Okay for Now


Gary D. Schmidt - 2011
    Schmidt won Newbery Honor awards for Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boys and The Wednesday Wars, two coming-of-age novels about unlikely friends finding a bond. Okay For Now, his latest novel, explores another seemingly improbable alliance, this one between new outsider in town Doug Swieteck and Lil Spicer, the savvy spitfire daughter of his deli owner boss. With her challenging assistance, Doug discovers new sides of himself. Along the way, he also readjusts his relationship with his abusive father, his school peers, and his older brother, a newly returned war victim of Vietnam.

The Colossus Rises


Peter Lerangis - 2013
    In a few months, he’s going to die.One MissionJack needs to find seven magic loculi that, when combined, have the power to cure him.One ProblemThe loculi are the relics of a lost civilization and haven’t been seen in thousands of years.Seven WondersBecause they’re hidden in the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.

A Good Kind of Trouble


Lisa Moore Ramée - 2019
    All she wants to do is to follow the rules. (Oh, and she’d also like to make it through seventh grade with her best friendships intact, learn to run track, and have a cute boy see past her giant forehead.)But in junior high, it’s like all the rules have changed. Now she’s suddenly questioning who her best friends are and some people at school are saying she’s not black enough. Wait, what?Shay’s sister, Hana, is involved in Black Lives Matter, but Shay doesn't think that's for her. After experiencing a powerful protest, though, Shay decides some rules are worth breaking. She starts wearing an armband to school in support of the Black Lives movement. Soon everyone is taking sides. And she is given an ultimatum.Shay is scared to do the wrong thing (and even more scared to do the right thing), but if she doesn't face her fear, she'll be forever tripping over the next hurdle. Now that’s trouble, for real.

Pewter Angels


Henry K. Ripplinger - 2010
    Never has one been more delicious than Pewter Angels, and for the first time in memory I could not resist a second helping. Indeed, I read it twice, each time more than satisfying."Wendy Ward--Author and CEO, Davis-Ward Centre for People Excellence.----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Pewter Angels, book one of the Angelic Letters Series, begins the epic saga of life, love, angels and miracles. The story follows the lives of Henry Pederson and Jenny Sarsky from the moment they meet as two fifteen-year-olds in the summer of 1956, over a span of four decades and seven books. Falling in love instantly the moment their eyes meet, Henry and Jenny's dramatic bond is aided along the way by their guardian angels, creating a powerful spirit filled connection between them that withstands the test of time.Mr. Engelmann, an endearing, wise and spirit filled mentor, comes into Henry’s life, providing him with powerful insights and valuable life lessons that carry strength, wisdom and hope. As so many readers have shared, we should all be so fortunate as to have someone like him in our lives. You will be compelled to live and breathe with the other characters too. They are so real that their sadness, tears and joys fly off the pages and become ever entrenched in your mind and heart. The Angelic Letters Series becomes an experience readers will never forget. It is so much more than a captivating love story. It is deeply inspiring and glows with moments of tenderness, a story that’s difficult to put down – with an ending that surprises and satisfies beyond the reader’s most wishful imaginings, an ending only angels could bring about. Come, join the family of characters. Once the book is open, the journey has begun. Pewter Angels will swell your heart; you will hug the pages to your chest with each reading! Pewter Angels - Gold Medal Winner of both the Independent Publishers Book Award and Living Now Book Award. Pewter Angels was also listed in the Toronto Globe and Mail top ten bestselling books in Canada.

The Baseball Box Prophecy


Bruce Newbold - 2009
    Cletis gasped for air and cried for help. But the forest was empty. No one had ever lived to tell of seeing the witch. Taking his arm, she dragged him to the back porch of the broken hovel in which she lived. There, under the light of a single bulb, she turned to Cletis, revealing the fleshy and pocked face that all but covered the emerald green eyes that peered back at him--eyes that knew him, pierce him. Eyes that would lure him back to her time and again, enticing him into a labyrinth of ancient prophecy, time travel, magic, and danger...and a revelation of his true identity.

Honus & Me


Dan Gutman - 1997
    He knows everything there is to know about the game -- except how to play well. His specialty is striking out. Stosh feels like a real loser, and when he takes a low-paying job cleaning a bunch of junk out of his neighbor's attic, he feels even worse -- until he comes across a little piece of cardboard that takes his breath away. His heart is racing. His brain is racing. He can hardly believe his eyes. Stosh has stumbled upon a T-206 Honus Wagner -- the most valuable baseball card in the world! And he's about to find out that it's worth a lot more than money....

