Hank LOVES baseball. L-O-V-E-S it! Unfortunately, though, he's not very good at the game. So everyone is surprised--including Hank himself--when Hank throws a zinger pitch at a practice for P.S. 87's annual School Olympiad baseball game. Hank knows how he pitched the "Zippity Zinger"--it must have happened because he accidentally wore his sister Emily's lucky monkey socks! Because of that stellar pitch, Hank has been chosen to pitch for P.S. 87 for the Big Game. The pressure is on--Hank's got to wear those socks again, or risk blowing the biggest ball game of his life. The only problem is, Emily wants to wear the lucky monkey socks herself since she's competing in the Brain Buster for the Olympiad. Will Hank be able to pull off another Zippity Zinger--or will he strike out?
Love is in the air at William Gladstone Middle School, and even super-rational Emma-Jean Lazarus is carried away. Her heart flutters in the most peculiar manner whenever she sees Will Keeler. Does this mean that she should invite Will to the upcoming seventh-grade dance? Emma-Jean’s new friends say no, but how can they be sure?
And what about the mysterious note that Colleen has discovered in her locker? Finally Colleen has a boy who likes her! Just thinking about him makes Colleen feel brave and strong. And she is convinced that her genius friend Emma-Jean will find out who it is so Colleen can ask him to the dance.
But as Emma-Jean knows, nothing is simple in the seventh-grade wing, where misunderstandings lead to disaster. And this latest adventure takes Emma-Jean into the most mysterious and irrational place of all: her own heart.
David Almond's Printz Honor-winning novel celebrates its 10th anniversary!Ten-year-old Michael was looking forward to moving into a new house. But now his baby sister is ill, his parents are frantic, and Doctor Death has come to call. Michael feels helpless. Then he steps into the crumbling garage. . . . What is this thing beneath the spiders' webs and dead flies? A human being, or a strange kind of beast never before seen? The only person Michael can confide in is his new friend, Mina. Together, they carry the creature out into the light, and Michael's world changes forever. . . .From the Trade Paperback edition.
The countdown to college has begun.
When Elizabeth receives her freshman-year roommate assignment at the beginning of summer, she shoots off an email to coordinate the basics: TV, microwave, mini-fridge. She can't wait to escape her New Jersey beach town, and her mom, and start life over in California.
The first note to Lauren in San Francisco comes as a surprise; she had requested a single. But if Lauren's learned anything from being the oldest of six, it's that you can't always get what you want, especially when what you want is privacy.
Soon the girls are emailing back and forth, sharing secrets even though they've never met. With family relationships and childhood friendships strained by change, it suddenly seems that the only people Elizabeth and Lauren can rely on are the complicated new boys in their lives...and each other.
With humor and heart, Sara Zarr, National Book Award finalist for Story of a Girl, and Tara Altebrando, acclaimed author of The Pursuit of Happiness, join forces for a novel about that time after high school, when everything feels like it's ending just as it's beginning.
Piper Reed and her fellow Gypsy Club members are in need of a clubhouse. Raising money to buy one proves to be a challenge. Piper, being the resourceful fifth-grader that she is, launches her own party planning business and gets her first job throwing young Brady’s birthday celebration. But things don’t go as expected on the day of the big event. Fortunately for Piper, her friends and family come to the rescue!
Dear Friends,
I am leaving in rather a hurry to see more of the world, so I have no time to say goodbye to you individually. I embrace you all and sniff you with love.
I don’t know when I’ll be back. But back I will be.
--Dominic
It’s time for a change, so Dominic packs a few things and heads out, letting the world take him where it may. When Dominic encounters members of the Doomsday Gang, he easily foils their attempt to rob him. Legend of his victory quickly spreads, and each new friend Dominic meets tells him a story of their own less-fortunate meeting with the villains, and asks for help from the heroic dog. But can one lone dog bring down an entire band of hooligans?
A luminous retelling of the Snow Queen, this is the story of unlikely heroine Ophelia Jane Worthington-Whittard who doesn't believe in anything that can't be proven by science. She and her sister Alice are still grieving for their dead mother when their father takes a job in a strange museum in a city where it always snows. On her very first day in the museum Ophelia discovers a boy locked away in a long forgotten room. He is a prisoner of Her Majesty the Snow Queen. And he has been waiting for Ophelia's help.
