Ephraim Appledore-Smith is an ordinary boy, and up until his

Ephraim Appledore-Smith is an ordinary boy, and up until his father's stroke he lived an ordinary
life. But all that changes when his family moves to the Water Castle-their ancestral home in the
small town of Crystal Springs. Mallory Green's family has always been the caretakers of the
Water Castle-and the guardians of its secrets. She has been raised to protect the legendary
Fountain of Youth, hidden on the estate grounds. But ever since her mom left, she's stopped
believing in magic. Will Wylie's family has been at war with the Applegates for generations, all
because of the Water Castle's powerful secrets. But Will has rejected legend and magic, putting
all his faith in science. When Ephraim learns of the Fountain, he's sure finding it can cure his
dad. With Mallory and Will's help, the trio embarks on a mission that brings them deep into their
families' shared history, through every secret room in the Water Castle, and on a quest that will
blur the lines of magic and science, creativity and discovery, leaving readers left to wonder: Do
you believe in the unbelievable?
A doll that may be haunted leads three friends on a thrilling adventure in this delightfully
creepy novel from the New York Times bestselling co-creator of the Spiderwick Chronicles.
Zach, Poppy, and Alice have been friends forever. And for almost as long, they’ve been playing
one continuous, ever-changing game of pirates and thieves, mermaids and warriors. Ruling over
all is the Great Queen, a bone-china doll cursing those who displease her.
But they are in middle school now. Zach’s father pushes him to give up make-believe, and Zach
quits the game. Their friendship might be over, until Poppy declares she’s been having dreams
about the Queen—and the ghost of a girl who will not rest until the bone-china doll is buried in
her empty grave.
Zach and Alice and Poppy set off on one last adventure to lay the Queen’s ghost to rest. But
nothing goes according to plan, and as their adventure turns into an epic journey, creepy things
begin to happen. Is the doll just a doll or something more sinister? And if there really is a ghost,
will it let them go now that it has them in its clutches?
For fans of To Kill a Mockingbird, The King's Speech, and The Help. A boy who stutters comes-of-age in
the segregated South, during the summer that changes his life.
An 11-year-old boy living in Memphis in 1959 throws the meanest fastball in town, but talking is a whole
different ball game. He can barely say a word without stuttering, not even his own name. So when he
takes over his best friend's paper route for the month of July, he knows he'll be forced to communicate
with the different customers, including a housewife who drinks too much and a retired merchant marine
who seems to know just about everything.
The paper route poses challenges, but it's a run-in with the neighborhood junkman, a bully and thief,
that stirs up real trouble--and puts the boy's life, as well as that of his family's devoted housekeeper, in
danger.
When Tony’s mother is sent to jail, he is sent to stay with a great uncle he has never met in
Sierra Nevada. It is a daunting move—Tony’s new world bears no semblance to his previous
one. But slowly, against a remote and remarkable backdrop, the scars from Tony’s troubled past
begin to heal.
With his Tió and a search-and-rescue dog named Gabe by his side, he learns how to track wild
animals, is welcomed to the Cowboy Church, and makes new friends at the Mountain School.
Most importantly though, it is through Gabe that Tony discovers unconditional love for the first
time, in Mountain Dog by Margarita Engle.
New York Times Best Seller Navigating Early by Clare Vanderpool, Newbery Medalist for
Moon Over Manifest, is an odyssey-like adventure of two boys' incredible quest on the
Appalachian Trail where they deal with pirates, buried secrets, and extraordinary encounters.
At the end of World War II, Jack Baker, a landlocked Kansas boy, is suddenly uprooted after his
mother's death and placed in a boy's boarding school in Maine. There, Jack encounters Early
Auden, the strangest of boys, who reads the number pi as a story and collects clippings about the
sightings of a great black bear in the nearby mountains. Newcomer Jack feels lost yet can't help
being drawn to Early, who won't believe what everyone accepts to be the truth about the Great
Appalachian Bear, Timber Rattlesnakes, and the legendary school hero known as The Fish, who
never returned from the war. When the boys find themselves unexpectedly alone at school, they
embark on a quest on the Appalachian Trail in search of the great black bear. But what they are
searching for is sometimes different from what they find. They will meet truly strange characters,
each of whom figures into the pi story Early weaves as they travel, while discovering things they
never realized about themselves and others in their lives.
Rita Williams-Garcia’s much-anticipated middle-grade novel P.S. Be Eleven is the sequel to her
New York Times bestseller One Crazy Summer, a Newbery Honor Book and winner of the
Coretta Scott King Award.
Eleven-year-old Brooklyn girl Delphine feels overwhelmed with worries and responsibilities.
