The Year of Billy Miller includes black-and-white art by Kevin Henkes and is perfect for fans of the Ramona books; Frindle, by Andrew Clements; and the Clementine series.The New York Times declared: "Henkes's delightful story is restrained and vivid . . . forgoing the overdramatic or zany, it shows the substance, warmth and adaptability of beautifully common family love."When Billy Miller has a mishap at the statue of the Jolly Green Giant at the end of summer vacation, he ends up with a big lump on his head. What a way to start second grade, with a lump on your head! As the year goes by, though, Billy figures out how to navigate elementary school, how to appreciate his little sister, and how to be a more grown up and responsible member of the family and a help to his busy working mom and stay-at-home dad. Newbery Honor author and Caldecott Medalist Kevin Henkes delivers a short, satisfying, laugh-out-loud-funny school and family story that features a diorama homework assignment, a school poetry slam, cancelled sleepovers, and epic sibling temper tantrums. This is a perfect short novel for the early elementary grades.

    Once you've met Amos and read his account, you'll never think of Ben Franklin-or American history-quite the same way.Explore this historical time period even further in this new edition of award-winning author Robert Lawson's classic tale, with additional bonus material, including a map of Ben Franklin's travels! Did you ever wonder where inventors get their ideas? Benjamin Franklin was one of the most famous inventors in American history, and according to this amusing book, he got most of his ideas--the good ones at any rate--from a mouse! Funny, interesting and wise, Ben and Me is a classic American story that has been read by generations of young people. Once you've met Amos the mouse, you'll always remember Benjamin Franklin a little differently than the history books do.

    And then the dizzy spells start. Soon gravely ill with leukemia, the "atom bomb disease," Sadako faces her future with spirit and bravery. Recalling a Japanese legend, Sadako sets to work folding paper cranes. For the legend holds that if a sick person folds one thousand cranes, the gods will grant her wish and make her healthy again. Based on a true story, Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes celebrates the extraordinary courage that made one young woman a heroine in Japan.

    Her investigation leads her to three extraordinary people: Jonathan, her new neighbor; Nubia, an African slave; and Lupus, a mute beggar boy. The four embark on a search for the killer ... and that's when the excitement begins

    Nory Horace is nine years old. She's resourceful, she's brave, she likes peanut butter cookies. Also, she's able to transform into many different animals. Unfortunately, Nory's shape-shifting talent is a bit wonky. And when she flunks out of her own father's magic academy, Nory's forced to enter public school, where she meets a group of kids whose magic is, well, different. This new, offbeat series from hit authors Sarah Mlynowski, Lauren Myracle, and Emily Jenkins chronicles the misadventures of Nory and her oddball friends, who prove that upside-down magic definitely beats right side up.

    Travers, the author featured in the major motion picture, Saving Mr. Banks. From the moment Mary Poppins arrives at Number Seventeen Cherry-Tree Lane, everyday life at the Banks house is forever changed. It all starts when Mary Poppins is blown by the east wind onto the doorstep of the Banks house. She becomes a most unusual nanny to Jane, Michael, and the twins. Who else but Mary Poppins can slide up banisters, pull an entire armchair out of an empty carpetbag, and make a dose of medicine taste like delicious lime-juice cordial? A day with Mary Poppins is a day of magic and make-believe come to life!

    Wol brings dead skunks to the family dinner table and terrorizes the minister, the postman, and the French teacher. Weeps is a comical bird, afraid of everything except Mutt, and he never does learn how to fly. Here is the heartwarming story of how a boy named Billy finds Wol and Weeps and unwittingly adds two new members to the family.

    Nathaniel Bowditch grew up in a sailor’s world—Salem in the early days, when tall-masted ships from foreign ports crowded the wharves. But Nat didn’t promise to have the makings of a sailor; he was too physically small. Nat may have been slight of build, but no one guessed that he had the persistence and determination to master sea navigation in the days when men sailed only by “log, lead, and lookout.” Nat’s long hours of study and observation, collected in his famous work, The American Practical Navigator (also known as the “Sailors’ Bible”), stunned the sailing community and made him a New England hero.