As Ophelia embarks on an incredible journey to rescue the boy everything that she believes will be tested. Along the way she learns more and more about the boy's own remarkable journey to reach her and save the world.
A story within a story, this a modern day fairytale is about the power of friendship, courage and love, and never ever giving up.
What if your parents agreed to disagree?
Eight-and-a-half years ago, when their beautiful baby girl was born, Mr. and Mrs. Puddle couldn’t agree on what to name her. So Mrs. Puddle calls her daughter Emily and Mr. Puddle calls her Ferdinanda. And everyone else? They call her Baby.
Having parents who agree to disagree does mean twice as many presents on your birthday, but it can complicate your life! There was the time Baby’s parents couldn’t agree on what kind of dog to get–so they got two, both named Sally. One summer day, when rushing back to the city from their country house, the Puddles leave the Sallys behind. Will the Puddles agree to go back? What will become of the Sallys?
Kate Feiffer’s debut novel is by turns funny, heartwarming, and wholly satisfying. Let the Puddle family into your heart. You will be glad you did.
Mr. Heavy Legs walked past Cooper and got into the jeep. He turned on the ignition and backed up to Cooper. He handed him a card with a single phone number on it. “I’m not forcing you to come, kid. Not yet. But things are going to start happening fast. Very fast. Call if you want me. And one thing more: Next time I see you, I won’t be asking you to come.”
“Do you know what happened to my father?”
“Of course I do,” said Mr. Heavy Legs.
Then he drove away.
“You’re my first boy, Cooper, my first boy,” his grandfather tells him just before he dies. Now, fourteen-year-old Cooper Jewett has no one, not even a dog to keep him company. The only thing that keeps him going is looking after the dairy farm.
All of a sudden, strange and inexplicable things begin to happen. Big men in suits with black sedans are all over Cooper’s small New Hampshire town. The President of the United States invites Cooper for a chat at her headquarters. Her opponent insists that Cooper join him on his campaign. Cooper’s house is searched at night, and his barn is burned down. His neighbors, even the sheriff, are behaving strangely. Why?
A ghost saved12-year-old Maddie's life when she was an infant, her Granny Lane claims, so Maddie must always remember that she is special. But it's hard to feel special when you've spent your life being shuttled from one foster home to another. And now that she's at the East Tennessee Children's Home, Maddie feels, well, less than ordinary. Six-year-old Ricky Ray, who came to the Home after his parents failed to come back from a party, thinks Maddie's the cat's meow. But what does a little boy like that know?
Maddie can't stop looking for a place to call home or for people who feel like home. She even makes a "book of houses," where she glues pictures of places in which she yearns to live. Then one day, a new girl, Murphy, shows up at the Home armed with tales about exotic travels, being able to fly, and boys who recite poetry to wild horses. Maddie is enchanted....Maybe, just maybe, she's found someone who feels like home and she lets her guard down. She shows Murphy her beloved scrapbook, never anticipating that this one gesture will challenge her very ideas of what home, and family, are all about.
With her astonishing ability to create characters who linger with you long after you turn the last page, Frances O'Roark Dowell explores the many definitions, both heartbreaking and awe-inspiring, of home and family.
Elizabeth is an only child, new to town, and that can be very lonely. So when she meets Jennifer, a girl from her school - who claims to be a witch no less - she is eager to become her apprentice. Over the course of the next several months, the girls meet on Saturdays for their weekly rituals and read volumes on witchcraft in hopes of developing a flying ointment. But they do not find the best magic in Jennifer's black cauldron.
If you thought Olivia Kidney's last apartment building was weird, wait until you see her new home! A lagoon in the living room. A room in which a person's every thought can be heard. Strangers showing up at all hours of the night to practice bumping into walls! And, of course, there are the ghosts. Why do they always seem to follow Olivia around? And why was Olivia invited to live at this strange place? Everything eventually falls into place when she meets a young woman in a coma, and Olivia realizes she has just as much ability to speak to the living as she does the dead.
