1944 Meggie Dillon’s life has been turned upside down by World War II. Her older brother Eddie enlisted and was shipped off to fight in Europe. And people say that anywhere else Grandpa would be turned in because he’s German, and people might think he’s a spy. Is it true? Could Grandpa be taken away? Meggie’s father has announced that they must help the war effort and move to Willow Run, Michigan, where he’ll work nights in a factory building important war planes that will help fight the enemy in Europe. Willow Run will be the greatest adventure ever, Meggie thinks. There she meets Patches and Harlan, other kids like her whose parents have come here to do their part in the war. And there she faces questions about courage, and what it takes to go into battle, like Eddie, and how to keep hope alive on the home front. From the Hardcover edition.

Brooklyn, 1875: Bird Mallon lives on Water Street where you can see the huge towers of the bridge to Manhattan being built. Bird wants nothing more in life than to be brave enough to be a healer, like her mother, Nory, to help her sister Annie find love, and to convince her brother, Hughie, to stop fighting for money with his street gang. And of course, she wishes that a girl would move into the empty apartment upstairs so that she can have a new friend close by. But Thomas Neary and his Pop move in upstairs. Thomas who writes about his life in his journal--his father who spends each night at the Tavern down the street, the mother he wishes he had, and the Mallon family downstairs that he desperately wants to be a part of. Thomas, who has a secret that only Bird suspects, and who turns out to be the best friend Bird could ever have. From the Hardcover edition.

A missing animal at the zoo and strange noises coming from her backyard can mean only one thing for Tori: she's got a mystery to solve!Tori loves living on Zoo Lane with her family. Who else gets to live at a zoo—and with her cousin Sumiko visiting from Tokyo soon, this is shaping up to be the best summer ever! But when rumors of a missing animal start to spread, Tori wants to help . . . except she doesn't know which creature is on the loose. An ostrich? A little frog? There's also a strange noise coming from her backyard. It almost sounds like someone is calling her name! Tori is on the case.In this second book in the illustrated Mysteries on Zoo Lane series, two-time Newbery Honor author Patricia Reilly Giff has crafted a charming story about conservation, animal care, friendship, and problem-solving. In touch with the programs and initiatives that today's zoos are undertaking, Giff provides readers with a fresh look at the work of...

Thirteen-year-old Kyra has grown up in an isolated community without questioning the fact that her father has three wives and she has twenty brothers and sisters. That is, without questioning it much - if you don't count her visits to the Ironton County Mobile Library on Wheels to read forbidden books, or her secret meetings with Joshua, the boy she hopes to choose for herself instead of having a man chosen for her. But when the Prophet decrees that Kyra must marry her sixty-year-old uncle - who already has six wives - she must make a desperate choice in the face of violence and her own fears of losing her family forever. An American Library Association Best Book for Young Adults. A YALSA Quick Pick for Reluctant Young Adult Readers. Recommended by The New England Children's Booksellers Association.

Four kids meet at an airport for one unforgettable night in this middle-grade novel by four bestselling and award-winning authorsWhen a thunderstorm grounds all flights following a huge Muslim convention, four unlikely kids are thrown together. Feek is stuck babysitting his younger sister, but he'd rather be writing a poem that's good enough for his dad, a famous poet and rapper. Hanna is intent on finding a lost cat in the airport—and also on avoiding a conversation with her dad about him possibly remarrying. Sami is struggling with his anxiety and worried that he'll miss the karate tournament that he's trained so hard for. And Nora has to deal with the pressure of being the daughter of a prominent congresswoman, when all she really wants to do is make fun NokNok videos. These kids don't seem to have much in common—yet.Told in alternating points of view, Grounded tells the story of one unexpected night that will change these kids forever.