She’s just started sixth grade and is self-conscious about being the tallest girl in the class, and
nervous about her first school dance. She’s supposed to be watching her sisters, but Fern and
Vonetta are hard to control. Her uncle Darnell is home from Vietnam and seems different. And
her pa has a girlfriend. At least Delphine can write to her mother in Oakland, California, for
advice. But why does her mother tell her to “be eleven” when Delphine is now twelve?
The historical novel, set in the 1960s, features vivid characters, insight into family relationships,
and a strong sense of place.
They became America’s first black paratroopers. Why was their story never told? Sibert
Medalist Tanya Lee Stone reveals the history of the Triple Nickles during World War II.
World War II is raging, and thousands of American soldiers are fighting overseas against the
injustices brought on by Hitler. Back on the home front, the injustice of discrimination against
African Americans plays out as much on Main Street as in the military. Enlisted black men are
segregated from white soldiers and regularly relegated to service duties. At Fort Benning,
Georgia, First Sergeant Walter Morris’s men serve as guards at The Parachute School, while the
white soldiers prepare to be paratroopers. Morris knows that for his men to be treated like
soldiers, they have to train and act like them, but would the military elite and politicians
recognize the potential of these men as well as their passion for serving their country? Tanya Lee
Stone examines the role of African Americans in the military through the history of the Triple
Nickles, America’s first black paratroopers, who fought in a little-known attack on the American
West by the Japanese. The 555th Parachute Infantry Battalion, in the words of Morris, "proved
that the color of a man had nothing to do with his ability."
From Courage Has No Color
What did it take to be a paratrooper in World War II? Specialized training, extreme physical
fitness, courage, and — until the 555th Parachute Infantry Battalion (the Triple Nickles) was
formed — white skin.
It is 1943. Americans are overseas fighting World War II to help keep the world safe from Adolf
Hitler’s tyranny, safe from injustice, safe from discrimination. Yet right here at home, people
with white skin have rights that people with black skin do not.
What is courage? What is strength? Perhaps it is being ready to fight for your nation even when
your nation isn’t ready to fight for you.
In Jack's world, Hokey Pokey is a place where kids are truly free. He and his friends, LaJo and
Dusty, roam Hokey Pokey from morning 'til night and then sleep where they drop. They cruise
through Great Plains where the wild herds of stallion-like bikes run free. They wander through
places known as Tantrums, Hippodrome, Gorilla Hill, and Snuggle Stop. Adults are non-existent
except for the Hokey Pokey Man who mysteriously appears only to serve crushed ice in every
flavor under the sun.
Their bikes are sacred creatures, friends stick up for each other and girls and boys are sworn
enemies. There is no tomorrow. There is only today, and it is a day filled with ball games, Tarzan
calls, cartoons, and bike races. Yes, there are wars fought with pretend weapons, the boys and
girls call each other names and there is a bully named Destroyer who preys on young, innocent
victims, but mostly this place is filled with freedom and pleasure. Oh, but there are a few basic
rules:
"Never pass a puddle without stomping in it. Never go to sleep until the last minute. Never go
near Forbidden Hut. Never kiss a girl."
This is the only world Jack has ever known. It is safe and familiar, and he has never considered
anything beyond it, that is, until now. Everything changes on the morning that he wakes up to
find that his bike, Scramjet, is missing. It turns out that Jubilee, that girl he hates, has taken it,
and his immediate reaction is to round up his friends and get the bike back. But as the day goes
on, Jack realizes that he has more to deal with than just a stolen bike. He isn't sure exactly what's
going on, but his Hokey Pokey tattoo is fading, and he has a feeling that today may be his last
one in Hokey Pokey.
In Laura Moriarty's extraordinary first novel, a young girl tries to make sense of an unruly world
spinning around her. Growing up with a single mother who is chronically out of work and dating
a married man, 10-year old Evelyn Bucknow learns early how to fend for herself.
Offering an affecting portrayal of a troubled mother/daughter relationship, one in which the
daughter is very often expected to play the role of the adult, the novel also gives readers a
searing rendering of the claustrophobia of small town midwestern life, as seen through the eyes
of a preteen girl. Evelyn must come to terms with the heartbreaking lesson of first love -- that not
all loves are meant to be -- and determine who she is and who she wants to be. Stuck in the
middle of Kansas, between best friends, and in the midst of her mother's love, Evelyn finds
herself . . . in The Center of Everything.
From Anne Ursu, the author of one of the most widely acclaimed middle-grade novels in recent
memory, comes a new fairy-tale adventure of magic and friendship.
