A heartfelt middle-grade novel from New York Times bestselling author Barbara O'Connor about a boy whose life is upended after the loss of his older brother?timeless, classic, and whimsical. Walter Tipple is looking for adventure. He keeps having a dream that his big brother, Tank, appears before him and says, "Let's you and me go see my world, little man." But Tank went to the army and never came home, and Walter doesn't know how to see the world without him. Then he meets Posey, the brash new girl from next door, and an eccentric man named Banjo, who's off on a bodacious adventure of his own. What follows is a summer of taking chances, becoming braver, and making friends?and maybe Walter can learn who he wants to be without the brother he always wanted to be like. Halfway to Harmony is an utterly charming story about change and growing up.
A middle grade memoir from a living literary legend, giving listeners a new perspective on the origins of Gary Paulsen's famed survival stories.
His name is synonymous with high-stakes wilderness survival stories. Now, beloved author Gary Paulsen portrays a series of life-altering moments from his turbulent childhood as his own original survival story. If not for his summer escape from a shockingly neglectful Chicago upbringing to a North Woods homestead at age five, there never would have been a Hatchet. Without the encouragement of the librarian who handed him his first book at age thirteen, he may never have become a reader. And without his desperate teenage enlistment in the Army, he would not have discovered his true calling as a storyteller.
A moving and enthralling story of grit and growing up, Gone to the Woods is perfect for newcomers to the voice and lifelong fans alike, from the acclaimed author at his rawest and realest.
A Macmillan Audio production from Farrar, Straus and Giroux
The third book in this heart-warming series about the residents of Poppy's Place cat café!
Poppy's Place is up and running, but Isla is frustrated by the time it's taking to rehome the cats. Then she has a purr-fect idea - they could host a cat adoption event on Valentine's Day, to match the perfect cat with the perfect owner. But just as the plans for the Great Cat-acular are coming together disaster strikes - Poppy's Place is flooded! Can Isla come up with a plan to relocate their big event and save the day?
The fourth book in this heart-warming series about the residents of Poppy's Place cat café!
It's the Easter holidays and Isla can't wait to spend two whole weeks with the cats at Poppy's Place, including the two new cats from Dolly's farm - Sylvie, a friendly three-legged cat, and a timid ginger cat without a name. But she soon finds she's got other things on her mind - the appearance of a thin black cat in the garden and Mum's weird and secretive behaviour. Then Isla spots Mum outside a jeweller's with Mr Black holding a small bag and puts two and two together - could the bag contain a ring? Amidst all of this, Isla's cousin Seb is causing problems in the café with his constant practical jokes and Isla determines to get her own back with a special Easter egg surprise and a little help from Gran.
As Isla's suspicions escalate, things come to a head when Milo overhears her talking to Tilda about Mum and Mr Black and locks himself in his room. Mum has a lot of explaining to do - and Isla's in for a surprise, but not quite the one she was expecting.
And there's a happy ending for the mystery cat, too, as Poppy's Place works its magic in the most unusual way!
In this poignant, perceptive, witty novel, Gary D. Schmidt brings authenticity and emotion to multiple plot strands, weaving in themes of grief, loss, redemption, achievement, and love. Following the death of her closest friend in summer 1968, Meryl Lee Kowalski goes off to St. Elene's Preparatory Academy for Girls, where she struggles to navigate the venerable boarding school's traditions and a social structure heavily weighted toward students from wealthy backgrounds. In a parallel story, Matt Coffin has wound up on the Maine coast near St. Elene's with a pillowcase full of money lifted from the leader of a criminal gang, fearing the gang's relentless, destructive pursuit. Both young people gradually dispel their loneliness, finding a way to be hopeful and also finding each other.
In The Pout-Pout Fish and the Bully-Bully Shark, the New York Times bestselling character teaches a bully shark about kindness and being a friend in Deborah Diesen and Dan Hanna's original audiobook. Swim along as he discovers the strength of his community, and the power of his own voice.
Mr. Fish and all his friends
Love to play down at the park.
But that ends when they’re bullied
By a misbehaving shark!
Mr. Fish wants to help.
He knows bullying is wrong!
But he’s just one fish—
Is he really that strong?
A Macmillan Audio production from Farrar, Straus and Giroux
They thought the fears were gone. They thought the nightmares would stop haunting them. But the five of them were wrong. They're older now. They're friends. But that friendship can be shattered so easily when life turns scary again. It was bad enough when it was just clowns and sharks and snakes. Back then, they had to conquer their own fear. Now . . . they have to conquer everyone else's.
International Reading Association Children's Book Award winner Margaret Peterson Haddix returns to the world of Just Ella for this enchanting book about a princess in peril. Disguised as a peasant, Cecilia has been hiding for years from the evil people who killed her parents. Now the time has come to reclaim her title. There's just one problem. Princess Desmia-supposedly Cecilia's decoy-believes a different version of the story.
These fully-dramatized, true-to-life, character-building adventures exemplify the high moral values so necessary for successful living. Some of the life lessons included in this album are: temperance, choosing your friends, forgiveness, overcoming handicaps, price of disobedience, and the value of little things. Exciting, educational, and entertaining!
Eleven-year-old Stevie is an avid reader and knows a lot of things about a lot of things. She knows how to send Morse code through her bedroom wall to her mom. She knows the names of the constellations. And she knows that an octopus has three hearts and nine brains. Knowing things makes her feel safe, powerful, and in control should anything bad happen. But there's one more thing Stevie doesn't know, one thing she wants to understand above everything else, and one thing she isn't quite ready to share with her mom: the fizzy feeling she gets in her chest when she looks at her friend Chloe. What does it mean, and why isn't she ready to talk about it? In this poetic exploration of identity and anxiety, Stevie must confront her fears to find inner freedom, all while discovering it is our connections with others that make us stronger.
Dive into this middle-grade novel about competitive swimming, changing friendships, and finding your place.
Thirteen-year-old Annabelle struggles in school, no matter how hard she tries. But as soon as she dives into the pool, she's unstoppable. She's the fastest girl on the middle school swim team, and when she's asked to join the high school team over the summer, everything changes. Suddenly, she's got new friends, and a high school boy starts treating her like she's somebody special-and Annabelle thinks she'll finally stand out in a good way. She'll do anything to fit in and help the team make it to the Labor Day Invitational, even if it means blowing off her old friends. But after a prank goes wrong, Annabelle is abandoned by the older boy and can't swim. Who is she without the one thing she's good at? Heartwarming and relatable, Up for Air is a story about where we find our self-worth.
