Mr. Ripley's Enchanted Books: Young Adult/Teen Book Picks US - March 2020


  • Author: Joe Simonds
  • Book Title: The Chair: Daniel and the Twin Fountains of Alcazar
  • Paperback: 203 Pages
  • Age Range: 10+
  • Publisher: Independently Published 
  • Date: March 5, 2020
  • ISBN-13: 978-1707404285

In this amazing new fantasy story, America is caught in a cyber-war with an evil underground civilization, which is attempting to shut down the United States power grid. Daniel Ruhlin, a teenager in a wheelchair, turns out to be the only one who can save the world... He has never walked or talked a day in his life. Daniel's severe cerebral palsy has left him confined to a wheelchair under the care of his widowed father. He has never had any real friends, played a sport or musical instrument, attended a party, or done anything that most teenagers would take for granted. He spends his days in the library learning how to hack into computers for fun. However, all of that is about to change when he discovers a magical fountain near an old, abandoned hotel. This fountain leads him into a mystical new world known as Alcazar. During his perilous journey through the underground, he develops friendships, discovers who he is, and uncovers a family secret, which has been hidden for decades. He learns of the fountain of youth, which gives him the ability to walk and talk again. Little does he know, he has been selected to thwart a plot to take over America by an evil, underground empire. Everyone from the citizens of Alcazar to the President of the United States is counting on him to save both worlds, but he will have to face his biggest fears in order to defeat these evil forces... 



Author: James Ponti
Book Title: City Spies (1)
  • Age Range: 8 - 12 years
  • Hardcover: 384 pages
  • Publisher: Aladdin
  • Date: March 10, 2020
  • ISBN-13: 978-1534414914

Sara Martinez is a hacker. She recently broke into the New York City foster care system to expose her foster parents as cheats and lawbreakers. However, instead of being hailed as a hero, Sara finds herself facing years in a juvenile detention facility and banned from using computers for the same stretch of time. Enter Mother, a British spy who not only gets Sara released from jail but also offers her a chance to make a home for herself within a secret MI6 agency.

Operating out of a base in Scotland, the City Spies are five kids from various parts of the world. When they’re not attending the local boarding school, they’re honing their unique skills, such as sleight of hand, breaking and entering, observation, and explosives. All of these allow them to go places in the world of espionage where adults can’t.

Before she knows what she’s doing, Sarah is heading to Paris for an international youth summit, hacking into a rival school’s computer to prevent them from winning a million euros, dangling thirty feet off the side of a building, and trying to stop a villain…all while navigating the complex dynamics of her new team.

No one said saving the world was easy…




  • Author: Kenneth Oppel
  • Book Title: Bloom (The Overthrow)
  • Age Range: 10 and up 
  • Hardcover: 320 pages
  • Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers 
  • Date: March 10, 2020
  • ISBN-13: 978-1524773007

The first book in a can't-put-it-down, can't-read-it-fast-enough action-thriller trilogy that's part Hatchet, part Alien!
The invasion begins--but not as you'd expect. It begins with rain. Rain that carries seeds. Seeds that sprout--overnight, everywhere. These new plants take over crop fields, twine up houses, and burrow below streets. They bloom--and release toxic pollens. They bloom--and form Venus flytrap-like pods that swallow animals and people. They bloom--everywhere, unstoppable. 

Or are they? Three kids on a remote island seem immune to the toxic plants. Anaya, Petra, Seth. They each have strange allergies--and yet not to these plants. What's their secret? Can they somehow be the key to beating back this invasion? They'd better figure it out fast, because it's starting to rain again....




  • Author: Kaela Noel
  • Book Title: Coo
  • Age Range: 8 - 12 years
  • Hardcover: 432 pages
  • Publisher: Greenwillow Books
  • Date: March 3, 2020
  • ISBN-13: 978-0062955975

  • In this exceptional debut, one young girl’s determination to save the flock she calls family creates a lasting impact on her community and in her heart. Gorgeous and literary, this is an unforgettable animal story about friendship, family, home, and belonging. For readers who love books by Kate DiCamillo and Katherine Applegate.
    Ten years ago, an impossible thing happened: a flock of pigeons picked up a human baby who had been abandoned in an empty lot and carried her, bundled in blankets, to their roof. Coo has lived her entire life on the rooftop with the pigeons who saved her. It’s the only home she’s ever known. But then a hungry hawk nearly kills Burr, the pigeon she loves most, and leaves him gravely hurt.
    Coo must make a perilous trip to the ground for the first time to find Tully, a retired postal worker who occasionally feeds Coo’s flock, and who can heal injured birds. Tully mends Burr’s broken wing and coaxes Coo from her isolated life. Living with Tully, Coo experiences warmth, safety, and human relationships for the first time. But just as Coo is beginning to blossom, she learns the human world is infinitely more complex―and cruel―than she could have imagined. 

Comments