of looking at something can trigger an excellent decision. Examples of successful snap judgments.

Columbine. Dave Cullen, 2009, $26.99, 432 pp. A full account of the high school massacre ten years later, exploring

the killers’ psychology and debunking the myths, by a journalist who covered it from the start.

Flags of Our Fathers. Adapted by Michael French from the book by James Bradley, 2001, $8.95, 200 pp. True

stories of the five American Marines and the Navy corpsman who raised the flag on Iwo Jima in February 1945.

Marley and Me: Life and Love with the World’s Worst Dog. John Grogan, 2005, $7.99, 320 pp. Best selling story of

how an incorrigible retriever won his way into the hearts of a Florida family.

The Omnivore’s Dilemma: The Secrets Behind What You Eat, Young Readers Edition. Michael Pollan, adapted

by Richie Chevat, 2009, $9.99, 290 pp. Adapted bestseller. Where does our supermarket food come from?

As omnivores, we eat everything, but have very little instinct for choosing well. Pollan has some solutions.

The Yankee Years. Joe Torre and Tom Verducci, 2009, $16.95, 528 pp. The former Yankee manager (1996-2007)

on his Yankee years.

challenges for Bella and Edward, and an unexpected opening for Jacob in their lives. Far-flung vampires unite

around them as the Volturi return to attack.

Breathless. Lurlene McDaniel, 2009, $10.99 hardcover, 176 pp. Travis Morrison is a high school senior diving

champion. He could recover from a diving accident off a risky cliff, except that the doctors discover bone cancer

and must amputate his leg. Does he want to recover?

Charlie Bone and the Hidden King. Jenny Nimmo, 2006, $9.95, 464 pp. The shadow has escaped from the Red

King’s portrait, and Charlie’s mother is courted by a strange man. But Charlie is determined to find his father. The Dragon Heir. Cinda Chima,, 2008, $8.99, 528 pp. Series conclusion. After Jason finds the Dragon-

heart, a powerful talisman sought by all sides, the final battle of the wizard war reaches Trinity, Ohio.

Sequel to The Warrior Heir and The Wizard Heir.

The Flame Tree. Richard Lewis, 2004, $5.99, 272 pp. Son of American missionary doctors in Java in 2001,

Isaac Williams is sure his friendship with Ismail will last forever. But against the backdrop of 9/11, young

Isaac is taken hostage by Muslim fundamentalists.

Flush. Carl Hiaasen, 2005, $8.99, 272 pp. With their father jailed for sinking a river boat, Noah Underwood

and his sister need evidence that this floating casino is polluting the waters around their Florida Keys home.

Ingenious comedy.

Forever in Blue. Ann Brashares, 2007, $9.99, 416 pp. Fourth and final book in the Traveling Pants series.

The teens are spread all around the world the summer after their first year in college, but still together.

The Help. Kathryn Stockett, 2009, hardcover $24.95, 464 pp. Current bestseller. Twenty-two year-old Skeeter

Phelan has just graduated from college in 1962 Mississippi. No one will tell her where her beloved family

maid Constantine has gone. She joins with two wise, sassy black maids in a project putting them all at risk.

High Heat. Carl Deuker, 2003, $6.99, 352 pp. When sophomore Shane Hunter’s father is arrested for

money-laundering, the star pitcher’s wealthy life begins to fall apart.

The House of the Scorpion. Nancy Farmer, 2002, $7.99, 416 pp. Matteo Alacron is a teenager before

discovering that he has been cloned so that his organs can be used for a drug lord.

The Hunger Games. Suzanne Collins, 2008, $ 8.99, 374 pp. Katniss Everdeen is an underdog in an annual

televised survival competition that pits young people against each other in a fight to the death. Do not ever

bet against her. She singlehandedly foments a revolution in the dystopia. First in series.

Maximum Ride: The Final Warning. James Patterson, 2008, $7.99, 304 pp. Max’s parents arrange for the

flock to help scientists researching global warming in Antarctica, but the Uber-Director has spies there.

Fourth of series.

Nineteen Minutes. Jodi Picoult, 2006, $8.99, 480 pp. Best-selling novel of seventeen-year-old Peter Houghton,

the small town high school shooting that left nine students and one teacher dead, and the irl who stuns

everyone at the end with her testimony at the trial.

Players. Joyce Sweeney, 2000, $5.95, 260 pp. Basketball captain Corey Brennan discovers that the new

player on his high school team is a girl-stealing, friend-framing, team-destroying force.

Private Peaceful. Michael Morpurgo, 2003, $5.99, 184 pp. When Thomas Peaceful’s older brother is forced

to join the British army in World War I, Tommo decides to join as well, though he’s only 14. There is one

unforgettable night.

the Australian secret service to infiltrate a ruthless Southeast Asian gang, and work with the godfather he

never knew existed.

Song Yet Sung. James McBride, 2008, $15.00, 384 pp. Pursued by slave catchers, a beautiful young slave

falls into a coma and is able to see the future, right up to Martin Luther King and hip hop.

T Is for Trespass. Sue Grafton, 2007, $7.99, 387 pp. Detective Kinsey Millhone is on the trail of an identity

thief who is posing as a licensed practical nurse caring for one of Kinsey’s elderly neighbors.

Two Little Girls in Blue. Mary Higgins Clark, 2006, $7.99, 416 pp. The ransom has been paid, but only one

of the kidnapped three-year-old twin girls, Kelly, has been returned. Twin telepathy tells the investigators that

Kathy is still alive.