But when Lauren realizes that she is falling in love with Spencer, she also begins to recognize his moody and self-destructive side.

    Snow had fallen and the streets glittered. Maria's favorite cousins were coming over and she got to help make the tamales for Christmas dinner. It was almost too good to be true when her mother left the kitchen for a moment and Maria got to try on her beautiful diamond ring . . .This is the story of a treasure thought to be lost in a batch of tamales; of a desperate and funny attempt by Maria and her cousins to eat their way out of trouble; and the warm way a family pulls together to make it a perfect Christmas after all.

    

    A wonderful story of triumph over imperfection, shame, and loss.

    They come to love this baby as their own, all the while knowing that eventually Sophie's mother will return one day to take her from them.

    Three years later, another hurricane is heading toward the island, and Alyssa must come to terms with her parents’ deaths to save her grandfather and brother. “This book will have appeal for lovers of the outdoors as well as anyone who appreciates an exciting, atmospheric story.”--School Library Journal

    When a new family--with three daughters--moves into the neighborhood, the Hatford brothers decide to make Caroline and her sisters so miserable that they'll want to go back to Ohio.

    . . . Youngsters will bask in the delicious conspiracy between grandfather and grandson. . . . This book is a treasure."--Booklist "With gentle humor and his usual master of line and composition, dePaola conveys the strong bond of affection between Tom and little Tommy, from the photo-album snapshot of the proud grandfather holding a baby on the title page to the big hug of the mischief-makers that ends the book."--Horn Book"Touches of old-world humor add sparkle to the tale."--Publishers Weekly

    But now I can do lots of things, like braid my own hair and go to nursery school. I'm not a baby anymore. I'm me!"

    When they were children, his weight and her scars made them both outcasts. Now Sarah Byrnes—the smartest, toughest person Eric has ever known—sits silent in a hospital. Eric must uncover the terrible secret she’s hiding before its dark current pulls them both under. Will appeal to fans of Marieke Nijkamp, Andrew Smith, and John Corey Whaley.

    But Christy wants to run and play -- and not worry about Eddie Lee tagging along. One hot summer day, though, Eddie Lee takes Christy to a secret place in the woods and teaches her that beautiful things can be found in unexpected places.

    Living in the shadow of her beautiful and talented younger sister, Lee cares for a wolf pack that needs protection from cattle ranchers.

    Los caminos, the roads, take her migrant worker family to fields where they labor all day, to schools where no one knows Amelia's name, and to bleak cabins that are not home.Amelia longs for a beautiful white house with a fine shade tree in the yard, where she can live without worrying about los caminos again. Then one day, Amelia discovers an -accidental road.- At its end she finds an amazing old tree reminiscent of the one in her dreams. Its stately sense of permanence inspires her to put her own roots down in a very special way.The richly colored illustrations bring to life the landscape of California's Central Valley farmland. Amelia's Road is an inspirational tale about the importance of home.

    From the first day, there are problems. Almost everyone is white, and the kids call her names and won't let her play baseball, her favorite game, because she is black. What can she do when people judge her because of the color of her skin? "Avoiding the preachy and didactic, Nelson presents an accessible microcosm of racial issues and human relationships." (Booklist, starred review)

    Two best friends vie for the same role in a ballet recital in the humorous sequel to the popular All Tutus Should Be Pink, designed for oral reading by children verging on independent reading.

    One day Grandpa Chatterji comes all the way to visit them, and the two children discover what a wonderful, surprising and magical Grandpa he is.

    Song Lee is as nice as Harry is horrible! She may seem shy, but beneath her sweet smile is a brave, spunky girl with a great sense of humor.

    The scrubs. Four boys and three girls. The seven nobody wants. Hot-shot soccer team rejects. So Justine, Randy and Brandon decide to form their own team: The Misfits. It's not easy finding players, but it is even harder persuading down-and-out Paul Reiner, a former high school principal, to be their coach.Finally Coach Reiner agrees to help. Rule #1, says the Coach, "You've got to become a team." It's a whole new ballgame as Justine and the gang learn how to turn outsiders into friends.But the real goal is soon clear: to prove to Coach Reiner that he needs them as much as they need him...

    Ellen shares everything with her beloved stuffed animal, Penguin, even her shyness over joining the other children at their tea party, until she meets Jo and her stuffed monkey companion, Bill.

    Just as Jessie's aging mind begins to wander, Ellen's husband dies in a car accident and the Woolman family begins a new journey led by two very different men: Harvey Mack, a developer with an eye on the Woolman property and the grieving Ellen, and Sam Theopolis, a mystic hired to care for Jessie. Sam becomes both Harvey's rival and a healing presence for the family until a crisis descends and he, too, needs the protection of the Woolmans' innocent belief in the saving power of love. Combining sorrow and grief with considerable light-hearted wit and eccentric characters, Sister Water is a novel that will reach old and young readers alike. Through her lyrical prose, author Nancy Willard draws on the rich style of magical realism to create a narrative flow that is at once powerful and seductive. Important to the Landscapes of Childhood series, this novel raises significant questions about the state of childhood and how that state affects adult sensibilities.

    Travis, less obsessed with baseball than his fellow team members, tries to balance his playing with his hobby of horror videos and starts receiving anonymous threats warning him to spend more time on baseball.

    William guides himself through anger, worry, and a deep sense of loss broughton by his grandma's illness and recent blindness.