Book picks similar to
Baby-Sitters Club #11: Kristy and the Snobs by Martin Ann M
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divorced-families
making-new-friends
absent-parent-or-parents
Thieves & Kings: The Red Book
Mark Oakley - 1998
Making his way amidst the powerful events changing his world, soldiers and pirates, kings and princesses, and a Shadow Lady of the Sleeping Wood fill his life with gambles and adventure.
Christopher Robin: The Novelization
Elizabeth Rudnick - 2018
Focusing on the power of love, friendship, and family, the novelization invites readers to join Christopher Robin, Pooh, and their friends from the Hundred Acre Wood on an all-new adventure that adds new depth to timeless and beloved characters old and new.
Hannibal: Rome's Worst Nightmare
Philip Brooks - 2008
- Opening quote by or about the featured villain/villainess- Historical map, annotated with key locations from person's life- A Wicked Web featuring allies and enemies- Historical photos and etchings- Boxes with additional information- Photo documentaries: six to eight pages of photos and captions telling the person's life- Timeline, glossary, additional sources- Engaging narrative nonfiction written at a very accessible reading level
Wind Tamer
P.R. Morrison - 2006
It seems to creep up behind him and blow him along the pavement; to drape itself around his shoulders and screech in his ear. And things get even stranger as his tenth birthday approaches. A strange ball of green light hovers by his bed and a giant white bird appears at his window, carrying a mysterious gold coin. What does it all mean? When Archie's long-lost Uncle Rufus unexpectedly returns, Archie finally learns the truth about why the wind seems to be coming for him. . . He is about to fall under a terrible family curse. Starring an eccentric cast of characters, this original tale of adventure and magic will enchant readers of all ages.
Lost Childhood: My Life in a Japanese Prison Camp During World War II
Annelex Hofstra Layson - 2008
This real-life memoir breaks a 60-year silence to tell one woman’s riveting story of prisoner life during World War II. As a little Dutch girl in Indonesia, Annelex Hofstra’s comfortable world was torn apart when she and her family were sent to Japanese prison camps for three and a half years.The story begins in 1942 when four-year-old Annelex is living on the island of Java in the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia). Her grandfather is a successful planter, and her father is a pilot instructor in the Royal Netherlands Navy. But her carefree childhood ends as the Japanese invade Java, and along with 10,000 other Dutch residents, Annelex's family is rounded up. With few belongings, they are shipped off to interment camps, to a helpless, unknown future.In a shockingly honest narrative, we learn of the tactics used by their captors to dehumanize the Dutch prisoners. We learn of the grinding daily routine of the prisoners, the food rations, the sleeping arrangements, and the awful sanitary conditions. We share in Annelex’s near-death bout with malaria. We also share some of the awful things she witnessed—extracting parasitic worms from a fellow-prisoner’s throat; the agonizing death by starvation of women punished for stealing food; and the sight of bodies being piled high on a truck.Eventually the hell ends and the family is liberated. But the girl’s personal hell plagues her in freedom. Just days after she is reunited with her father, he is killed in an explosion. World war is replaced by civil war in Indonesia, forcing the family to flee first to Holland and then to the U.S., where the family tries to mend their broken lives.For 60 years Annelex Hofstra Layson has repressed her early memories, shielding even her husband and children from the horrors of her past. With Lost Childhood, her harrowing ordeal is finally revealed. The author shares her story now to provide hope in young lives torn apart by war, and to inspire future generations to work for peace.
Water Steps
A. LaFaye - 2009
But there's something she definitely doesn't like: the water. Every time she comes near it, she feels the sinister pull of the depths trying to draw her down to a watery grave. Even the calm water in the bathtub reminds her of the torrential storm that took the lives of her sailing family when she was just a baby. But Kyna's adopted parents love nothing more than to swim and splash about in lakes and streams, or even the local pool. When they decide to spend the summer at a beach house on Lake Champlain, Kyna is convinced that they're trying to teach her something about water that she's not ready to learn. Little does she know that the water will reveal far more than she ever could have imagined. Inspired by Champ, the legendary monster living in Lake Champlain, Water Steps finds novelist A. LaFaye at her best, expertly interweaving themes of adolescent fears and fantasies, the frustrations and rewards of family, and a world of mystery and magic under the placid surface of nature.
The One Great Gnome
Jeff Dinardo - 2020
Eleven-year-old Sarah moves with her family from New York City to rural Hadley, Connecticut. She's eager to explore her new home and meet new friends, but she never expected to befriend an old garden gnome. Readers join Sarah as she is drawn into a secret world under our feet. Sarah uses her instincts to calm old rivalries and help the underworld elves, gnomes, and more join her in the upperworld.
