Coming March 1, 2007

The Keys To The Kingdom: Lady Friday

The series' protagonist is a boy, Arthur Penhaligon, who is an asthmatic. The series begins on a Monday and each book moves onto the next day of the week, concluding on Sunday. Each day features beings collectively known as the Trustees, who each govern a portion of the House (the Lower House, the Middle House, the Upper House, the Far Reaches, the Great Maze, the Border Sea and the Incomparable Gardens), which is the epicenter of the Universe.
Arthur lives a relatively normal life as an adopted child in a large but caring family. An asthma attack on Monday that should have killed him brings him to the Lower House where he is declared Heir to the Kingdom by convenience and given a key shaped like a minute hand of a clock (the "Lesser" Half of the "First Key"). While Arthur is relieved of his asthma, it is only the beginning of a strange and dangerous set of adventures.
As Arthur discovers, the Will of the Architect who created the world was not fulfilled as it should have been. Instead, it was broken into seven pieces by the Architect's Trustees, the Morrow Days. The Will was forced to act on its own, and chooses Arthur to be the Heir to the Kingdom. It becomes Arthur's responsibility to recover each of the missing pieces of the Will, defeat each Trustee, each of whom has been afflicted with one of the seven deadly sins, and claim their domain by taking their respective Key.

Coming January 9, 2007

Forever in Blue -The Fourth Summer of the Sisterhood
by Ann Brashares

Carmen, Lena, Bridget and Tibby may not be forever in blue jeans, but they do share the Traveling Pants for at least one more summer. Fans rejoin the foursome just after their freshman year in college. Carmen is attending a summer theater program in Vermont, where she unexpectedly lands a plum role and must contend with her roommate's attempts to sabotage her performance. Enrolled in a summer painting class at Rhode Island School of Design, Lena falls for a fellow student and also receives a surprise visit (his specialty) from Kostos, her former Greek beau. On an archaeological dig in Turkey, Bridget finds herself attracted to a professor (who's married). And Tibby, in the most poignant story line, becomes reclusive while taking film classes at NYU, and breaks up with her devoted boyfriend, Brian. Brashares credibly recounts the emotional turmoil surrounding the girls' love, peer and family tribulations. There is just passing mention of "the Pants" and their special powers until novel's end, when the jeans, through a rather unlikely set of circumstances, disappear in Greece-an event that bands the four friends together in a countrywide search. The series' legion followers will eagerly follow each gal through her summer of ups and downs and will again be heartened by the teens' rock-solid friendship.