Young Adult 2018
Kingdom of Illusions
December Box
Amber and Dusk by Lyra Selene"'Where have you been?' Lullaby stood, and shoved something at my chest. It was a crimson envelope stamped in gilt and smothered in looping calligraphy. 'It's an invitation.' Lullaby rossed behind me and glanced over my shoulder at the thick paper. 'A grand ball, a week hence. Astrologists are predicting a Blood Rain. Everyone is to wear red in honor of the occasion.'"
- a custom designed red envelope with the invitation to the Blood Rain Ball inside.
"She glazed her lips and smeared kohl along he curve of my lashes. Diamonds like chips of ice winked from my ears."
- a crystal ear cuff with jagged, sparkling stones.
"A bodice of thick black lace twisted up over a golden underlay, clinging tightly to the contours of my chest. A black caplet hung from my shoulders, with a deep hood. I didn't want to be recognized until my big reveal in front of the entire court."
- a black poncho style caplet with a hood.
"I held up the pendant and gave it a gentle swing. The empress screamed, her eyes venomous with spite."
- a pendant locket featuring an amber glow-in-the-dark interior.
images by @The_Bookish_Runner
Diagnosed Love
November Box
Five Feet Apart by Rachael Lippincott"I clear my throat, pulling my hand away, and lean over to grab a picture of us from off my bed. Identical smiles peek our from underneath thick wool scarves, the holiday lights at the park down the street twinkling above our heads just like the stars in her drawing."
- a custom designed recreated photo of Abby and Stella.
"I almost tackle him with a hug but catch myself before I can close the space between us and do it. I look at the counter, grabbing a kitchen mitt and putting it on so I can reach out and take his hand in mine."
- a kitchen mitt similar the one Stella uses to hold Poe's hand.
"Pulling my beanie on, I shove open the door with my side, heading just inside the lobby doors to wait."
- a mustard tone beanie, similar to Will's from the novel.
"I struggle to rip open the paper, but my body is weak. She leans over to help me unveil a black sketchbook inside, the words on the front reading "FIVE FEET APART." Then, on the last page, the two of us. In my small cartoon hand is a balloon, the top bursting, and hundreds of stars pouring out of it, rolling across the page to Will. He's holding a scroll and quill, the words "Will's Master List" written on it. And below, a single item. #1: Love Stella Forever."
- a custom designed, spiral bound sketchbook with the entirety of Will's drawing on the first page.
images by @The_Bookish_Runner
A Monster's Wife
October Box
The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein by Kiersten White"I tried to life the lid, but it was locked. Crouching, I found a heavy padlock securing it. With trembling fingers, I pulled from my purse the key I had found beneath Victor."
- a Victorian style clutch bag containing an antiqued key.
"I opened the letter. Henry's hand, usually sprawling with confident loops and self-indulgent flourishes, was shaky. The edges of the paper were splotchy, some of the ink smeared as though he had not waited for it to try before folding it."
- a custom designed letter from Henry to Elizabeth
"I wilted with relief, but also with confusion at her state and why the maid had brought us here. "Look!" the maid pointed in triumph. Next to Justine on the bed was the glittering gold accusation of guilt. The necklace."
- a custom designed book locket featuring the cover of Frankenstein by Mary Shelley with a photo of Madam Frankenstein inside.
"But I knew the jacket. I reached inside and withdrew the tiny gold-filigreed book of scripture that my uncle always kept. The pages that he loved had dissolved in the water, leaving only the empty shell of it."
- a custom designed book jewelry box
images by @The_Bookish_Runner
The Lumberjill
September Box
In Another Time by Caroline Leech"John ran his fingers across the other book, tracing the line of silver lettering pressed into the red cloth on the front."
- a custom printed edition of "In Flanders Fields and Other Poems" by John McCrae.
"And while Maisie's hair still wasn't long enough for rolls, she had happily agreed to Rose's suggestion that wearing a pretty head scarf might keep her hair out of her face while she was working."
- a 1940s inspired headscarf.
"Nancy handed one of the mugs to Maisie, wrapping her grateful fingers around the warm china."
- a custom designed enamel mug and tree-shaped tea strainer and tea rest.
"Maisie held the letter out to him again, and this time he took it. 'Walt and Lofty are still alive.'"
- a custom written letter inspired by events from the novel.
images by @The_Bookish_Runner
Lost in Siberia
August Box
Notes From My Captivity by Kathy Parks"She touches the smooth jade with the first letter of my name inlaid in the silver."
- a small jade pendant.
"But she's insisting with the dove talk, pushing it on me so that finally I reach to take it, an action that so outrages the older brother that barks out something suddenly just as my fingers touch the warm bowl."
- a detailed, white china bowl.
"She beams. She has another drawing. She leans down, places it in my lap. I look down at it. All the breath leaves me. My heart stops. It's my father."
- a custom set of ceramic artwork, featuring custom drawings of Vanya and Adrienne's father.
"Adrienne Cahill, New York Times Article"
- a printed copy of Adrienne's published New York Times article.
images by @The_Bookish_Runner
Blueberries and Sea Monsters
July Box
Wild Blue Wonder by Carlie Sorosiak"She thrusts the thermos into my hands. 'Wasn't asleep. Late-night knitting. Now, drink this.'"
