Dusie is having a bad day of mythological proportions Dusie wakes up one morning to a hissing sound. As she catches her reflection in the mirror, she finds that her hair has turned into snakes. That’s right—snakes. But her mom seems totally unfazed. That’s because underneath the turban, Dusie’s mom has a crown of vipers. She is an immortal gorgon—a kind of goddess—and had hoped Dusie wouldn’t inherit the family curse since her father was a mortal, but it looks like Dusie is stuck with it too. Middle school is tough enough without being cursed, and Dusie—or Dusssie, as the snakes call her—is about to learn that being half gorgon comes with its own set of challenges. She tries to keep her snakes hidden, but when a boy at school nearly blows her cover, Dusie is desperate to figure out a way to control her newfound powers. Growing up, with or without snakes for hair, isn’t kid stuff.

Of the many themes occurring in young adult literature, one that bears more extensive exploration is the adolescent-animal connection. Although substantial critical commentary has addressed children's animal stories and animals in adult fiction, very few studies have been devoted to adolescent-animal encounters. In Animals in Young Adult Fiction, Walter Hogan examines several hundred novels and stories to explore the ways in which animals are represented in these works. In additional to providing an historical survey, Hogan looks at both realistic fiction and speculative works, including fantasy, supernatural, horror, and science fiction. Hogan reviews stories that feature wild animal encounters, stories centered on relationships with horses, dogs, and other working and performing animals, and those featuring relationships with pets. Drawing upon established scholarship, this book examines human-animal relationships from multiple angles, making it an invaluable resource for librarians, teachers, and students of children's and young adult literature.

In ancient Greece lives a little girl called Medusa Jones, a Gorgon. Medusas sure the school camping trip is going to be a nightmare. A rock fall puts the popular kids in peril, and Medusas the only one who can help. Will she be a hero--or is her monster side finally going to come out? Illustrations.

When Harper and her dad move to a new house, a creepy stepmom is the least of her worries Harper is not too happy to be moving in with her soon-to-be stepmother, Gus. The eccentric woman’s home, which the neighbors call the Spook House, has a yard full of weird metal sculptures. Gus is nothing like Harper’s dad’s other girlfriends, and Harper would take her former trailer home over the Spook House any day. Luckily, a girl named Rawnie lives right across the street. Harper and Rawnie have lots in common, including the same favorite band: Neon Shadow. When the girls start hearing mysterious rock music coming from Gus’s yard, they get suspicious. Then something terrible happens at a Neon Shadow concert, and Harper and Rawnie have no doubt that there are dark forces at work . . . and that Gus is involved. With their favorite singer in danger, they just might be the only two who can save him.

Winner of the Joan Fassler Memorial Book Award: The triumphant story of a boy who overcomes his disease with help from horses If Colt Vittorio had a motto, it would be I Don’t Want To! Colt has spina bifida—a condition that makes the bones in his legs weak and confines him to a wheelchair. When Colt is introduced to horseback riding in a program for disabled kids, he is beyond nervous. He wants nothing to do with these terrifying animals. After all, there’s no chance he’ll ever be able to use his legs anyway. What’s the point? Once he gets in the saddle astride a horse named Liverwurst, Colt’s whole world changes. With the horse’s powerful, muscular body beneath him, Colt no longer feels small and limited. After all, if he can control this huge, strong animal, he can do anything. And with Liverwurst’s help, Colt’s back and legs start getting stronger. But when his doctor warns that horseback riding is too dangerous and the risks are too great, will Colt’s riding lessons be history?

When a strange and wild boy walks into her life, Tess is forced to confront a past she had long ago forgotten Fourteen-year-old Tess can’t remember the first ten years of her life—and if they were anything like her life now, she’d prefer that they stay forgotten. Since her mother’s death, she and her disabled stepfather have lived without a phone, electricity, or even much food on the table. At school, her classmates think she’s weird, but she’s bigger and stronger than all of them. And at least she has music to keep her company. When a mysterious stranger named Kamo shows up looking for his dad, he is convinced that Tess and her stepfather may have the answers he’s been searching for. The more time she spends with Kamo, the more she realizes how much they have in common. Then she hears a song on the radio called “Secret Star”—a song so mesmerizing that every time she hears it, Tess’s past comes bubbling up, and she knows she won’t be able to keep it hidden for much longer . . .

Winner of the Edgar Award: A search to find her parents becomes a quest that shakes Jamie Bridger’s identity to its core Raised by her grandparents, fourteen-year-old Jamie Bridger has never known who her parents are. When she presses for details, her grandmother protests that she doesn’t remember things that happened years ago, and her grandfather reacts by flying into a rage. But who could forget the birth of their only grandchild? And how could a mother give up her baby for good? Shouldn’t Jamie’s parents have tried to get in contact with her? Jamie is determined to find answers, and she’ll go to any lengths to get them, even if it means traveling all the way to New York to find a man who shares her name—a man she believes to be her father. But as she starts to put together the pieces of her past, Jamie learns that the truth is more shocking than anything she could have anticipated.