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Caroline Laidlaw - 2001
Charlie Bucket finds a Golden Ticket which wins him a whole day at Willie Wonka's chocolate factory in this captivating favourite by Roald Dahl.
The Threads of Magic
Alison Croggon - 2020
When he pickpockets the wrong man, he finds himself in possession of a strange object – a heart in a silver casket. What’s more, the heart seems to be trying to communicate with Pip, and the royal officials who lost it will stop at nothing to get it back.Pip has unwittingly broken an ancient spell, and his theft will have far-reaching consequences for the whole city. As the ancient war between the Spectres and witches of Clarel reignites, the heart prepares to seek revenge for all it has suffered…
Kelcie Murphy and the Academy for the Unbreakable Arts
Erika Lewis - 2022
The Academy for the Unbreakable Arts trains warriors. And Kelcie Murphy—a foster child raised in the human world—is dying to attend.A place at AUA means meeting Scáthach, the legendary trainer of Celtic heroes. It means learning to fight with a sword. It means harnessing her hidden powers and—most importantly—finding out who her parents are, and why they abandoned her in Boston Harbor eight years ago.When Kelcie tests into the school, she learns that she’s a Saiga, one of the most ancient beings in the Otherworld. Secretive, shunned, and possessed of imposing elemental powers, the Saiga are also kin to the Otherworld's most infamous traitor.But Kelcie is a survivor, and she’ll do whatever it takes to find her parents and her place in their world. Even if that means making a few enemies.
Chasing Normal
Lisa Papademetriou - 2008
It's tough enough that her mom left a few years ago and that her artist dad decorates the house solely with "treasures" from the "vintage" store (read: all their furniture is made out of plastic) but it's just too much when Mieka and her dad have to leave Boston to go to spend the summer with her sick grandmother in Texas-someone Mieka has never met. Grandma Baker isn't just brutally honest, she's brutal. She tells Mieka she's fat, frumpy, and basically unwanted. It's all too much to handle, especially when she has to stay with her Aunt Kate's family. The most normal family ever. Aunt Kate stays at home with the kids (where IS Mieka's mom anyway?), Uncle Dave wears a suit to work, cousin Mark is a genius and Greta-well, she's Mieka's age but that's where the similarity ends. She's blond, beautiful, fit, friendly, popular and practically perfect.But as the summer progresses and Mieka learns a thing or two about herself (hey, she can actually learn to enjoy herself at camp, even if it is Bible camp and she happens to be a bit chubbier than every other camper there) and her family members she realizes that there's no such thing as normal. That even though she and her dad aren't a conventional family and aren't rich and don't go to church they are incredibly lucky to have each other and to have love. And even the perfect kids seem to be chasing normal too.
The Adventures of Benny
Steve Shreve - 2006
Black-and-white art on every spread of the book will appeal to reluctant readers as well as fans of comics, graphic novels, and illustrated novels.
I Know Your Secret
Daphne Benedis-Grab - 2021
None of them want to go along with the blackmailer's instructions, but each of them have a secret they must protect at all costs.Set during a single day of school, the students race against the clock to complete a disquieting set of tasks, with fast-paced chapters detailing each moment of the day interspersed with a later interview-style recording made by the quartet.I Know Your Secret is an exploration of why we conceal the truth, how far we'll go to keep it hidden, and the power of being honest.
The Calgary Chessman
Yvonne Marjot - 2011
To Cas, torn between Scotland and her New Zealand home, the object seems as odd and out-of-place as herself. Intrigued, she begins to search for its origins, thinking it will bring a brief respite from isolation. Instead, the Calgary chess piece opens the door to friendships and new hope. Her son, meanwhile, brings home his own revelation to shake her world.
Hummingbird
Kimberly Greene Angle - 2008
Thanks to Grenna, her grandmother and surrogate mother, March Anne has learned everything she needs to know about seeds, vine pruning, and harvesting melons and pumpkins. And although Grenna has tried to teach March Anne about her ancestors, March Anne has always been uncomfortable with the family name she’s been given and doesn’t like. And so, in secret meetings deep in the woods, March Anne and her two best friends form the Pseudonymphs, whose names change with the seasons. When Grenna suffers a heart attack, March Anne must face an uncertain future and confront her past. In the middle of it all, a ruby-throated hummingbird decides to winter at the Tanners’ and becomes a source of delight and inspiration as March Anne prepares for Grenna’s passing and journeys toward self-acceptance.This sweet and tangy debut introduces a memorable cast of characters who come to learn that grace can abide within and beyond the realities of pain and loss.