Nine-year-old Lara is the daughter of the leader of her cattle-raising clan. While she spends her days tending to the cattle, her heart lies with her beloved gray mare. When Lara goes to the highlands to set the cattle out to graze, she finds the mare in the process of a difficult birth. Lara vows to take care of the foal as a dying promise to the gray mare, and with the help of a childless milk-cow, she cares for the spindly-legged filly. But just when she is confident that the foal can survive, a rival clan captures them both, and throws Lara's life into turmoil. When the filly is eventually given to a titled baron in the castle town of Athenry, Lara, determined to stay with the horse no matter what, goes along. Together, she and her beloved horse face seemingly insurmountable challenges, but all along Lara keeps two things in mind. One day, she will manage to flee, and will set off in search of the family that she was taken from. And she will not leave without her silver mare.
Orphaned at age six and taken in by a heartless couple, nine-year-old Katie Rose spends her days doing chores and dreaming of going west to find her Uncle Jack. Then Mr. Stevens brings home an unbroken Mustang, and Katie's world changes. Katie is drawn to the horse's wildness, and he seems to sense her need for companionship.
From award-winning author Sarah Weeks comes the sweet story of a girl learning to cope with the loss of her mother.
Melody never knew her mother. She died just after Melody was born, and it's been just her and her father for nearly eleven years now. Compared to the stories she's heard of her mother's remarkable personality, Melody feels completely unremarkable.
And then her father starts acting mysterious. Determined to figure out what's wrong, Melody follows some leads to a nail salon, where she makes new friends, and even finds an old one from her mother's past. But friends aren't enough when Melody discovers that she's going to get a new stepmother, one she detests.
And what she wishes for more than anything . . . is to have her mother to talk to. So much for an eleventh birthday surprise, right?
Told with a generous helping of heart and humor as only Sarah Weeks can, HONEY tells the sweet story of a girl whose eleventh birthday brings the most important gift of all.
Oh, honestly! Arizona learns the difference between honesty, and tact. Arizona's siblings, Tex and Indi, get into an argument about missing craft supplies. Is someone lying, or are they telling the truth? It's better to not tell a fib, and be honest in the first place. Stories by Lissa Rovetch.
In this companion to Openly Straight, Ben confronts pressure at school, repression at home, and his passion for two very different people in figuring out what it takes to be Honestly Ben.
Ben Carver is back to normal. He's working steadily in his classes at the Natick School. He just got elected captain of the baseball team. He's even won a full scholarship to college, if he can keep up his grades. All that foolishness with Rafe Goldberg the past semester is in the past.
Except...
There's Hannah, the gorgeous girl from the neighboring school, who attracts him and distracts him. There's his mother, whose quiet unhappiness Ben is noticing for the first time. School is harder, the pressure higher, the scholarship almost slipping away. And there's Rafe, funny, kind, dating someone else . . . and maybe the real normal that Ben needs.
Perfect for fans of David Levithan, Andrew Smith, and John Green, Honestly Ben is a smart, laugh-out-loud novel that will speak to anyone who's struggled to be "honestly ____________" in some part of their lives.
June can't tell a lie - and that made for a lot of drama even before she joined her school musical! Tween readers won't want to miss this relatable and magical new series. Honestly.
June has a hard time telling the truth when it isn't what people want to hear. But she's trying to be honest with herself, and auditioning for the school musical is a step in the right direction! It's what she wants -- even if her parents have other ideas.
But the drama is brewing offstage, too, and on the night of the play, June's secret blog is released to the whole school. ALL of the inner secrets that she's been desperate to keep to herself are unleashed! Will her friends and family forgive her for the lies? Or is her carefully-constructed life going to come crashing down?
Middle school is hard-but it's way harder when a fairy godmother puts you under a truth-telling spell!
June has always been a people-pleaser, telling harmless little lies to make her friends and family happy. She's convinced being honest about her feelings will only hurt the people she loves!
Until, out of nowhere, a secret fairy godmother appears to 'bless' her with the ability to only tell the truth! Seriously?! As if June didn't have enough to worry about!
Now, June has no choice but to be honest about how she feels. And the truth is: what June feels is stressed out. Middle school is no joke-between field hockey, friend drama, and her parents' high expectations, June feels so overwhelmed that sometimes it's hard to breathe.
