Book picks similar to
Oscar and his Spectacular Spectacles by Matthew Rawlins


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Portal Through the Pond


David K. Anderson - 2013
    They said her grandmother was crazy. Christy knows better. When 13-year-old Christy's grandmother dies, she leaves Christy a mysterious packet of information revealing an amazing secret: the pond in her yard is in fact a portal to another world. And what's more, her grandfather had disappeared in that world nine years earlier. Christy is determined to honor her grandmother's wish to keep the secret, even if it means alienating her best friend Trevor. However, things spiral out of her control when nosy classmate Rob accidentally crosses into other world, the grown-ups think he has drowned, she's forced to tell Trevor, and Danny--the nine-year-old deaf boy next door--follows her through the portal to rescue Rob. Will Trevor be able to convince the grown-ups to trust Christy to get them all home? Or will they let the police drain the pond, stranding the children in an alien world?

Delivered to the Ground


Mark Murphy Harms - 2020
    These mark the beginning of an incredible adventure where Harper finds himself on the other side of the earth, 2,500 years back in time and in a body that's not his own.The handful of crash survivors are thrust into the violent world of the ancient Greeks, the Persians and the mysterious horse nomads known as Scythians whose women are as fierce as their men." ... a real page turner ... not just sci-fi and historical fiction. It is also a war story, a mythical tale, and an action-packed adventure."-- Rocky Scramble's Weekly Reader

The Super Secret Book


Tian En - 2020
    The Super Secret is a team of six young superheroes who take down bad guys with their high-tech gadgets and unparalleled combat skills, but when a powerful, mysterious diamond falls into the hands of a vengeful supervillain, they are forced into the biggest fight of their lives and must reconsider what it means to be a superhero before it's too late…

Missing Her More


Karen McQuestion - 2019
    But their seemingly perfect world is ripped apart when their younger daughter, eight-year-old Brenna, runs off after overhearing her parents’ arguing. Out on the streets, she quickly realizes she’s lost. Even more frightening, Brenna soon realizes that a man is following her. Meanwhile, in a townhouse in Brooklyn, Callie Griffin is throwing a birthday party for her one-year-old son, Oliver. The joy of the day is ruined by her sister Lauren’s too short, drive-by appearance. Once close, the two sisters haven’t been able to move past a falling out which took place three years before. When Brenna notices the strange man getting closer, she panics and takes refuge in the Griffin home, befriending their four-year-old daughter, Summer, who is waiting out the party upstairs. As family and friends search for Brenna, her absence helps her father realize the importance of family, even as her presence in the Griffin home unwittingly sets in motion healing for a mother’s heart.

Women Like Us


Jason Pomerance - 2016
    But after her marriage to Andrew fell apart, she ceded most of the raising of the baby to her mother-in-law, the very opinionated Edith Vale, a woman as formidable and steely as her stiff blond bouffant, the veritable helmet that helps her soldier through life. Now, after letting Henry drift away, Susan is determined to make things right, but just as mother and son seem to make headway after embarking on a cross-country road-trip, things take a darker turn. When the family reconvenes in California, everybody must fight to find humor and courage in the face of a situation that threatens to change them all forever.

Sweet Jane


Joanne Kukanza Easley - 2020
    After years of dodging her drunken mama, Jane runs away at sixteen—during the Summer of Love. Despite seventeen years of keeping secrets while searching for love in dysfunctional relationships, Jane looks good on paper: married, graduate school, coin-carrying member of AA. But her carefully constructed life is crumbling. Returning for Mama’s funeral catapults her back to the events that made her the woman she is.

Squalor, New Mexico


Lisette Brodey - 2009
    From the moment Darla asks to know more about her mysterious aunt, she is offered nothing but half-truths, distortions, and evasions. As Darla grows into her teen years, her life is oddly yet profoundly affected by this woman she has never known. She can't help but notice that Rebecca seems to exist only in dark corners of conversations and that no one ever wants to talk about her - with Darla. Squalor, New Mexico is a coming-of-age story shrouded in family mystery. As the plot takes twists and turns, secrets are revealed not only to Darla but to the "secret keepers" as well. Darla learns that families are only as strong as the truths they hold and as weak as the secrets they keep.

The Road King Chronicles: Blue Ridge Run


Harry Harrigan - 2015
    After twenty-three years and three combat tours with the 75th Ranger Regiment, he’s got a Silver Star, a titanium knee and a plan to see America on his Road King motorcycle. No more patrols, no more firefights. Nothing more dangerous than passing the old work van rumbling along in front of him as he rides toward Hunter-Stewart and the sunset of his career in the Army. But just as he twists the throttle to pass, a woman’s bare foot smears a bloody print on the van’s back window. Roman turns back to help, triggering a chain of events that puts his brother Virgil and two old friends in the crosshairs of a murderer. Saving them sends Roman on a desperate ride from Savannah to DC, where he discovers that the past he has been trying to forget has not forgotten him. It’s been waiting patiently, holding his secret like a time bomb.