See You at Harry's


Jo Knowles - 2012
    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.

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland: A Play in One Scene


V.A. Pearn - 1933
    Luxuriously illustrated with 92 watercolors, it's a wonderful introduction to Alice's adventures as well as a splendid volume for collectors. Available for sale in the United States only.

When Zachary Beaver Came to Town


Kimberly Willis Holt - 1999
    Nothing much until this summer that’s full of big changes. It’s tough for Toby when his mother leaves home to be a country singer. Toby takes it hard when his best friend Cal’s older brother goes off to fight in Vietnam. Now their sleepy town is about to get a jolt with the arrival of Zachary Beaver, billed as the fattest boy in the world. Toby is in for a summer unlike any other, a summer sure to change his life.

Find a Stranger, Say Goodbye


Lois Lowry - 1978
    But something is missing; the answer to a most important question: "Who is my mother?"To find that answer seventeen-year-old Natalie begins a journey that she hopes will lead to the identity of her biological mother. And what if Natalie finds her? What will happen when they meet face-to-face?

Ice Dogs


Terry Lynn Johnson - 2014
    With food gone and temperatures dropping, her survival, and that of her dogs and the mysterious boy she meets in the woods, is entirely up to her.Author Terry Lynn Johnson is a musher herself and her crackling writing puts readers at the reins as Victoria and Chris experience setbacks, mistakes, and small triumphs in their wilderness adventure.

You Wish


Jason Lethcoe - 2007
    Before long, Benjamin has been recruited by the Wishworks Factory director himself to fight the evil henchmen of the Curseworks Factory. In the process, Benjamin will reclaim his original wish—giving new credence to the old adage: “Be careful what you wish for . . . ”

The Light in the Forest


Conrad Richter - 1953
    Renamed True Son, he came to think of himself as fully Indian. But eleven years later his tribe, the Lenni Lenape, has signed a treaty with the white men and agreed to return their captives, including fifteen-year-old True Son. Now he must go back to the family he has forgotten, whose language is no longer his, and whose ways of dress and behavior are as strange to him as the ways of the forest are to them. A beautifully written, sensitively told story of a white boy brought up by Indians, The Light in the Forest is a beloved American classic.

Goosebumps Boxed Set, Books 13 - 16: Piano Lessons Can Be Murder / The Werewolf of Fever Swamp / You Can't Scare Me! / and One Day at HorrorLand


R.L. Stine - 1994
    At first, taking piano seems like a cool idea. But there's something creepy about Jerry's piano teacher, Dr. Shreek. Something really creepy. Something Jerry can't quite put his fingers on.Volume 14: The Werewolf Of Fever Swamp: There's something horrible happening in Fever Swamp. Something really horrible. It started with the Strange howling at night. Then there was the rabbit, torn to shreds. Everyone thinks Grady's new dog is responsible. After all, he looks just like a wolf. And he seems a little on the wild side.Volume 15: You Can't Scare Me!: Courtney is a total show-off. She thinks she's so brave and she's always making Eddie and his friends look like wimps. But now Eddie's decided he's had enough. He's going to scare Courtney once and for all. And he's just come up with the perfect plan. He's going to lure Courtney down to Muddy Creek. Volume 16: One Day At Horrorland: The Morris family got lost trying to find Zoo Gardens Theme Park. But that's okay. They found another amusement park instead. It's called Horrorland. In Horrorland there are no crowds. No lines. And the admission is free. It seems like a pretty cool place. But that was before that heart-stopping ride on the deadly Doom Slide. And that terrifying experience in the House of Mirrors.

Phoenix Rising


Karen Hesse - 1994
    Without warning, Nyle's modest world fills with protective masks, evacuations, contaminated food, disruptions, and mistrust.Nyle adjusts to the changes. As long as the fallout continues blowing to the East, Nyle, Gran, and the farm can go on. But into this uncertain haven stumble Ezra Trent and his mother, "refugees" from the heart of the accident, who take temporary shelter in the back bedroom of Nyle's house.The back bedroom is the dying room: It took her mother when Nyle was six; it stole away her grandfather just two years ago. Now Ezra is back there and Nyle doesn't want to open her heart to him. Too many times she's let people in, only to have them desert her.Karen Hesse's voice and vision are grounded in truth; she takes on a nearly unharnessable subject, contains it, and makes it resonate with honesty. Part love story, part coming of age, this is a tour de force by a gifted writer.