Join oddball outsiders Nick, Molly, and Karl in a hilarious middle-school illustrated novel adventure full of awkwardness and missteps as they strive to be seen in a world that would prefer they stay invisible.Nick is the shortest seventh-grader in the history of the world (he's pretty sure), he doesn't fit in with any groups or clubs (who needs 'em?), and he spends more time inside than outside his locker (they're roomier than you'd think). Things only get worse when a well intentioned guidance counselor forces Nick to join the school's lamest club—along with fellow misfits Molly and Karl—in her quest to cure all three of their "peer allergies." What starts off as a reluctant band of hopeless oddballs morphs into an effective and empowered team ready to face whatever middle school throws at them, including bullies, awkward romance, zany adults, and a brave new world of surprising friendships. Renowned cartoonist Michael Fry brings an unforgettable cast of...

Best Friends Forever--that's Anjenai, Kierra and Tyler. Growing up together in an Atlanta housing project, the girls have always been there for each other. But high school is a whole new world, and the drama is just beginning....Anjenai, Kierra and Tyler believe their bond is strong enough to survive anything. Anything--except maybe Romeo Blackwell, the finest guy and a star athlete in their new high school. What starts out as a small fan club soon becomes a huge competition. And to win, Anjenai, Kierra and Tyler will have to be down for whatever.Things start to get seriously crazy. And with all the drama, can the girls' friendship survive when Romeo finally makes his choice?

Will lonely Maya's wish for a friend come true when she borrows Dazzle, a toy unicorn, from the library? What about Dazzle's wish for a place to belong? The heartwarming series continues with a third adventure.Dazzle is a snow-white unicorn with a twisty horn, a sparkly pink tail, and a tag that says unicorns can grant wishes. He isn't sure whether he can make a wish for himself, but he does so anyway, hoping for a child and a home of his own. Instead, Dazzle gets sold at a yard sale and becomes one of the Book Buddies, friendly toys that children can check out of the library just like books. Meanwhile, Maya has just moved to town and decides to borrow Dazzle, hoping he can grant her a wish for a new friend. But when a girl named Isabelle comes over for a playdate that doesn't go as well as Maya had expected, she's worried that they won't become friends after all. Maybe Dazzle and Maya can help each other make their wishes come true? With a gentle tale of...

Jack Danielson has spent the last year saving the oceans and the Amazon, attempting to fulfill a prophecy that was written before his birth. Now he's more than ready to get back to life as a typical teenager and spend some quality time with his girlfriend, P.J. Too bad the world has other plans. Wrenched away once more from those he knows and loves, Jack is thrust through time to the fiery deserts of the future and the frozen tundra of the Arctic, battling cyborgs, zombie warlocks, and scorpions the size of tanks. At least he has Gisco--everyone's favorite surly telepathic canine--to keep him company, not to mention the Ninja Babe, Eko. And he will finally be reunited with the parents who abandoned him so long ago, in order that he might save their dying planet. But it isn't only a race to save Earth. As the clock ticks down before the final confrontation with the dreaded Dark Lord, Jack must decide once and for all who he really is--prince of the future or humble human of...

The Black Dinosaurs have always explored the past in their adventures, but now they're going into the future - to Space Camp! They'll learn what weightlessness feels like, what astronauts eat, even how they go to the bathroom! Ziggy, of course, really wants to meet up with aliens - purple, three-headed, fire-spitting Martians like the ones in his Mega Mighty Martian Blaster game. Ziggy soon discovers that real-life space travel is just as exciting as anything even his active imagination can cook up. Still, he can't help wondering where the mysterious shiny stone he finds might have come from...

A heart-wrenching novel in verse about a poor girl surviving the Irish Land Wars, by a two-time Newbery Honor-winning author.For Anna, the family farm has always been home... But now, things are changing. Anna's mother has died, and her older siblings have emigrated, leaving Anna and her father to care for a young sister with special needs. And though their family has worked this land for years, they're in danger of losing it as poor crop yields leave them without money to pay their rent. When a violent encounter with the Lord's rent collector results in Anna and her father's arrest, all seems lost. But Anna sees her chance and bolts from the jailhouse. On the run, Anna must rely on her own inner strength to protect her sister—and try to find a way to save her family. Written in verse, A Slip of a Girl is a poignant story of adversity, resilience, and self-determination by a master of historical fiction, painting a haunting history of the...

