Monday's Muse, 1st edition.

Current Theme Song (aka what's playing on my ipod right now): Miss Invisible by Marie Digby.


This was originally an idea from Au Courant started in March, an idea she has graciously let me run with.

The idea is to introduce you to unknown, forgotten, or overlooked fiction that has been lost from regular radar. I am WriterGirl. I am in the business of saving lives, one book at a time.

What (she, and) I do is go to amazon, narrow it down to a YA field and type in a random word, any word that comes to mind. I then take a sampling of some I have never heard of before (and hopefully you as well). No infringement is intended for any description I take for the books. It's purely for promotional reasons. I will try and cover as many genres as possible that are fitting for the random word. Simple but it really uncovers some incredible gems. I will be doing this every other Monday. If there are any words you want to prompt me with, go ahead and fire away.

Today's Random Word:
Talent

Hidden Talents by David Lubar.

So I wasn't in cuffs--but it felt like going to prison. It was the sort of place where people kept broken machines, old tires, and other stuff they didn't need. Yeah, this was the place for things nobody wanted. End of the trip. End of the line.
--Martin Anderson, 13

Welcome to Edgeview Alternative School.

For Martin Anderson, it's the end of the road. Literally. He's already been kicked out of every school he's ever attended. Edgeview is the last one that will take him. His teachers have given up on him. So have his parents. Everyone has given up on Martin Anderson. Even Martin.

Why Edgeview?

Martin has a bit of a problem respecting authority. He can't help it. It's like insulting adults is his special talent. And since Edgeview is a warehouse for the system's freaks and rejects, Martin fits right in. That is, until he falls in with a group of five misfits who are so messed up they make the other Edgeview delinquents seem like choirboys. Even the freaks call them freaks.

Unknown to the five, however, each possesses a hidden talent. A remarkable, powerful talent.

Martin discovers the key that will unlock the secret of their hidden talents. And in the process he will battle his own worst enemy: himself.


Bog Child by Siobhan Dowd.

One inch from the wall of brown turf, he froze. 'There's something here. In the earth. A hand.' Digging for peat in the mountain with his Uncle Tally, Fergus finds something that makes his heart stop. Curled up deep in the bog is the body of a child. And it looks like she's been murdered.

As Fergus tries to make sense of the mad world around him - his brother on hunger-strike in prison, his growing feelings for Cora, his mam and da arguing over the Troubles, and him in it up to the neck - a little voice comes to him in his dreams, and the mystery of the bog child unfurls.


Masterpiece by Elise Broach and Kelly Murphy

Marvin lives with his family under the kitchen sink in the Pompadays’ apartment. He is very much a beetle. James Pompaday lives with his family in New York City. He is very much an eleven-year-old boy. After James gets a pen-and-ink set for his birthday, Marvin surprises him by creating an elaborate miniature drawing. James gets all the credit for the picture and before these unlikely friends know it they are caught up in a staged art heist at the Metropolitan Museum of Art that could help recover a famous drawing by Albrecht Dürer. But James can’t go through with the plan without Marvin’s help. And that’s where things get really complicated (and interesting!). This fast-paced mystery will have young readers on the edge of their seats as they root for boy and beetle.

And if you are interested, here are Au Courant's four installments for them. "Key", "Secret", "Bite", and "Picture".