Zinny Weston has been Ava's best friend since the moment they met. Ava loves animals, but Zinny's idea of a pet is a fur coat. When the Weston’s get a fishpond in their backyard, Ava thinks Zinny might finally be turning into an animal lover. Then ...
"Will appeal to young readers who will also find themselves learning a bit about the meaning of Hanukkah...Warm and funny." -- School Library JournalMarla Feinstein, the only Jewish kid in her fourth-grade class, hates December. While everyone else i...
Unlike January, which had begun so great with Mom giving up cigarettes and Mike being seated next to me, February stunk from the start. Mitzi's mom is trying desperately to quit smoking, and the only thing driving Mitzi crazier than her mother's moo...
Hillary Siegal and her footloose parents live on the road. To Hillary, each move is an escape from becoming one of the "sleepwalkers" she's seen at all of the seventeen schools she's attended. But then the Siegals land in Ashwater, California. And th...
Every summer John flies to Los Angeles for his visit with Dad. But one week a year isn't a lot of time for father/son bonding, particularly when your father is a workaholic who never seems to have time for his son. Not to mention that Dad alway...
Summer has always been Gwen's favorite time of year. But this summer, everything has gone wrong. The newspaper's union workers are on strike and it seems like the whole town-including Gwen's family-has taken up sides. Sick of moping around and wonder...
Abby, Bess, and Cristy are best friends-period, end of story. Until Bess said, "Zack's cute," and the two words sent the three friends into a tailspin. Zack, you see, was Abby's long, long, longtime crush. Gasp! Poor Abby has never even worried about...
When three popular girls go on trial in Government class for their ruthless bullying of a girl named Ivy, it seems like the misfit will finally get her revenge. Eight first-person narrators give different versions of the event: Ivy--this victim doesn...
As if it isn't bad enough to have cancer, practically every time we pick up a book or hear about a character in a movie who gets sick, we know they'll be dead by the last scene. In reality, kids get all kinds of cancers, go through unspeakable tortur...
A TIMELY, WARMHEARTED NOVEL ABOUT LIFE IN HARD ECONOMIC TIMES. Jacki’s ninthâ€"grade teacher is always going on about the unemployment index and the recession, but nothing sinks in until her mom is laid off and everything seems to cost more than...
The girls: Maya, Brianna, Darcy, Renee?and popular, fascinating, dangerous Candace. Five friends ruled by one ringleader who plays games to test their loyalty?and then decides who's in the group and who's out. Each of the girls has her say in this ...
In her diary, eleven-year-old Robyn describes her family's visit to Austria, from the disastrous theft of their luggage to adventures in the countryside, while she tries to recover from the death of her Aunt Beth. Simultaneous....