On an island at the edge of an immense sea there is a city, a forest, and a boy. The city is called
Asteri, a perfect city that was saved by the magic woven into its walls from a devastating plague
that swept through the world over a hundred years before. The forest is called the Barrow, a vast
wood of ancient trees that encircles the city and feeds the earth with magic. And the boy is called
Oscar, a shop boy for the most powerful magician in the Barrow. Oscar spends his days in a
small room in the dark cellar of his master's shop grinding herbs and dreaming of the wizards
who once lived on the island generations ago. Oscar's world is small, but he likes it that way. The
real world is vast, strange, and unpredictable. And Oscar does not quite fit in.
But it's been a long time since anyone who could call himself a wizard walked the world, and
now that world is changing. Children in the city are falling ill and something sinister lurks in the
forest. Oscar has been content to stay in his small room in the cellar, comforted in the knowledge
that the magic that flows from the trees will keep his island safe. Now, even magic may not be
enough to save it...
From NYT bestselling author Blue Balliett, the story of a girl who falls into Chicago's shelter
system, and from there must solve the mystery of her father's strange disappearance.
Where is Early's father? He's not the kind of father who would disappear. But he's gone . . . and
he's left a whole lot of trouble behind.
As danger closes in, Early, her mom, and her brother have to flee their apartment. With nowhere
else to go, they are forced to move into a city shelter. Once there, Early starts asking questions
and looking for answers. Because her father hasn't disappeared without a trace. There are
patterns and rhythms to what's happened, and Early might be the only one who can use them to
track him down and make her way out of a very tough place.
With her signature, singular love of language and sense of mystery, Blue Balliett weaves a story
that takes readers from the cold, snowy Chicago streets to the darkest corner of the public library,
on an unforgettable hunt for deep truths and a reunited family.
In an extraordinary debut novel, an escaped fugitive upends everything two siblings think
they know about their family, their past, and themselves.
When eleven-year-old Annie first started lying to her social worker, she had been taught by an
expert: Gran. "If you’re going to do something, make sure you do it with excellence," Gran
would say. That was when Gran was feeling talkative, and not brooding for days in her room —
like she did after telling Annie and her little brother, Rew, the one thing they know about their
father: that he was killed in a fight with an angry man who was sent away. Annie tells stories,
too, as she and Rew laze under the birches and oaks of Zebra Forest — stories about their father
the pirate, or pilot, or secret agent. But then something shocking happens to unravel all their
stories: a rattling at the back door, an escapee from the prison holding them hostage in their own
home, four lives that will never be the same. Driven by suspense and psychological intrigue,
Zebra Forest deftly portrays an unfolding standoff of truth against family secrets — and offers an
affecting look at two resourceful, imaginative kids as they react and adapt to the hand they’ve
been dealt.
After leaving Uncle Chester's homestead claim, orphan Hattie Brooks throws a lasso around a
new dream, even bigger than the Montana sky. She wants to be a reporter, knowing full well that
a few pieces published in the Arlington News will not suffice. Real reporters must go to Grand
Places, and do Grand Things, like Hattie's hero Nellie Bly. Another girl might be stymied by
this, but Hattie has faced down a hungry wolf and stood up to a mob of angry men. Nothing can
squash her desire to write for a big city newspaper. A letter and love token from Uncle Chester's
old flame in San Francisco fuels that desire and Hattie jumps at the opportunity to get there by
working as a seamstress for a traveling acting troupe. This could be her chance to solve the
mystery of her "scoundrel" uncle and, in the process, help her learn more about herself. But
Hattie must first tell Charlie that she will not join him in Seattle. Even though her heart approves
of Charlie's plan for their marriage, her mind fears that saying yes to him would be saying no to
herself. Hattie holds her own in the big city, literally pitching her way to a byline, and a career
that could be even bigger than Nellie Bly's. But can making headlines compensate for the pain of
betrayal and lost love? Hattie must dig deep to find her own true place in the world. Kirby
Larson once again creates a lovingly written novel about the remarkable and resilient young
orphan, Hattie Inez Brooks.
“An adventure, a mystery, and a love song to the natural world. . . . Run out and read it. Right
now.”—Newbery Medalist Karen Cushman
In the town of Placid, Wisconsin, in 1871, Georgie Burkhardt is known for two things: her
uncanny aim with a rifle and her habit of speaking her mind plainly.
But when Georgie blurts out something she shouldn't, her older sister Agatha flees, running off
with a pack of "pigeoners" trailing the passenger pigeon migration. And when the sheriff returns
to town with an unidentifiable body—wearing Agatha's blue-green ball gown—everyone
assumes the worst. Except Georgie. Refusing to believe the facts that are laid down (and
coffined) before her, Georgie sets out on a journey to find her sister. She will track every last
clue and shred of evidence to bring Agatha home. Yet even with resolute determination and her
trusty Springfield single-shot, Georgie is not prepared for what she faces on the western frontier.