New Releases by Trent Reedy

A wildfire threatens to turn a fishing trip deadly for a group of friends in this high-stakes adventure set in the American wilderness. Things are tense for the middle schoolers in McCall, Idaho, so when Annette Willard suggests a fishing trip, Swann Siddiq, Kelton Fielding, and Hunter and Yumi Higgins all jump at the chance to get away from the drama. The group ventures out into the Idaho woods to Annette’s favorite river spot. But with the other four coupling off, Yumi quickly feels like she’s the only one catching fish, not feelings. Letting the others stay behind, Yumi makes her way home when she runs into Swann’s rival, McKenzie Crenner, and her friends—and instantly connects with professional fisher Mason Bridger. But when they spot smoke rising in the woods between town and their fishing spot, they realize there’s a forest fire raging—and closing in on them. The two friend groups must put aside their feud and work together if they’re going to get out of the forest alive.

Trent Reedy returns to McCall, Idaho, in this thrilling new wintry companion to Hunter’s Choice. Kelton Fielding has always felt out of place, never sure what to say to his peers who, truth be told, only tolerate him. When a snowmobile race is announced at McCall’s annual Winter Festival, Kelton sees his chance to impress his classmates. He’ll fix up his old sled and get it running, and he’s planned out a risky shortcut through the wilderness that he’s sure will win him the prize. But when the popular Swann Siddiq and Kelton’s nemesis, Hunter Higgins, follow him into the backcountry, Kelton quickly runs into trouble and realizes that the competition is the least of his worries. With bad weather closing in and the risk of avalanche on the mountain, Kelton and the others find themselves in real danger, relying on their wits and teamwork to survive.

In this dual-narrative tale, a teenage American army private and an Afghan boy living under the horrors of the Taliban, caught on separate sides of the world during the tumultuous times leading up to and following 9/11, come to discover how much more they have in common than they ever could have imagined.

This propulsive adventure takes readers on a first hunt in the American wilderness—and face to face with the choice to kill or not to kill. Twelve-year-old Hunter Higgins has been dreaming about his first hunting trip for as long as he can remember. He’s taken the classes, earned his license, and become one of the best marksmen in his family. Now he’s old enough to join his father, grandfather, and uncle at their cabin for the first weekend of hunting season. There’s only one problem: Hunter isn’t sure he can kill an animal. To make things more complicated, when they arrive at the cabin, his cousin Yumi is there with her friend Annette, who Hunter secretly has a crush on. Anxious about the hunt and the humiliation of possibly failing, Hunter grapples with what it means to have the power of life and death in his hands, and must decide what role he wishes to play in his relationship to nature and to wildlife.

In this timely and thrilling novel, Ender''s Game meets Ready Player One and several terabytes of fast-paced video game action as five gamers are recruited into a tech giant''s secret program. After Rogan Webber levels up yet again on his favorite video game, Laser Viper, the world-famous creator of the game invites him to join the five best players in the country for an exclusive tournament. The gamers are flown to the tech mogul''s headquarters, where they stay in luxury dorms and test out cutting edge virtual-reality gaming equipment, doing digital battle as powerful fighting robots. It''s the ultimate gaming experience.But as the contest continues, the missions become harder, losing gamers are eliminated, and the remaining contestants face the growing suspicion that the game may not be what it seems. Why do the soldiers and robots they fight in Laser Viper act so weird? What''s behind the strange game glitches? And why does the game feel so... real?Rogan and his gamer rivals must come together, summoning the collective power of their Gamer Army to discover the truth and make things right... in a dangerous world where video games have invaded reality.

Trent Reedy brings his action-packed, provocative trilogy about the second American Civil War to a stunning and stirring close in The Last Full Measure. In a YA trilogy like no other, Trent Reedy has raised the most primal questions of our national existence: Do we owe our greatest loyalty to our friends? Our state? Our country? Our party? How do we reconcile our individual rights and common needs? What keeps us all united -- and what happens if we fall apart?Now, in this third book, the Second Civil War has come to an end in Idaho. The Feds have taken the fight to other fronts, and Danny and his friends are free of US dominance. But that freedom comes with considerable costs, from Danny''s disturbing flashbacks to the war, to the Brotherhood of the White Eagle, whose "security" for Freedom Lake looks more like outright thuggery. After Danny makes a shocking discovery about the Brotherhood''s final aims, he and his friends lead a group of townspeople on a dangerous journey across a ravaged Idaho, hoping to build a better society of their own, and fulfill the dreams they had in what once was the United States.

