"Look Both Ways meets Seedfolks in this masterful novel from two titans of kid lit that follows a diverse cast of young people whose lives intersect in surprising and hilarious ways over the course of a summer day.
Here’s what’s so cool about the beach. Kids are everywhere! Kids you know, kids you want to know. Wandering from one blanket to another, from one family to another. Somebody’s mom reads a fat summer novel. Somebody’s dad snores with an iPad on his chest. Babies cry. Girls laugh. Frisbee players whoop! Kites in the perfect blue sky.
Some kids bodysurf. Some don’t even like the water. They build sand cities for their friends and sand jails for the grown-ups, and when the tide comes in everything gets washed away.
There’s the other world, where all kids hear is tomorrow, next week, next year. And then there’s the beach, where everything is right now!
Why can’t every day be a day at the beach?
From two-time Newbery honoree Gary D. Schmidt and two-time PEN Award winner Ron Koertge comes a moving and often laugh-out-loud funny middle grade novel about family, friendship, and belonging, told by a group of kids spending a day at the beach. Thoughtful vignettes brilliantly weave together an irresistible tale of tween conflict and connections."
"What does 'being a guy' actually mean? Some of the most talented writers are about to show you. In this diverse and original collection of short stories, ten well-known writers, including Mo Willems, Walter Dean Myers, Ron Koertge, Rene Saldaña, Jr., David Levithan, and David Lubar, share their stories about the trials and tribulations of being a guy. Sometimes funny, sometimes sad, and always honest, each story portrays the reality of being an everyday guy who gets a few life lessons and still manages to come out on top."
"“I would have been here sooner, but traffic on I-55 was awful.”Walker shouldn’t be so surprised to find Jesus standing in the middle of his bedroom. After all, he prayed for whoever was up there to help his mom, who hasn’t stopped crying since Noah died, two months ago. But since when have prayers actually been answered? And since when has Jesus been so...irreverent?As astounding as Jesus’ sudden appearance is, it’s going to take more than divine intervention for Walker to come to terms with his brother’s death. Why would God take seventeen-year-old Noah when half of the residents in his mom’s nursing home are waiting to die? And why would he send Jesus to Coaltown, Illinois, to pick up the pieces? If he really wanted to help, why couldn’t he have kept Noah from dying?In a spare, weighty, and often humorous text, renowned poet Ron Koertge tackles some of life’s biggest questions—and humanizes the savior in a way that highlights the divinity in all of us."
"Beautiful but troubled Colleen Minou is the only girl who ever looked at Ben Bancroft as more than just a spaz—more than that kid with cerebral palsy. But the more time Ben spends with Colleen, the more glaring their differences appear, which makes him wonder if what he feels for her is actual affection or if it’s just gratitude.And then there’s A.J. She’s everything that Colleen isn’t, and everything that Ben’s grandma wants for him: clean cut and upper class, academically driven, and just as obsessed with movies as Ben is. But what does she see when she looks at Ben? C.P.? Or the person behind the twisted body?
In this sharp, darkly humorous follow-up to the acclaimed Stoner & Spaz, Ben tries to come to terms with his relationship with Colleen, who is sometimes out of it, sometimes into him, and always exhilarating."
