New Releases by Todd Strasser

A middle school must-read that exposes the antisemitism in our country today! From the author of The Wave comes a poignant and timely novel about a group of seventh graders who are brought together—and then torn apart—by an afterschool club that plays a video game based on WW2. There's a new afterschool club at Ironville Middle School. Ms. Peterson is starting a video game club where the students will playing The Good War, a new game based on World War II. They are divided into two teams: Axis and Allies, and they will be simulating a war they know nothing about yet. Only one team will win. But what starts out as friendly competition, takes an unexpected turn for the worst when an one player takes the game too far. Can an afterschool club change the way the students see eachother...and how they see the world? "By using a gaming lens to explore the students’ entrée to prejudice and radicalization, he succeeds in lending immediacy and accessibility to his cautionary tale."—Kirkus Reviews

Drawing from his teenage years, Todd Strasser’s novel revisits a tumultuous era and takes readers on a psychedelically tinged trip of a lifetime. With his girlfriend, Robin, away in Canada, eighteen-year-old Lucas Baker’s only plans for the summer are to mellow out with his friends, smoke weed, drop a tab or two, and head out in his microbus for a three-day happening called the Woodstock Music and Art Fair. But life veers dramatically off track when he suddenly finds himself in danger of being drafted and sent to fight in Vietnam. If that isn’t heavy enough, there’s also the free-loving (and undeniably alluring) Tinsley, who seems determined to test Lucas’s resolve to stay faithful to Robin; a frighteningly bad trip at a Led Zeppelin concert; a run-in with an angry motorcycle gang; parents who appear headed for a divorce; and a friend on the front lines in ’Nam who’s in mortal danger of not making it back. As the pressures grow, it’s not long before Lucas finds himself knocked so far down, it’s starting to look like up to him. When tuning in, turning on, and dropping out is no longer enough, what else is there?

"An American teen is led towards committing a terrorist act"--

In the summer of 1962, the possibility of nuclear war is all anyone talks about. But Scott's dad is the only one in the neighborhood who actually prepares for the worst. As the neighbors scoff, he builds a bomb shelter to hold his family and stocks i

Rendered homeless by circumstances beyond his family's control, Dan is forced to move to Tent City, where he begins fighting for better conditions only to be targeted by an adversary who wants to destroy the impoverished region.

Overweight high school senior Bo decides to change her image while working on the school play with a former star football player who is also struggling to find a new identity for himself.

In the small town of Soundview, someone is blogging about the local high school kids and the comments aren't kind. But are the posts cruel taunts or vicious threats? Then 17-year-old Lucy Cunningham goes missing after a night out and the hunt is on to catch a killer.

In the middle of the night Garrett is taken from his home to Harmony Lake, a boot camp for troubled teens. Maybe some kids deserve to be sent there, but Garrett knows he doesn't. Subjected to brutal physical and psychological abuse, he tries to fight back, but the battle is futile. He won't be allowed to leave until he's admitted his "mistakes" and conformed to Harmony Lake's standards of behavior. And there's no way to fake it. Beaten, humiliated, and stripped of his pride, Garrett's spirit is slowly ebbing away. Then he hears whispers of an escape plot. It's incredibly risky -- if he's caught, the consequences will be unthinkable -- but it may be his only way out. In this tense, riveting novel, award-winning YA author Todd Strasser reveals what really goes on in highly secretive -- and notoriously dangerous -- boot camps, a stealth prison system where any teenager under the age of eighteen can be imprisoned at his parents' whim.

Her street name is Maybe She lives with a tribe of homeless teens -- runaways and throwaways, kids who have no place to go other than the cold city streets, and no family except for one another. Abused, abandoned, and forgotten, they struggle against the cold, hunger, and constant danger. With the frigid winds of January comes a new girl: Tears, a twelve-year-old whose mother doesn't believe her stepfather abuses her. As the other kids start to disappear -- victims of violence, addiction, and exposure -- Maybe tries to help Tears get off the streets...if it's not already too late. Todd Strasser, author of the powerful and disturbing Give a Boy a Gun, again focuses on an important social issue as he tells a thought-provoking, heart-wrenching story of young lives lost to the streets, and of a society that has forgotten how to care.

IMAPCT ZONE The most dangerous part of the wave You gotta beat it...or you'll eat it. The summer is hot, and so is action out on the line-up. There's a big competition coming up, with some serious burrito money attached. All the brahs are in it for something. Lucas has his career and his reputation on the line. If Kai wins, he might be able to stay in Sun Haven and not have to hit the road again with his sketchy dad. For everyone it's a chance to close out the summer as a champion. Stoked.