In this wrenching sequel to Divided We Fall, Danny and friends fight to defend Idaho against a Federal takeover and the ravages of a Burning Nation. At the end of Divided We Fall, Danny Wright''s beloved Idaho had been invaded by the federal government, their electricity shut off, their rights suspended. Danny goes into hiding with his friends in order to remain free. But after the state declares itself a Republic, Idaho rises to fight in a second American Civil War, and Danny is right in the center of the action, running guerrilla missions with his fellow soldiers to break the Federal occupation. Yet what at first seems like a straightforward battle against governmental repression quickly grows more complicated, as more states secede, more people die, and Danny discovers the true nature of some of his new allies. Chilling, powerful, and all too plausible, Burning Nation further establishes Trent Reedy as a provocative new voice in YA fiction.

Danny Wright, seventeen, joined the Idaho Army National Guard to serve the country as his father had, but when the Guard is sent to an anti-government protest in Boise and Danny''s gun accidently fires, he finds himself at the center of a conflict that results in the federal government declaring war on Idaho.

From the author of Words in the Dust and Divided We Fall: A heartwarming book about a son reconnecting with the father he lost in Afghanistan. Mike was seven when his father was killed in mysterious circumstances in Afghanistan. Eight years later, the family still hasn''t recovered: Mike''s mom is overworked and overprotective; his younger sister Mary feels no connection to the father she barely remembers; and in his quest to be "the man of the family," Mike knows he''s missing out on everyday high school life. Then, out of the blue, Mike receives a letter from his father -- the first of a series Dad wrote in Afghanistan, just in case he didn''t come home, meant to share some wisdom with his son on the eve of Mike''s 16th birthday. As the letters come in, Mike revels in spending time with his dad again, and takes his encouragement to try new things -- to go out for the football team, and ask out the beautiful Isma. But who''s been keeping the letters all these years? And how did Dad actually die? As the answers to these mysteries are revealed, Mike and his family find a way to heal and move forward at last.

"DIVIDED WE FALL delivers cover-to-cover action, intrigue and suspense, all with a gut-punch of an ending that''ll leave you begging for the next installment." -- Brad Thor, author of THE LAST PATRIOT Danny Wright never thought he''d be the man to bring down the United States of America. In fact, he enlisted in the Idaho National Guard because he wanted to serve his country the way his father did. When the Guard is called up on the governor''s orders to police a protest in Boise, it seems like a routine crowd-control mission ... but then Danny''s gun misfires, spooking the other soldiers and the already fractious crowd, and by the time the smoke clears, twelve people are dead. The president wants the soldiers arrested. The governor swears to protect them. And as tensions build on both sides, the conflict slowly escalates toward the unthinkable: a second American civil war.With political questions that are popular in American culture yet rare in YA fiction, and a provocative plot that asks what happens when the states are no longer united, Divided We FAll is Trent Reedy''s very timely YA debut.

Winner of the Christopher Medal and a "heart-wrenching" Al Roker''s Book Club selection on the Today Show. Zulaikha hopes. She hopes for peace, now that the Taliban have been driven from Afghanistan; a good relationship with her hard stepmother; and one day even to go to school, or to have her cleft palate fixed. Zulaikha knows all will be provided for her--"Inshallah," God willing. Then she meets Meena, who offers to teach her the Afghan poetry she taught her late mother. And the Americans come to her village, promising not just new opportunities and dangers, but surgery to fix her face. These changes could mean a whole new life for Zulaikha--but can she dare to hope they''ll come true?

You can''t just ask for the chance to fly . . . When his dad announced they were moving to Iowa, Brian looked forward to making some new friends. But on his first day there he makes an enemy instead -- Frankie Heller, the meanest kid in town. Brian needs to hang out with someone cool to get back on track. . . .Alex has always been the coolest guy around, and good with money, just like his dad. But now the family is struggling, and he needs to make some cash to keep up appearances. Then an opportunity falls in his lap . . . .Max is a scientific genius, but his parents are always busy with their own work. Building an actual plane should get their attention -- if only he wasn''t scared of heights . . . The answer to all three boys'' problems starts with Max''s secret flyer. But Frankie and the laws of popularity and physics stand in their way. Can they work together in time to get their plan AND their plane off the ground?