When everything spirals out of control, will June find freedom in telling the whole truth and nothing but-or is she destined to battle the curse for the rest of her life?
Dungeons & Dragons meets Jumanji in the second book in the laugh-out-loud adventure series Homerooms and Hall Passes!
Months after saving suburbia from destruction, our heroes are back to their old lives of dungeon delving and magical quests. All except the wizard Albiorix, who has given up adventuring and uses his time trying (unsuccessfully) to create his own board game.
When the party finds their old friend June Westray’s smartphone for sale in a Bríandalörian bazaar, however, they fear the Realm of Suburbia is under threat.
Thus, the five young adventurers must travel back into Homerooms & Hall Passes, a role-playing game where they assume the characters of average American kids. This time they’re at Level 9 and will face a whole new set of challenges: their freshman year of high school!
There are different cliques, different rules, and higher stakes. And if that wasn’t stressful enough, the heroes must track down an evil spellbook, defeat a sinister foe, and figure out how to get back home . . . .
“You can’t help falling in love with this hilarious upside-down take on Dungeons & Dragons. I read; I cheered; I laughed out loud.”—Gordon Korman on Homerooms and Hall Passes
"You can't help falling in love with this hilarious upside-down take on Dungeons & Dragons. I read; I cheered; I laughed out loud."-Gordon Korman
In the mystical realm of Bríandalör, every day the brave and the bold delve into hidden temples or forgotten dungeons, battling vile monsters and evil wizards to loot their treasure hoards for sweet, sweet magic items.
But in their free time, our heroes-Thromdurr the mighty barbarian, Devis the shifty thief, Vela the noble paladin, Sorrowshade the Gloom Elf assassin, and Albiorix the (good!) wizard-need to relax and unwind.
That's why they meet up once a week to play Homerooms & Hall Passes: a role-playing game where they assume the characters of average American eighth graders.
But when the five young adventurers are magically transported into their H&H game by an ancient curse, they must band together to survive their toughest challenge yet: middle school.
Who knew that battling ogres would be easier than passing algebra or navigating the cafeteria social scene? They must use what they've learned from playing Homerooms & Hall Passes to figure out how to save their game world (which might actually be real...).
Dungeons & Dragons meets Jumanji in this new, laugh-out-loud adventure series from the author of the beloved Hamstersaurus Rex series.
In James Patterson's first highly illustrated "diary fiction" story for teens, the mega-bestselling author's most endearing and original teen heroine ever proves that everyone can use a helping hand once in a while.
Margaret "Cuckoo" Clarke recently had a brief stay in a mental institution following an emotional breakdown, but she's turning over a new leaf with her "Operation Happiness". She's determined to beat down the bad vibes of the Haters, the Terror Teachers, and all of the trials and tribulations of high school by writing and drawing in her diary. And when life gets really tough, she works through her own moments of uncertainty through imaginary conversations with her favorite literary characters.
Cuckoo's also got a nearly impossible mission: she, along with her misfit band of self-deprecating friends (who call themselves "the Freakshow") decide to bridge the gap between warring cliques and "bring the Nations together". Not everyone is so willing to join hands and get along, but Cuckoo never stops smiling... until one of her closest friends, pushed to desperation by a Hater prank, decides that enough is enough.
Welcome to Centerburg! Where you can win a hundred dollars by eating all the doughnuts you want; where houses are built in a day; and where a boy named Homer Price can foil four slick bandits using nothing but his wits and pet skunk.
The comic genius of Robert McCloskey and his wry look at small-town America has kept readers in stitches for generations!
A homing pigeon teams up with a parrot and their humans to investigate an animal crime spree in this action-packed detective story from Henry Cole.
Homing pigeon Homer and his parrot friend Lulu learn something is afoul when they witness four-legged criminals stealing valuables from both the animal and human communities. Lulu and Homer track down the bandits, but need human help to stop them for good. Can they lead their human keepers to the culprits’ hideout and stop the thieves?
Award-winning author-illustrator Henry Cole offers a fun, action-packed middle grade mystery that will keep listeners guessing if the crime-solving pigeon will get his guy. A supporting cast of animals and humans forms a community that will have every listener wishing they could join in the hunt.
