Sixteen-year-old Col Porpentine is the grandson of the supreme commander of the city-sized ship Worldshaker and has just been named his successor. But Col's rarified world is turned upside down by a girl named Riff, who is a Filthy--Worldshaker's lowest class, confined to the bottom deck as laborers. Col has always been told that Filthies are practically beasts, but Riff is smart, confident, and beautiful. In trying to help her, Col finds himself among the Filthies, who are severely mistreated but otherwise no different from him. Having learned Worldshaker's dark secrets, hidden for generations by his family, he must decide whether to help the Filthies. Harland's steampunk alternate history is filled with oppression, class struggle, and war, showing their devastation on a personal level through Col's privileged eyes. Like the behemoth Worldshaker itself, there's little subtlety in Harland's portrayal of a stuffy, imperial upper class subjugating a noble, abused underclass (complete with a Cockneyesque accent). But the writing is sharp and the story fast-paced, demonstrating that, despite his elite status, Col may be just as trapped as any Filthy. Ages 12–up.
Publisher's Weekly

Three fates intertwine in this moving and passionate love story set in Victorian London. 

Mary Finn: country girl, maid to a lord in London

Caden Tucker: liar, scoundrel, and heart's delight

James Nelligan: age six, tossed into a herd of boys

When Mary Finn falls into the arms of handsome Caden Tucker, their frolic changes the course of her life. What possesses her? She's been a girl of common sense until now. Mary's tale alternates with that of young James Nelligan, a new boy in an enormous foundling home.

In Folly, Marthe Jocelyn's breathtaking command of language, detail, and character brings Victorian London to life on every page, while the deep emotions that illuminate this fascinating novel about life-changing moments are as current as today's news.
Publisher's Weekly.

Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi

Call no: FIC BAC

In America's Gulf Coast region, where grounded oil tankers are being broken down for parts, Nailer, a teenage boy, works the light crew, scavenging for copper wiring just to make quota—and hopefully live to see another day. But when, by luck or chance, he discovers an exquisite clipper ship beached during a recent hurricane, Nailer faces the most important decision of his life: Strip the ship for all it's worth or rescue its lone survivor, a beautiful and wealthy girl who could lead him to a better life. . . .

In this powerful novel, award-winning author Paolo Bacigalupi delivers a thrilling, fast-paced adventure set in a vivid and raw, uncertain future.

Civil War historians are more than familiar with Andersonville. Officially known as Camp Sumter, Andersonville was a place of extreme suffering and horror for Union Prisoners of War. Of the 45,000 soldiers who were housed in the camp, nearly 13,000 perished because of overcrowding, disease, poor sanitation, and exposure to the elements. Much of the book follows several different Union soldiers who passed through Andersonville's gates. Some of them were fortunate enough to survive the atrocities within the camp. Many survivors returned to the North and relayed their stories to those who would listen. They also helped create a memorial and cemetery to commemorate the men who lost their lives in Andersonville. Their stories live on in the pages of this book. Gourley touches on many different aspects of what life was like in the camp. Each section focuses on a different topic: distribution of rations, prison slang, lice, scurvy, blockade-runners, and writing letters to name a few. The book is also broken down into a timeline of sorts: Part 1 discusses what happened in the camp from December 1863 to November 1864; Part 2 focuses on the court martial of Captain Henry Wirz from May November 1865. Captain Wirz was the commandant in charge of Andersonville and was blamed for much of the suffering that occurred. This will be a great addition to any American History or Civil War collection. Social Studies teachers will find this a valuable source when presenting American History curriculum to their students.
Reviewer: Jonatha Basye of VOYA

The Enemy by Charlie Hisson

Call no: FIC HIS

Lord of the Flies meets 28 Days Later in this disturbing postapocalyptic adventure. Higson (the Young Bond series) presents a kids-only world with shades of Michael Grant's Gone books, though in this case, a disease has turned everyone over the age of 16 into mindless, flesh-eating nightmares, terrorizing and devouring those unaffected. Packs of resourceful kids have holed up in supermarkets, constructing defenses, foraging for supplies, and fighting off feral “grown-ups.” For the group sheltering in a Waitrose store, it's a ceaseless battle for survival, where even the simplest expedition can prove fatal. When the possibility of a haven arrives, the Waitrose kids band with new allies as they make a hazardous trek across London to the promised land: Buckingham Palace. Alternately bleak and defiant, this splatterfest doesn't pull any punches (“The skin blackened, shriveled and split, the overripe flesh inside squeezing out.... This was what happened if any grown-up lived long enough to let the disease run its full course”) nor is any character safe. It's up to a sequel to sort out some plot threads, but this is a solid start.
Publisher's Weekly