Since moving hundreds of miles to a new school, Daria has become increasingly dependent on her cell phone. Texts, Facebook and phone calls are her only connection to her friends in Calgary, and Daria needs to know everything that is going on at home to feel connected to her old life. Her cell phone habit looks a lot like addiction to her mother and to her new friend Cleo. Daria dismisses the idea of technology addiction as foolish until her habit puts a life in danger.
Through twenty-six letters to her friend Nina, twelve-year-old Kasey chronicles the often humorous observations and impressions of her unexpected, month-long stay in a geriatric ward for the treatment of a rare but treatable bone disease ("osteo-something-something-itis"). Kasey tries to make her life less dull by wearing her own nightgowns, surrounding herself with her favorite stuffies and developing an unusual exercise routine. Hospital food, insomnia and the germy communal bath are enduring sources of dread, but some new (and unexpected) friends make her life bearable.
Fifteen-year-old Natalie is obsessed with ballet and plans to spend the entire summer in dance class with her two best friends. But when her mom gets a job out of town, Natalie gets shipped off to stay with cousins she barely knows. Natalie is thrilled when her cousins invite her to join them at the local dance studio. But it turns out it's not a ballet class; it's Irish dance. Skeptical at first, Natalie is surprised to learn she really enjoys the new dance style and agrees to take part in an upcoming competition. But this new passion could result in Natalie having to leave her ballet dreams behind.
Fourteen-year-old Ava is thrilled when she lands a part in a play based on the true story of orphans sent to Canada in the 1800s to work on farms. But is she good enough to hold her own in a professional production? As the rehearsal pressures crank up, Ava struggles with her character, with the vocal demands of outdoor theater and with the annoying ego of her castmate Kiefer. But as she learns more about the historical Lily on which her part is based, things begin to fall into place. Then one bad decision jeopardizes Ava's chances of being able to perform on opening night.
Provides factual information about the natural history of the California condor through the fictional story of a young boy's discovery of a young bird in trouble.
People have been decorating their bodies for thousands of years. Get the facts about tattoos, body piercing, and more. Then read "Death by Arsenic," a story about what happens when you start believing the ads.
Having finished his education at Blackstone School, Red Fox writes letters to his friend, Ellen, who is traveling in Europe, as he prepares to return to his family on the Nebraska plains.
Goop Gopherman, who has just won the Cy Young award for baseball pitching, confesses to his teammates and reporters how he became a star pitcher in the seventh grade, with a little luck and hard work, and the use of a secret invention.
Rifle barrels pointed at the family as they stepped into the open. Tilly cowered behind her father. "We're headed for St. Augustine," Kwaku explained. The men lowered their guns. "Where are you from?" one of them asked. "Are you runaways?" "Please let us go on our way," Catbird begged. "Get in the wagon," the man said. "These men are armed," Kwaku said quietly. "We must do as we are told." When everyone was aboard, the wagon rumbled on down the road. They were headed away from St. Augustine and their chance for freedom.
Cody Smith and his family are new in a small town. When he reads an article about a local woman who collects antique carousel horses and was sold a fake, Cody wants to solve the mystery and find the crook.
When Kanunu is captured and taken aboard a pirate ship, he finds adventures on new shores.
This book tells a story of best friends that get split up during World War II as they struggle to stay out of the Nazi concentration camps.
The Galaxy Diner is a great place to hang out and looks just like a spaceship, but things really get interesting when a group of friends think they find a real spaceship in the woods.
Fourteen-year-old Jonathan receives a message from a fish while diving in Hawaii and becomes concerned about ocean pollution.
A chance friendship with an elderly ex-magician helps Jared come to terms with the tensions in his own family.
Searching for a way to get revenge against school bullies, overweight Jared Springer develops a truth test that ultimately teaches him the truth about friendship
Two boys harassed by a group of rowdy kids at school get their revenge when they stumble into the school custodian's cleaning closet and find something very unusual.
The Baldwin family decides that they could make a better life for themselves in Oregon. This is the story of their journey to Rainbow Valley. Thirteen-year-old Cotton becomes responsible for seeing his family safely across country to Oregon where they will join his father.
African American twin brothers, one a slave on a Virginia plantation and one a free man in Pennsylvania, are reunited after years of separation when they accompany soldiers on opposing sides of the Civil War.
In a series of journal entries, a boy in Denmark recounts the role he and his friends played in the Resistance and reflects on being Jewish during World War II
When Walter overhears a lord's murder, he must reveal the true killer before his innocent friend is convicted.
While working together on a school report about the 1960s, Aleesa and Kenneth are transported to March 1968, where they suddenly realize that the death of Martin Luther King, Jr. is only days away.
Kelly, one of a group of students with special needs chosen to participate in Dolphin Dives, finds her voice again after not speaking for three years when one of the animals is threatened by a very angry boy.
After Byron receives a whipping for stealing a ham for his pregnant wife and she dies giving birth to twins, Byron decides to escape slavery via the Underground Railroad.
Bret, Marty, Dwight, and the other members of the Dodgers Little League baseball team are angry and want to get even with their arch rivals, the Pirates.