- a custom designed thermos and packet of hot cocoa.
"And then I saw you and all the other counselers by the buffet: all dressed up as me. Long blonde wigs. Black choker neckales and Red Sox hats."
- Quinn's signature black choker necklace.
"The third week in November, as another cold snap kicks in, I find my sister's photos. A corner of one's sticking out from underneath the dust ruffle. Dylan."
- a set of three photos of Dylan, discovered by Quinn.
"He pulls from the bag a series of bound pages. Blue ink. Across the cover in his spiky handwriting is The Fall and Rise of The Hundreds."
- a custom designed tablet bag, with a custom designed notebook inside, containing a custom piece of artwork.
images by @The_Bookish_Runner
Riddles of the Mongol Empire
June Box
The Bird and the Blade by Megan Bannen"I enter the slaves' ger, cast off my deel, and tie a thick strip of muslin around what passes for my breasts."
- a lightweight, beach cover inspired by Jinghua's deel and a strip of gauze to represent the muslin she used to disguse herself as a boy.
"He reaches into his sleeve pocket, pulls out a small portrait, and shows it to me. I take the portrait gingerly into my hands and study it. The girl staring back at me is lusciously beautiful."
- a custom-designed portrait of Turandokht.
"He places a small, finely painted porcelain cup on its polished surface and fills it with steaming tea or rich wine. He sets out offerings of rice and cakes on a pretty saucer. And apples. Always apples."
- a Chinese style teacup and saucer.
images by @The_Bookish_Runner
The Dickens Twist
May Box
Olivia Twist by Lorie Langdon"...covered by a short wig of muddy brown hair and topped with a newsboy cap for good measure."
- a brown newsboy cap.
"He unclasped the locket. It took every ounce of considerable self-control to hide his reaction to the portrait within. Dark-gold hair, a dimpled smile..."
- a custom locket with the portrait inside as described in the novel.
"Jack elbowed a path through the cluster of boys and bent to pick up the object...when he stood, he held out a large rock, a piece of folded parchment tied to it with a string."
- a rock-shaped tealight holder with the folder note wrapped around it.
"Olivia stepped up to Monks, dipped her hand into his pocket and extracted the key."
- a key-shaped keychain.
images by @The_Bookish_Runner
African Princess Magic
April Box
Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi"I expect to feel some aura in the scroll's presence, yet the air surrounding it remains dead...I push myself, reaching out again with the very ends of my fingertips. When they brush the scroll, I close my eyes. No magic comes forth."
- a custom designed replica scroll, created from an ancient Ethiopian text.
"Though it's a risk, I release my left hand, catching the headdress before it evades my grip."
- a burnished gold and stone headdress
""Do not worry." I reach into Zelie's leather pack and pull out the sunstone."
- a faux leather, fringed bag with a sunstone shaped soap bar inside.
images by @The_Bookish_Runner
A Ticking Clock
March Box
Time Bomb by Joelle Charbonneau"Mom reached over and adjusted the gauzy, decorative silver-and-black scarf she'd insisted on looping around Cas's neck this morning, then looked toward the road."
- a black-and-silver, gauzy scarf.
"A wallet with money and pictures, a student ID card with a girl's smiling face beaming from it...Then Rashid pulled from her wallet the small, bent picture of her and two friends making stupid faces in a photo booth."
- a custom designed wallet, a student ID, a photograph.
""What the hell are you doing?" Z asked as she ripped a poster of the Eiffel Tower off a bulletin board and flipped it over."
- a poster of the Eiffel Tower.
""No, but I'm betting by her bracelet that she knows how to braid things," Frankie said. Diana looked down at her wrist as if surprised that he'd noticed the bracelet."
- a woven leather bracelet.
images by @KMSpedden and @BookStoreFinds
The Rescue (Steampunk Style)
February Box
The Tombs by Deborah Schaumberg"I lifed the cord around my neck, absently playing with the trinkets I'd collected over the years. Among them, the gears from my father's menagerie clock..."
- a multi-toned, statement necklace made out of clock gears.
"I pinned my hair the way she used to, as a tear slid down my cheek."
- a set of two, steampunk-inspired, scissor-shaped hair clips.
"In a gloved hand, Spector held a glass vial, glinting in the light."
- an antique looking vial, filled with vanilla bubble bath 'serum'.
"I heard myself screaming, felt myself falling to my knees, and then, the crystal slipped through my fingers."
- a crystal pendant.
images by @PetrichorandParchment and @BookStoreFinds
Riddles and Unsolved Mysteries
January Box
Truly Devious by Maureen Johnson"She took a long drink from an Ellingham-branded reusable water bottle."
- an orange, flexible water bottle.
"She yanked it off the shelf, snapped it open, and removed a Schiaparelli makeup compact in the shape of a telephone dial."
- a mirror compact designed to look like a rotary phone.
"Stevie got own on the floor and reached around under the tub. As she pulled her hand back, something scraped against her skin."
- a unique silver ring.
"He picked the dangling earbud back up, and she reinserted it."
- a pair of white and rose gold accented ear buds.
images by @LibraryCutie and @TheBookElves
