Queen Anne Books

On a normal morning in Perdido Beach, CA everyone over the age of 13 disappears - gone, nothing left. That leaves a large group of kids to fend for themselves finding food, and shelter, but also against each other. Because something strange has been building up in Perdido Beach for a while. This is the culmination of strange events that many kids haven't wanted to admit were happening to them. It's The Lord of the Flies meets the TV-series Heroes. But what exactly is happening to them and their surroundings? What's happening to the animals (both tame and wild)? Are all the adults and older kids dead, or just removed to beyond the perimeter of a strange barrier that surrounds the town? What about the nuclear power plant nearby and the exclusive boarding school on the hill - how are they a part of the FAYZ (Fallout Alley Youth Zone)?

This is the start of a compelling series (hopefully just a trilogy because I want to know how it all ends!). It's a great read for anyone over 12 or so. ~Lil

What a surprising and wonderful novel! I picked up my advance reading copy because I saw it had arrived in the store and we had several copies to sell; now I wish we had several more!

City of Thieves opens with David Benioff heading to Florida to once again ask his grandparents to discuss the years they spent in Leningrad during WWII. His grandmother still refuses, but his grandfather finally agrees to tell the story.

Lev Beniov was just 17 years old when the Germans lay siege to Leningrad in 1941. His mother and sister had left the city months before but Lev stayed behind to try to do his part to protect the city. One night, on fire watch on the roof of his apartment building, he sees a German paratrooper land just down the street. Hoping the soldier might have some food on him, Lev and a friend run down to investigate. But Lev is caught looting the dead man and thrown in jail.

He shares his cell with a charismatic Russian soldier who is being charged with desertion. In the morning Lev and Kolya are taken to a powerful Russian colonel who, instead of summarily shooting the two boys, offers them a way to save their skins; he needs a dozen eggs for his daughter's wedding cake. If the boys can somehow find the eggs, their lives will be spared. Of course, the siege is in full force. It is the middle of winter and the frozen bodies of starvation victims are everywhere. But the boys use the optimism of not being immediately shot and the desperation of knowing they will die if they don't succeed to try and track down some eggs.

Obviously given the storyline, this novel is filled with stark imagery and tragedy, with occasional touches of dark humor. But Lev and Kolya are such an interesting and likeable pair; they are as different as two young men can be but circumstances conspire that they end up best friends. Their journey together over the next week forever changes them and their perceptions of the world. City of Thieves is a coming of age story in the very best sense. Beautifully written with unforgettable scenes, this is a tremendous novel. ~Patti

This exciting new kids' novel features two alternating coming-of-age stories: that of Tirio, a boy who has lived with his adoptive mother, an anthropologist, in Miami after she saved him from a canoe in the Amazon seven years ago (abandoned by his tribe because of a deformed foot) and that of Luka, a boy living in an Amazonian tribe, who is being prepped for a ritual of manhood by his demanding mother. The boys' ordeals are suspenseful and adrenaline-filled, pitting the kids against all the threats of the deadly jungles of the Amazon. Their survival skills and countless close calls kept my heart racing. I couldn't wait to read what would happen and understand how Tirio's and Luka's lives intersect!~ Tegan

Get a peek into the exclusive, glamorous world of New York's modern art scene with this novel by the hilarious art collector/socialite Danielle Ganek.

The title made me pick it up (it's the title of a painting that is key to the book's plot), but Ganek's witty, wry writing kept me turning the pages. The story is told from the point of view of Mia, a young woman who moved to NYC with her own dreams of painting, but who has been stuck in her starter job as "gallery girl" (receptionist and His-Girl-Friday) at a second-tier but exclusive modern art gallery.

Mia's voice is self-deprecating and observant, cutting without being catty, so her take on the super-rich art collector dilettantes and the crazy artists whose work they're going gaga for is a hoot. There are plenty of likeable characters alongside the very laughable ones, so I didn't get any of that unpleasant mean-girl aftertaste that some chick-lit leaves me with.

Ganek fills out the titillating gossip of the art world with a light, twisting plot about art, fame, ambition and a healthy dab of romance. The observations about status, the twists and turns of fortune, and the love interests bring to mind Jane Austen, but here you get parties in Basel instead of Bath, outings on private jets instead of in carriages, and swanky gallery dinners with naked artists instead of Regency dinner parties. ~Tegan