The Labrador Response


Melissa Crickard - 2019
    doctor must save her daughter from a genetically modified filovirus as the nation fights for access to healthcare. When she's not working in the Emergency Department at George Washington University Hospital, Dr. Sara Sullivan lives an adventurous life. But the chance at another vacation seems to diminish with each passing day when the dangerous Labrador virus begins spreading throughout the capital, devastating the African American population and escalating racial tension. As a biracial woman, Sara begins to fear for her and her daughter's lives when mortality rates continue to grow, with no cure in sight. After being forced into quarantine due to exposure to the virus, her fear becomes reality. Escape is no longer a consideration—it's the only way she can save millions of lives, including her daughter's. Sara's journey to find a cure becomes increasingly complex as she begins to unravel a conspiracy within the pharmaceutical industry and learns the disturbing truth about the disease's purpose.

Dust


Eva Marie Everson - 2021
    But Allison rises to the challenge of raising Westley's toddling daughter as though she were her own. Over the course of their lifetime together, Allison, Westley, and Michelle form the strong bond of family. As Allison struggles with infertility and finding her way during a time of great change for women, others--some she knows and others whom she never meets--brush and weave against the fabric of her life, leaving her with more questions than answers. From teen bride to grandmother, Allison's life chronicles the ups and downs of an ordinary woman's life to examine the value of what we all leave behind.

Shoes on the Stairs


Jan Steele - 2019
    She takes the reader on a journey of both laughter and tears while learning even the smallest of gestures can make a significant and lasting impact.* * *Claire Blackwell can’t find that damn white light. Thanks to a mishap at an intersection, she’s dead and stuck somewhere between Heaven and what seems like Hell as she is forced to watch her husband and children unravel without her. While she struggles to find answers for her limbo state, her family begins to see her, offering what she believes, is a gift of second chances. As she navigates through this new, untouchable world and the challenges it creates, she is forced to face some sad and potentially dangerous truths. Determined, she works to mend her relationship with her family, but her stubborn teenage son refuses to acknowledge her, and when tensions escalate with his long-time bully, her inability to control the physical world around her leaves her fearing for her family’s safety. With her time running out, she must find a way to save them before the progress she has made is lost and she fades from this world forever.

Weapons of Peace


Peter D. Johnston - 2019
    When she proves to be an exceptional student of his laws of influence, he urges her to help him complete his mission: Hitler has an atom bomb, and his scientists must be persuaded to undermine their own creation.A Novel Inspired by Two True Stories Peter D. Johnston, bestselling author and international negotiator, has crafted a thought-provoking thriller that immerses us in one of history’s most pivotal moments. In this novel inspired by two true stories from the Second World War, a young British nurse and a seasoned American negotiator, both plagued by remorse, try to change the course of history—and their own lives.Weapons of Peace races from an ancient English castle and a bizarre killing in Washington, D.C., to a scorched atomic test site in Germany and hidden passages forged under Berlin by resisters plotting to murder Hitler. Johnston’s expert hand blends real-world historical material with heart-pounding action, unforgettable characters, and precious insights into influence and how the Nazis negotiated their way to power and kept it.

Sprat Morrison (Horizons)


Jean D'Costa - 1990
    The stories are selected both for their appeal to young people and for the quality of the writing.

The Neighborhood


Erina Bridget Ring - 2018
    But this soon changes. Every day a new dilemma arises, pulling her into the chaos, and as she gets to know her neighbors she discovers comedy, cruelty, and even tragedy. Do you know what’s going on in your neighborhood?

Angle of Attack


Leo J. Maloney - 2021
    Maloney launches an electrifying new series featuring Alex Morgan, daughter of legendary operative Dan Morgan and a formidable force in her own right.ANGLE OF ATTACKAlex Morgan’s new mission for Zeta plunges her into a web of danger threatening Europe’s glamorous Formula One racing circuit. It quickly escalates into a race against time to track down a missing supply of weapons-grade plutonium headed for North America. From a secret prison in Iran to the glittering casinos of Monaco, to the jungles of Malaysia, and to the dark side of Montreal, Alex is up against a deadly and far-reaching conspiracy. Each step of the way, she’s dogged by a shadowy figure determined to destroy her. Alex has the grit to deal with any external threat, but this is a new kind of peril from a source shockingly close to home—one that will make Alex question everything she once believed...