New Releases by Kathleen Benner Duble

Independent-minded Sam does not like the fact that she has to spend a month of her summer vacation at her grandparents'' place. Twelve-year-old Sam adores her grandmother, but Grandma will be at work most of the time during Sam''s visit, leaving Sam with the Colonel, her prickly grandfather. Sam''s relationship with him is shaky at best, and now that the Colonel has had to retire from his career as a military pilot, he is harder than ever to get along with. Sam soon finds that her grandfather''s behavior is even stranger than she expected. He keeps disappearing for long stretches of time and won''t let Sam go into the old barn. Sam is eager to solve the mystery, but when she discovers that the Colonel is secretly building an airplane, they both have a decision to make. Will Sam let the cat out of the bag and ruin her grandfather''s plan? Or will he relent and let Sam help him finish the plane? In this story filled with interesting facts and aeronautical information, author Kathleen Benner Duble skillfully mines the depth and complexity of human relationships and what happens when dreams, once deferred, may finally be realized.

A deeply felt sibling story set in a town where people have a mysterious magical power and one girl is determined to discover what it is, for readers of Lauren Myracle and Ingrid Law. Willow knows the unknown is scary. Especially when your little brother has been sick for a long time and nobody has been able to figure out why. All Willow wants is for her brother to get better and for her her life to go back to normal. But after a bad stroke of luck, Willow and her family find themselves stranded in an unusual town in the middle of nowhere and their life begins to change in the most unexpected way. Willow soon discovers that the town isn''t just unusual—it''s magical—and the truth is more exciting that she ever imagined. Will Willow find that this could be the secret to saving her family—or discover that the root of magic could lead them to something greater?

In 1789, with the starving French people on the brink of revolution, orphaned Celie Rosseau, an amazing artist and a very clever thief, runs wild with her protector, Algernon, trying to join the idealistic freedom fighters of Paris. But when she is caught stealing from none other than the king''s brother and the lady from the waxworks, Celie must use her drawing talent to buy her own freedom or die for her crimes. Forced to work for Madame Tussaud inside the opulent walls that surround Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, Celie is shocked to find that the very people she imagined to be monsters actually treat her with kindness. But the thunder of revolution still rolls outside the gates, and Celie is torn between the cause of the poor and the safety of the rich. When the moment of truth arrives, will she turn on Madame Tussaud or betray the boy she loves? From the hidden garrets of the starving poor to the jeweled halls of Versailles, Madame Tussaud''s Apprentice is a sweeping story of danger, intrigue, and young love, set against one of the most dramatic moments in history.

In this gripping journey, a fifteen-year-old pacifist must decide what he believes as he faces the reality of World War II.The year is 1944, and fifteen-year-old Noah Garrett''s parents have died from smallpox. Without any other family nearby, Noah is sent to live with his uncle, whom he has never met, in Camp Hale, Colorado. There is one small problem with this decision: Noah has been raised a pacifist, and Camp Hale is a U.S. military base for a little-known division of winter warfare soldiers called Phantoms. Can a boy who''s never seen snow and doesn''t believe in war survive among these soldiers?Noah''s struggle to resolve his upbringing with the horrors of World War II into a way of life he can believe in takes him on an incredible and riveting journey from the training camp to the frontlines of battle. Based on historical events, the story of Noah and the Phantoms of the Tenth Mountain Division is one of courage and conviction, brotherhood, and the joy in living.

In the year 1692, life changes forever for ten-year-old Abigail Faulkner and her family. In Salem, Massachusetts, witches have been found, and widespread fear and panic reign mere miles from Abigail''s home of Andover. When two girls are brought from Salem to identify witches in Andover, suspicion sweeps the town as well-respected members of the community are accused of witchcraft. It isn''t long before chaos consumes Andover, and the Faulkners find themselves in the center of it all when friend turns themselves in the center of it all when friend turns against friend, neighbor against neighbor, in a desperate fight for the truth. At the heart of this gripping story are Abigail and her sister, Dorothy, who together must find a way to persevere during a period marked by terror, adversity, and ignorance. Told from Abigail''s point of view and based on actual events in the author''s own family histoy, The Sacrifice offers a unique perspective of the Salem witch trials by delving into the devestating effects the trials had not just in Salem but throughout Massachusetts.

Relates events of explorer Henry Hudson''s final voyage in 1602 from four points of view, those of his seventeen-year-old son aboard ship, a younger son left in London, a crewmember, and a young English woman acting as a spy in Holland in hopes of restoring honor to her family''s name.

Sam listens to his grandfather tell the story of his exploits on the schooner Samson, a Norwegian seal-trapping ship.

In early 1800s Connecticut, fifteen-year-old Lucy tries to decide whether to marry her childhood friend who unhappily toils at the Mt. Riga iron furnace or the young man from Boston who has come to work in her father''s store.

Jenny''s mom, Major Strom, is a tanker pilot about to leave on a training mission. Jenny is proud of her mom, but worries about her and wonders if her mom likes flying better than being her mom.

Duble''s suspenseful debut novel explores the layers of the mind and the bridges that connect them in this tale of a girl haunted by images of falling from a bridge--but it is not her who is falling.