Grizz Brickbottom is one tough cowboy. But even the toughest cowboys, those who floss their teeth with barbed wire as Grizz does, can use some companionship. So Grizz adopts a dog that will help out with the cattle rustling and the mountain lion chasing. But somehow Grizz ends up with a pretty, pampered poodle, not a fierce, brave canine. John Frank delights in this tale filled with vivid imagery and loveable cowboy characters, who end up getting tamed by a little poodle named Foofy. Narrator Ed Sala perfectly captures this delightful story of how the West got a little less wild.
Dyamonde Daniel has her eye on a new pair of red high-top sneakers. Following some bad advice from a classmate, she thinks she has the right idea to go about getting them - by demanding her mother buy them! Unfortunately for Dyamonde, Mrs. Daniel doesn't appreciate being told what to do and decides to teach her daughter a lesson. Soon Dyamonde finds herself in a clothing crisis, with almost zero to wear!
Dyamonde is furious. But she begins to realize that some people have troubles much greater than hers . . . including her friend, Isabel Martinez, whose family has suffered a real crisis. Deciding she must she must help the Martinez family, Dyamonde enlists the aid of everyone she knows to do so.
Witty and endearing, this heart-warming tale - read by Nikki Grimes herself - beautifully displays the difference between "wanting" and "needing."
When Dyamonde Daniel's friend Damaris suddenly becomes a picky eater, it doesn't take Dyamonde long to figure out the problem: Damaris is secretly dieting because some mean girls teased her about her weight. Dyamonde can't let her friend go on this way. But how can she make Damaris see that she is perfect just the way she is?
It turns out Damaris isn't the only one in their class facing this problem. A girl named Amberline is also being picked on the same way. Soon Dyamonde and Damaris discover that Amberline has a secret . . . a serious one.
Once again award-winning author Nikki Grimes tackles an important topic. Narrating herself, Nikki's warm and friendly voice enriches this delightful addition to her Dyamonde Daniel series with a combination of heart and humor that will engage young listeners from the very first words.
Dyamonde has just moved to a new school, and she's impatient for a best friend. Then Free shows up, and there's an even newer kid in class. Unfortunately, Free doesn't want to be friends. In fact, he's downright grouchy. Dyamonde is determined to find out what's bothering him. And when Dyamonde Daniel decides to do something, it usually gets done!
Dyamonde Daniel's best friend, Free, thinks he's poor. So when their teacher announces a big poetry contest, Free decides to enter - partly because he likes to rhyme, partly because he wants to be famous, but mostly because of the hundred dollar prize. Soon he's driving Dyamonde nuts with his crazy rhymes.
Free is not the only kid in class who's planning to enter the contest. So is Damaris Dancer, a quiet girl who is also bit mysterious. Naturally, Dyamonde sets out to learn the girl's secret. The question is, once you know someone's secret, what do you do with it?
How Dyamonde manages to weave a new friendship with an old one, and help both her friends find out important things about themselves, makes for another tremendously satisfying story about this city girl with a heart as big as all outdoors.Author Nikki Grimes returns with another deeply satisfying story for younger listeners. In this volume, this one featuring a poetry contest and a new classmate with a secret.
Space Case is a Children's Book-of-the-Month Club Selection, and parents with fond memories of the Nancy Drew mysteries will love sharing it with their children. When the jelly bean jar in a guessing contest disappears, third grader Nancy Drew and her friends Bess and George start to gather clues. If they can't find the missing candy, no one will get the nifty prize: a trip to Cosmic Kids Space Camp.
The free-spirited Anne Shirley has a beautiful way of looking at the world and touching our hearts.
In this, the third volume of the Anne of Green Gables series, the irrepressible Anne dreams of the woman she hopes to be when she decides to leave Green Gables and her beloved Prince Edward Island for college. She is eager for new adventure. But now she faces difficult choices involving her secret aspirations to be a writer and her hopes of finding the right person to marry.
Homesickness and a grumpy old math professor cause Anne to doubt she should be a Redmond College coed, even though her old friends Gilbert Blythe and Priscilla Grant are there to share the challenges and surprises. And when Anne is the recipient of unexpected marriage proposals from the most unlikely men, she may shock friends and Islanders alike with her decision.
Eleven-year-old Agnes Parker has always been your everyday girl. But this year, Agnes is determined to become a whole new person. Maybe not a whole new person exactly, but just a better version of the girl she's always been. Someone who's not such an easy target for bully-girls like Peggy Neidermeyer. Someone who is as cool and confident as her best friend, Prejean. Will the new Agnes Parker make it through a school year filled with new glasses, broken arms, and a cute new boy in school?
Twelve-year-old Fu and his temple brothers Malao, Seh, Hok, and Long don't know who their parents were. Raised from infancy by their grandmaster, they think of their temple as their home and their fellow warrior monks—their "temple brothers"—as their family. Then one terrible night the temple is destroyed by an army led by a former monk named Ying, whose heart is bent on revenge. Fu and his brothers are the only survivors. Charged by their grandmaster to uncover the secrets of their past, the five flee into the countryside and go their separate ways. Somehow, Grandmaster has promised, their pasts are connected to Ying's. Understanding that past is the key to shaping the future. Book One follows Fu as he struggles to find out more and prove himself in the process. Fu's name literally means "tiger," for he is the youngest-ever master of the fierce fighting style modeled after that animal.
Those fiesty Bindi Babes are back – and someone tougher than their auntie has moved in too!
Geena, Amber and Jazz throw a Bollywood party to raise funds for their school. They plan to deliver a real Bollywood actress for a live performance but their star turns out to more of a handful than they ever expected!
The Theatre Illuminata is home to every play ever written - and to Beatrice Shakespeare Smith ("Bertie" for short), who was left on its doorstep as an infant. Now she lives on its stage and consorts with spirits, pirates, kings, and... well, in short, every character ever to stride the boards.
Constantly accompanied (whether she wants to be or not) by four cake-obsessed fairies, Bertie can't seem to stay out of trouble. It's gotten so bad that management is ready to throw her out, unless she can - against all odds - prove her worth to the theater.
With its willful and engaging heroine, dazzling concept, and host of Shakespearian characters, Lisa Mantchev's debut novel is itself like a great piece of theatre. Shifting effortlessly from hilarity to romance to loss to redemption, it is bound to delight anyone who has ever dreamed of the stage.
Kyna has a deep-seated (and well-earned) fear of the water. So when her adoptive parents announce that they have rented a summer house on Lake Champlain, she begs to be left behind for the summer. Alas, this is not possible. Yet even at the lake Kyna does her best to avoid the water, exploring instead the forests and hillsides, documenting them with her camera. But when her new friend, Tylo, draws her into his quest for strange water creatures, Kyna finds herself pulled into unexpected discoveries - not only about the lake, but about her own strange heritage. A novel that pulses with a passion for nature and the natural world, Water Steps is rich with love and loss, longing and renewal, a bit of mystery and a touch of fantasy. With an extraordinary gift for dialect, author A. LaFaye brings its rhythms to vivid life in this haunting reading.