A house at the beach. A bunch of hot strangers. A three-month party that's Off The Hook. Seven randoms cram into a house down the shore, and they've all got agendas. Curt wants a gig. Polly wants a life. Owen's jonesing for someone he can't have. And everyone's geared up for one wicked summer. Surfing all day, partying all night. Here's the real question: If your boyfriend's cheating but you're too busy hooking up, does it really count? And if people aren't who they say they are, does it really matter?

Impact Zone: The most dangerous part of the wave You gotta beat it...or you'll eat it. Ever since he went up against the locals and broke into the lineup, Kai has had his own crew. Spazzy is a summer kid with a lot of fancy gear. He looks like a total shubee. But on the board he's good, really good -- despite everything going against him. The Spazz wants to be in the local competition, but he can't do it without Kai. Kai knows there's no way Spazzy can win against Lucas, the local hero. But Kai would never let a brah down....

The cops cracked down on illegal races, and now the only street racing around is at the hottest casino on the strip. The casino owner is starting his own high-stakes, high-payoff drift team -- and there's little he wouldn't do to have Sin City's best drifter. Kennin's under pressure to quit the scene and get his life back on track. But when he's offered five grand to fix his ride -- and the promise of enough cash to take care of his problems -- Kennin knows exactly what he has to do. No matter what the catch.

At a high school party, a girl finds her best friend murdered, only to be discovered holding the weapon and accused of the crime.

"WHEN YOU GREW UP IN THE PROJECTS, THERE WERE NO CHOICES. NO GOOD ONES, AT LEAST." In the Frederick Douglass Project where DeShawn lives, daily life is ruled by drugs and gang violence. Many teenagers drop out of school and join gangs, and every kid knows someone who died. Gunshots ring out on a regular basis. DeShawn is smart enough to know he should stay in school and keep away from the gangs. But while his friends have drug money to buy fancy sneakers and big-screen TVs, DeShawn's family can barely afford food for the month. How can he stick to his principles when his family is hungry? In this gritty novel about growing up in the inner city, award-winning author Todd Strasser opens a window into the life of a teenager struggling with right and wrong under the ever-present shadow of gangs.

Have you ever seen a shape moving through the night? Do black cats always seem to cross your path? Would your heart race if a ghost sent you a text message? If so, then you might end up Too Afraid to Scream.

Is today's cafeteria special a little pointy-eared mythological being of Irish descent, or is that an unlucky leprechaun in your lunch?

When Leyton and Wade Tardy agree to help their friend Daisy hide a dog at school, they have no idea what they're getting themselves into.

When Brad asks someone else to the senior prom, Nicole resorts to a desperate measure--she decides to make her next-door neighbor over into a dream date.

"Life hasn't been easy for high school junior Kate Blessing. With rival mobs at war and her social life to worry about, Kate's got to hold it all together ... for the family"--Page 2 of cover

Two stories in one book.

During the Spanish colonization of Mexico, a young girl invents a diving bell to save her brother and her people.

Two books in one, the story starts with a boy named Jake seemingly doomed to repeat the first day of school over and over. In the second book Jake experiences the same phenomena at summer camp!

Food fights in the cafeteria are raging out of control. So Principal Chump hires some psycho lunch monitors to bust up the trouble. Armed with dishrags, hairnets, and a hidden camera, Kyle and his friends are about to strike back.

BUS-TED! WILSON: invents stuff -- and trouble DUSTY: can talk his way out of anything KYLE: the nice guy no one ever suspects Together they bend every rule in school -- but they never get caught! Now there's a new driver on the bus route. Sarge used to work at a prison, and he treats all kids like they're criminals. But Wilson, Dusty, and Kyle can't take it. They'll show Sarge who's in charge!

Henry Tompkins and his companions get lost in a desolate desert where they struggle to survive.

The author of the "Against the Odds" series introduces a four-title miniseries featuring a tattooed, pierced, and magical nanny--a Mary Poppins for the new millennium. Heavenly Litebody comes to the rescue of the Rand family and helps the teenagers cruise through trials and tribulations.

Twelve-year-old Steven and his younger brother Benjy make a desperate attempt to force their extremely busy parents to spend more time together with them.

When Heavenly Litebody, the Rand family's magical nanny, tries to solve 14-year-old Kit's romantic problems by attending the school dance, she turns everything topsy-turvy instead.

When Tyler Duvall arrives in Alaska for his dream vacation, He finds that his Uncle Jake is seriously ill and that he has to share Jake's cabin with two other kids. Jake goes fishing when he disturbs a rogue grizzly bear, who follows him back to his uncle's cabin.