Rosie has always taken care of herself and her mother in their house overlooking the coast of Maine. Her mother is very detached and doesn't always recognize her daughter, although she is able to keep up with her data entry job and bring in enough money that Rosie can order...

Maraniss, whose Strong Inside covered Black basketball player Perry Wallace, turns his incredible research skills the the story of Glenn Burke. While it is fascinating and noteworthy that Burke is documented as having delivered the first high five as we know it today, his story is important for a variety...

Sila's family has been happy in Oregon, even though her father, who is a mechanical engineer, has to work as a mechanic, and her mother is a cleaner in a hotel. The parents left Turkey because of political prosecution. After her mother found out that the women where she worked...

Jocelyn always looks forward to the vacation in a cabin that she and her friend Alex's family take every year. From doughnuts at the lumberjack themed diner to the ritual jumping in the lake, the girls have a settled routine from which they never waiver. This year, however, Alex is...

Hannah doesn't understand why her parents are SO overprotective, even though she occasionally has a hard time dealing with her asthma. She lives on Pelling, a small island outside of Seattle, and is glad that she has a chance to babysit for one of the few neighboring families. Usually, it's...

Bird, her twin brother Fitch, and their older brother Chase are all doing the best they can in 1986 Park, Delaware. They all have some interests; Bird likes machines and tinkering, Fitch likes arcade games, and Chase likes basketball but is struggling because he has been held behind a grade...

Daniel isn't all that sure why he was chosen to go on an outdoor experience trip with four other students from the brand new middle school he will be attending, but he's glad to get a break from his responsibilities at home. Project Future Leaders also includes Mia; a quiet...

Ellie lives in Washington D.C. and attends an elite school, even though the tuition is a stretch for her single mother. She and her friend Crystal work at a smoothie shop, and Ellie is super excited to be going to the birthday party of Andy, a schoolmate and customer on...

After her adventures in Charlie Thorne and the Last Equation, Charlie is hiding out in the Galapagos Islands in Ecuador, where she is renting a house, pretending to be 18, and keeping her head low. Since she is the only person to have Albert Einstein's Pandora code, her brother Gabriel...

Amari has struggled in the private school she attends on scholarship because the other students are mean to her, and since her brother Quinton's disappearance, things have gotten worse. She ends up pushing another student, and due to the school's zero tolerance policy, she looses her scholarship. Her mother, a...

Maggie has always wanted a dog. Her younger brothers Liam and Noah have each other, and her parents are expecting another baby, so she wants something that is just hers. The family goes to an animal shelter to adopt, and even finds a dog that is just perfect, but Maggie...

Jack Reynolds is the sort of kid that teachers put in the back of the classroom-- surrounded by all of the good kids, as a buffer. He's always trying to make people laugh with him so that they don't laugh at him. He's even posted videos on MyTube, including one...

Stick Dog and his friends are hungry. After a hilarious episode with a ketchup packet, they decide to go and get pizza at Pizza Palace. When they arrive there, they see a car with two humans and two cats who look vaguely family. It's Stick Cat, Stripes' soul mate! The...

These books appeal to everyone from strong emergent readers and stressed middle schoolers to librarians who have a secret desire to hide all of the Wimpy Kid books from 8th graders. These are cleverly written have great character development. While the plots are predictable (dogs need food; dogs go in...

Jo March is less than pleased with her publisher, who has not only made her artificially sweeten her novel, but has saddled it with the diminutive title Little Women. Still, her family desperately needs money, since her father still has not returned from the war, since he is helping with...