Lost and alone in the jungle, one boy will have to let go of his assumptions and anger, or be dragged down with them. Dylan Barstow has finally crossed the line. After getting caught on a late-night joyride in a stolen car, Dylan is shipped off to live with his ex-Marine uncle for the summer. But Uncle Todd has bigger plans for Dylan than push-ups and early-morning jogs. Deep in the steamy jungles of Papua New Guinea, there's a WWII fighter plane named SECOND ACE that's been lost for years, a plane that Dylan's own grandfather barely escaped from with his life. In all this time, no one has ever been able to track down SECOND ACE -- but now Dylan and his uncle are going to try. Lush and haunted, vital and deadly, these alien jungles half a world away could mean Dylan's salvation, or they could swallow him whole.

When Private Matt Duffy wakes up in an army hospital in Iraq, he's honored with a Purple Heart. But he doesn't feel like a hero. There's a memory that haunts him: an image of a young Iraqi boy as a bullet hits his chest. Matt can't shake the feeling that he was somehow involved in his death. But because of a head injury he sustained just moments after the boy was shot, Matt can't quite put all the pieces together. Eventually Matt is sent back into combat with his squad—Justin, Wolf, and Charlene—the soldiers who have become his family during his time in Iraq. He just wants to go back to being the soldier he once was. But he sees potential threats everywhere and lives in fear of not being able to pull the trigger when the time comes. In combat there is no black-and-white, and Matt soon discovers that the notion of who is guilty is very complicated indeed. National Book Award Finalist Patricia McCormick has written a visceral and compelling portrait of life in a war zone, where loyalty is valued above all, and death is terrifyingly commonplace.

Although Lakshmi's family is desperately poor her life still contains simple pleasures; but, when the harsh Himalayan monsoons wash away all the family’s crops, Lakshmi’s stepfather sends her away to take a job to support her family. When she arrives at “Happiness House”, full of hope, she learns the unthinkable truth: she has been sold into prostitution. An exceptional novel suitable for teens and adults. Lakshmi is a thirteen-year-old girl who lives with her family in a small hut in the mountains of Nepal. Her family is desperately poor, but her life is full of simple pleasures, like raising her black-and-white speckled goat, and having her mother brush her hair by the light of an oil lamp. But when the harsh Himalayan monsoons wash away all that remains of the family’s crops, Lakshmi’s stepfather says she must leave home and take a job to support her family. He introduces her to a glamorous stranger who tells her she will find her a job as a maid working for a wealthy woman in the city. Glad to be able to help, Lakshmi undertakes the long journey to India and arrives at “Happiness House” full of hope. But she soon learns the unthinkable truth: she has been sold into prostitution. An old woman named Mumtaz rules the brothel with cruelty and cunning. She tells Lakshmi that she is trapped there until she can pay off her family’s debt – then cheats Lakshmi of her meager earnings so that she can never leave. Lakshmi’s life becomes a nightmare from which she cannot escape. Still, she lives by her mother’s words – “Simply to endure is to triumph” – and gradually, she forms friendships with the other girls that enable her to survive in this terrifying new world. Then the day comes when she must make a decision – will she risk everything for a chance to reclaim her life? Written in spare and evocative vignettes, this powerful novel renders a world that is as unimaginable as it is real, and a girl who not only survives but triumphs. To research Sold, Patricia McCormick traveled to India and Nepal where she interviewed the women of Calcutta’s red-light district and girls who have been rescued from the sex trade. She is the author of the acclaimed novels Cut and My Brother’s Keeper.

An exquisite second novel from the Newbery Honor author of RULES! TOUCH BLUE, sure as certain, will touch your heart. The state of Maine plans to shut down her island’s schoolhouse, which would force Tess’s family to move to the mainland--and Tess to leave the only home she has ever known. Fortunately, the islanders have a plan too: increase the numbers of students by having several families take in foster children. So now Tess and her family are taking a chance on Aaron, a thirteen-year-old trumpet player who has been bounced from home to home. And Tess needs a plan of her own--and all the luck she can muster. Will Tess’s wish come true or will her luck run out? Newbery Honor author Cynthia Lord offers a warm-hearted, humorous, and thoughtful look at what it means to belong--and how lucky we feel when we do. Touch Blue, sure as certain, will touch your heart.