Her father is always at work, her mother is gone, and their dog, Dead End, seems to be here one moment and missing the next. And big trouble is brewing. A wild pack of dogs is destroying local livestock and property, and the sheriff has ordered them to be shot. Is this where Dead End has been disappearing to? How far will Dill and her best friend, a boy nicknamed Cub, go to uncover the truth, and hold together the last strands of a family that seems to be unraveling?

    It looked sadly neglected and tumbledown: some of the windows were boarded, some were partly broken out, and the weathered door hung crookedly from a single hinge. Still, it was the closest thing to a picture-book cottage that the three children had ever seen. For a second they stood there breathless. In their hearts, they all knew it. 'This ..., ' Ashley whispered half aloud. 'This is where we're going to live!'"--Back of dust-jacket.

    When Mother's friends lose their house and come to stay with her family, it's nothing but trouble for Kit. Then Kit's dad loses his business, and things go from bad to worse. Will life ever be the same again?

    His mother would read him one book, or two, His father would sing ‘till his face turned blue, All day Michael ran and played and kicked ball, But then he’d just shrug: “I’m not tired at all.”

    

    Things are good or bad. Anything in between is confusing. That’s the stuff Caitlin’s older brother, Devon, has always explained. But now Devon’s dead and Dad is no help at all. Caitlin wants to get over it, but as an eleven-year-old girl with Asperger’s, she doesn’t know how. When she reads the definition of closure, she realizes that is what she needs. In her search for it, Caitlin discovers that not everything is black and white—the world is full of colors—messy and beautiful.Kathryn Erskine has written a must-read gem, one of the most moving novels of the year.

    The good ones. The not-so-good ones. The boring ones, the mean ones, the ones who try too hard. The ones you’ll never remember, and the ones you want to forget. But Ms. Bixby is none of these. She’s the sort of teacher who makes you feel like the indignity of school is worthwhile. Who makes the idea of growing up less terrifying. Who you never want to disappoint. What Ms. Bixby is, is one of a kind.Topher, Brand, and Steve know this better than anyone. And so when Ms. Bixby unexpectedly announces that she is very sick and won’t be able to finish the school year, they come up with a plan. Through the three very different stories they tell, we begin to understand just what Ms. Bixby means to Topher, Brand, and Steve—and what they are willing to go to such great lengths to tell her.John David Anderson, the acclaimed author of Sidekicked, returns with a story of three kids, a very special teacher, and one day that none of them will ever forget.

    The original edition, published in 1979, won numerous awards, including honors from the Museum of Modern Art and the American Booksellers Association, and sold over a million copies. Edenss magical words and pictures illustrate the universal emotions of fear, doubt, joy, and loss, and reveal the unexpected silver linings to be found in any cloud. This whimsical little book proves that its possible to face obstacles with a positive attitude; all you need is the willingness to throw aside logic and open yourself up to the power of playful imagination.

    Determined to be herself, not the "perfect" girl her mother hopes for, Julia chooses to live with her grandmother and her divorced father in a little town in the Cascade Mountains.But tiny Moon Valley lacks the one thing Julia desperately craves: a good music teacher. When a girl dressed in white appears among the cattails, singing Puccini arias in a haunting voice, Julia knows she must meet her and find out where she studies. But the girl always manages to slip away and vanish among the trees. There are hints that the people of Moon Valley may have the answer to the mystery, and surely Luke Sutherland, Julia's silent, blue-eyed neighbor, knows more about this elusive person than he will admit.With her latest novel, Cattail Moon, award-winning Jean Thesman has created a romance, a mystery, and an absorbing story of a young girl who is learning to claim her decisions and choices as her own.

    Before long, something must be done before they eat the Poppers out of house and home!A classic of American humor, this story of a gentle housepainter and his high stepping penguins has delighted children for generations.

    Wild animals burst from every page with a chance to learn something new about each one!

    So while Mom "finds herself," Stella fantasizes that someday she'll come back to the Cape and settle down. The only obstacle to her plan? Angel, the foster kid Louise has taken in. Angel couldn't be less like her name—she's tough and prickly, and the girls hardly speak to each other.But when tragedy unexpectedly strikes, Stella and Angel are forced to rely on each other to survive, and they learn that they are stronger together than they could have imagined. And over the course of the summer they discover the one thing they do have in common: dreams of finally belonging to a real family.

    Escaping over the orphanage wall to explore the outside world, Mandy discovers a tiny deserted cottage in the woods. All through the spring, summer, and fall, Mandy works to make it truly hers. Sometimes she "borrows" things she needs from the orphanage. Sometimes, to guard her secret, she even lies. Then, one stormy night at the cottage, Mandy gets sick, and no one knows how to find her--except a special friend she didn't know she had.

    It seems as though everyone in her family has better things to do than pay attention to her: Mom (when she’s not meditating) helps Dad run the family restaurant; Sarah is taking a gap year after high school; and Holden pretends that Mom and Dad and everyone else doesn’t know he’s gay, even as he fends off bullies at school. Then there’s Charlie: three years old, a "surprise" baby, the center of everyone’s world. He’s devoted to Fern, but he’s annoying, too, always getting his way, always dirty, always commanding attention. If it wasn’t for Ran, Fern’s calm and positive best friend, there’d be nowhere to turn. Ran’s mantra, "All will be well," is soothing in a way that nothing else seems to be. And when Ran says it, Fern can almost believe it’s true. But then tragedy strikes- and Fern feels not only more alone than ever, but also responsible for the accident that has wrenched her family apart. All will not be well. Or at least all will never be the same.