    "A fast-moving novel based upon an actual historical incident with a spunky heroine and fine historical detail."--School Library Journal. Author's note."There are few authors who can consistently manage both to entertain and inform." --Booklist

    She lives alone, quietly weaving baskets with creative flair under the floor boards of the Oakley Plantation. However, Celeste’s world turns upside down with the arrival of the great naturalist John James Audubon and his assistant Joseph, who have come to study and paint the birds of the Louisiana bayou. Their arrival coincides with Celeste’s sudden displacement from her home below to a guest room upstairs. There she watches young Joseph struggle to create the backgrounds for Audubon’s bird paintings. As the two homesick souls strike up a friendship, the mouse secretly puts her artistic skills to good use; she simultaneously helps Joseph improve his compositions while aiding the wounded birds that Audubon captures for his studies. Nearly every page of author-illustrator Henry Cole's fine novel combines text and remarkable drawn images to tell the story of a mouse in need of a home of her own from the tiny creature's unique vantage point.

    Petersburg as a magical place.The daughter of a lady-in-waiting to the Empress, Katya spends all her time with the Grand Duchesses; the royal family feels like her own. But outside the palace, a terrible war is sweeping through Europe, and Russia is beginning to crumble under the weight of a growing revolution. Now, as Katya's once-certain future begins to dissolve, she must seek to understand what is happening to her beloved country and, for the first time in her life, take charge of her own destiny.

    But when he sees the brutality and disrespect to Mauryavansh by the Pashtun rebels, he cannot stay silent. His sword is as quick as his temper, and the result is swift and bloody justice. Taxila is saved—but the Emperor is furious. Emperor Bindusara, egged on by his favorite queen, Noor Khorasan, becomes convinced that Ashoka’s show of initiative is an act of treason. Even the wise words of nonagenarian Kautilya, emerging from retirement, fall on deaf ears. Queen Khorasan’s well-mounted plot to control the empire sweeps up everyone who opposes her. Suddenly, Ashoka is forced to choose between his mother’s life and his own. What will the young prince do?India’s epic storyteller brings alive the battles, brutality, lust and politics of ancient India in vivid detail with thrilling action, and no-holds-barred storytelling. Relive the extraordinary life story of India’s greatest emperor as a young man in Ashoka: Satrap of Taxila.

    Augustine, to re-evangelize England. Young Wolf, born in that land but raised in Rome, accompanies his father, Wolfstan, who goes as a guide and interpreter. Though the King of Kent's wife is a Christian, the missionaries from Rome do not know whether they will be welcomed, tolerated or martyred. In a story full of adventure, Wolf meets Fritha, a Saxon girl whose life and destiny are soon closely bound up with his own. Events, significant in the history of Christianity, are vividly brought to life by this veteran writer of historical fiction. Ages 10 and up.

    They were the men who came to your father in his hour of need. They were the men who fought with him. They were men, and that is the highest that can be written of them…”Ittai of Gath, a Philistine, has been the enemy of the Hebrews for many years and among their most capable opponents. But now he has been defeated by the fearsome warriors of the Hebrew king David’s army. While a storm rolls in to settle over the central hill country, Ittai escapes his capture and wrestles with his fate until he finds himself at the city of the Jebusites…which David intends to capture.A companion piece to the Lion of War series about the battles of King David, “Ittai” is a short story in the collection known as The Hall of the Mighty Men, set between the events of “Covenant of War” and the upcoming “Song of War.”Narrated by Jehoshaphat, the historian of King Solomon, this collection of origin tales expands the Lion of War literary universe and contains character origins, epic battles, and feats of bravery unable to be included in the novels and upcoming movies.Thrilling and passionate, The Hall of the Mighty Men is another chapter in the epic Lion of War series that fans will enjoy for years to come.

    Times may be hard, and ten-year-old Bud may be a motherless boy on the run, but Bud's got a few things going for him:He has his own suitcase full of special things.He's the author of Bud Caldwell's Rules and Things for Having a Funner Life and Making a Better Liar Out of Yourself.His momma never told him who his father was, but she left a clue: flyers advertising Herman E. Calloway and his famous band, the Dusky Devastators of the Depression!!!!!!Bud's got an idea that those flyers will lead him to his father. Once he decides to hit the road and find this mystery man, nothing can stop him--not hunger, not fear, not vampires, not even Herman E. Calloway himself.