- James Howe

Harold the dog and Chester the cat are two beloved pets that belong to the Monroe family. The Monroe family is a very well-educated family, and they treat Harold and Chester as members of the family, not merely as pets. Life is good for Harold and Chester, until one night the Monroes return from a night at the movies with a new addition: a small black and white rabbit. The two young Monroe boys are thrilled with the new pet, who they have named Bunnicula, since he was, after all, found in the theatre where they were watching Dracula. Harold and Chester, however, aren't so sure. And as strange things begin to happen -- such as vegetables turning white and Bunnicula managing to get out of his locked cage -- Chester becomes more and mor sure that Bunnicula is actually a vampire bunny! In an effort to protect himself and his family, Chester begins taking steps to thwart Bunnicula's vampire powers, but some of what he is doing is beginning to harm Bunnicula! Will Bunnicula be able to survive in his new home? And will Harold and Chester accept the new rabbit as part of the family?

Uglies -- Scott Westerfeld

Everyone wants to be pretty. And in Tally's society, everyone gets to be. At age 16, everyone in Uglyville undergoes a surgery to turn them pretty -- a term defined over years and by determining the "ideal" look -- and they move into New Pretty Town where life is one big party. Nobody in New Pretty Town is jealous of anyone else, because everyone is pretty and nobody is ugly. And Tally can't wait to be turned pretty and make her move into New Pretty Town where she can join her best friend Peris who turned 16 a few months before she did. But then Tally meets Shay -- another Ugly who shares her same birthday. And Shay doesn't want to be pretty. Shay wants to be herself. And Shay wants to escape to the place called The Smoke, the place of legend where Uglies have run to in order to avoid the surgery to become pretty and where no one is "ugly" because no one is "pretty". When Shay leaves and invites Tally to join her, Tally is confused and frustrated that her new best friend wouldn't want to become pretty, and Tally turns her down. As Tally counts down the few remaining days toward becoming pretty, she misses Shay and their adventures, but she eagerly awaits her reunion with the now-Pretty Peris.

Tally's 16th birthday, which should have brought the coveted surgery, instead brings a thing of dread. Tally is transported to Special Circumstances and given her worst fate: a lifetime of ugly if she doesn't travel to The Smoke and betray Shay. With her life-long dream on the line, Tally determines to bring Shay back to Uglyville so that she can be turned pretty, but when she reaches The Smoke, she learns that her whole life back in the city has been full of half-truths and deceit. And she learns horrible truths about what all the surgery entails, and what all is changed on the people who become pretty. And she no longer knows if she wants to become pretty, because with the help of her new friend David, she realizes that, maybe, she already is.