Zulaikha hopes. She hopes for peace, now that the Taliban have been driven from Afghanistan; a good relationship with her hard stepmother; and one day even to go to school, or to have her cleft palate fixed. Zulaikha knows all will be provided for her "Inshallah," God willing.
Then she meets Meena, who offers to teach her the Afghan poetry she taught her late mother. And the Americans come to her village, promising not just new opportunities and dangers, but surgery to fix her face. These changes could mean a whole new life for Zulaikhabut can she dare to hope they'll come true?
When George Brown spends the day at a water park, he ends up making a huge splash, just not the kind he intended. That's because trouble follows him like a shadow. It's not his fault. Really! Poor George is at the mercy of magic burps, burps that make him do wild and crazy things. Perfect for reluctant readers, this funny chapter book series is illustrated with more than forty black-and-white drawings that mirror the goofy mayhem.
"Anna Hibiscus lives in Africa. Amazing Africa. She lives with her whole family in a wonderful house. There is always somebody to laugh or play with. She loves to splash in the sea with her cousins and have parties with her aunties. But more than anything else in the world, Anna Hibiscus would love to see snow.
Lucas and his friends are still reveling in their city-wide middle school basketball championship when the trophy they won goes missing. Foul play is afoot, and it's going to take all their basketball and detective skills to find it.
New York Times best-selling author Brandon Sanderson's previous three Alcatraz books have set the stage for this, the epic conclusion to reluctant hero Alcatraz Smedry's conflict with the Evil Librarians- whose ranks include his own mother. The fate of Mokia and the Free Kingdoms rests in the hands of Alcatraz and his cadre of loyal friends. But their fight is made all the more harrowing when the Librarians unleash their army of giant killer robots onto the battlefield.
Prolific science writer Susan E. Goodman has delighted young audiences with her informative- and always entertaining- works. In It's a Dog's Life, Goodman explores such canine quandaries as, ''Why do dogs sniff everything?'' and ''What do they see when they look at a sunset?'' Goodman's engaging, humorous writing style grabs young listeners and proves the perfect vehicle for offering choice tidbits on canine evolution, breeds, and behavior.
Dan Gutman's critically acclaimed children's books have won numerous accolades, including the Booklist Editor's Choice and ALA Popular Paperbacks for Young People. In this seventh hilarious book in Gutman's My Weird School series, A.J. still hates school, but he's developed a giant crush on the school nurse, Mrs. Cooney. Unfortunately, a couple of A.J.'s classmates also like Mrs. Cooney-plus, she's married. And then things get even more confusing when A.J. begins to think his crush might be an international spy.
Publishers Weekly praises gifted author Leo Landry's Grin and Bear It as a "smart message about partnership, ingenuity, and pursuing one's goals." Bear wants to be a comedian. He dreams of performing onstage and making his friends laugh. The only problem is that Bear has stage fright. Performing in front of others makes his knees knock and his fur freeze. What's a bear to do? Hopefully, with a little help from his friends, Bear can find a way to achieve his goal.
School Library Journal hailed Michael J. Daley's Space Station Rat as a "thoughtful and satisfying adventure." Here Daley delights young listeners with his first early reader chapter book. Pinch really wants soup for lunch, but he's too lazy to make it himself. So he decides to pay a visit to his friend Dash. Together, Pinch and Dash attempt to make a cheesy spinach and potato soup. But will their effort be for nothing when they begin to disagree on the amount of pepper and hot sauce the soup needs?
In acclaimed author Josh Schneider's Theodor Seuss Geisel Award-winning book Tales for Very Picky Eaters, James' dad has to get creative to convince him to eat healthy foods. Given broccoli, James wants to know what else he can have. So his father offers tasty alternatives such as gum prechewed by children with very clean teeth and dirt walked on by cooks wearing the finest French boots. His father even has helpful suggestions for alternatives to eggs, lasagna, milk, and oatmeal-and soon, James realizes that healthy foods aren't so bad, after all.
Fourteen-year-old Terry has parents who never paid him much attention. So when they both disappear after one of their all-too-frequent arguments, Terry isn't exactly eager for them to come home. On his own, he occupies himself by assembling a car kit that's been collecting dust in the garage for years. When the car is finished, Terry is pleased to discover it actually runs. Though he doesn't know much about driving, he gets behind the wheel and heads west, with the notion of visiting an uncle in Oregon.
But Terry's plan takes a detour when he meets Shakespeare-quoting wanderer Waylon Jackson. The aging Vietnam vet has seen and done extraordinary things, and he is still hungry to learn more. With Waylon as his copilot, Terry ends up in locales as varied as a religious commune, a poker game in Deadwood, and Custer's Last Stand. It's an exciting and sometimes dangerous journey. Along the way, he learns a lot about people, about America - and ultimately, about himself.
"Besides evoking a type of independence and tough-mindedness that will appeal to teens, this provocative novel introduces and explores some interesting philosophies of life while stressing the value of learning from experience." -Publishers Weekly (starred review)
Emily Jenkins pens tales that spark the imagination of young readers. In this sequel to the wildly popular Toys Go Out, Lumphy, Stingray, and Plastic return for a whole new set of adventures. Their little girl is leaving for winter vacation, but she's forgotten to take them! In these rousing stories, the lovable toys spend their time alone surviving the perils of a blizzard, rescuing the toy mice from the vacuum, and, of course, having a rockin' dance party with the washing machine. ''Whether or not they are familiar with the toys' first round of adventures, chapter-book readers will welcome these gently humorous tales ''- Booklist
