Please excuse my absence last week and consider this a public service announcement:  Back up your computer files everyday if you want to keep them, because you never know when your computer will decide to present you with a blue screen and nothing more. If you use an online backup service, find one recommended by others who have had to deal with how that service recovers information. I did have an online service and an external hard drive, but I haven’t been able to get back any of my Word files, Excel charts or my photos.

I had promised you more books for middle grade readers and young adult novels from authors in Washington State so here they are.

Middle Grade Novels

Suzanne Williams partners with Joan Holub to write the Goddess Girls’ series. Two new releases are Aphrodite the Beauty and Artemis the Brave. Although the stories may depart from the actual myth portrayed, a kernel of the myth still remains. Artemis the Brave will be available December 7, 2010.

Royce Buckingham used the Eastern Washington town of Richland as the setting for The Dead Boys because he grew up near Hanford, which is close by. Could the giant sycamore tree in Richland, horribly mutated by nuclear waste, somehow take its nourishment from local boys? You’ll have to read the book to find out.

I just finished the delightful Case of the Terrible T.rex by Michele Torrey. In researching the book she actually spent a week in the Montana Badlands digging for fossils and found a T.rex tooth. The book, another in the Doyle and Fossey:  Science Detectives’ series, makes learning science fun and memorable.

Young Adult Books

Recently released Adios, Nirvana, by Conrad Wesselhoeft, tells the story of a teenager who survives the first anniversary of his twin brother’s death with special help from friends, a WWII veteran and a special guitar.

Janet Lee Carey’s seventh novel, The Dragons of Noor, describes what happens when a mysterious Wild Wind begins stealing young children, including lead character’s, Miles and Hannah, little brother. Will they be able to save him?

Karen Kincy used her hometown of Snohomish as a backdrop for Other, which follows a shapeshifter girl named Gwen as she uncovers a mystery.

Waiting on my bookshelf is Tell Me a Secret by Holly Cupala. Miranda knows her bad-girl sister took a big secret to her grave and she’s intent on finding out what it was. Cupala started writing novels as a teen and to this day writing has become hope for her in times of despair.

Caridad Ferrer retells a new version of the opera Carmen in When the Stars Go Blue.  The author calls on her own experiences in the competitive world of drum and bugle corps to get the story told.

I hope you’ve seen a book or two on this list that would make someone on your gift list smile when he or she unwraps it.