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The Wide Awake Loons

by Katherine Holmes

Ten-year-old Ginny and her mother are opening the cabin. On an otherwise quiet day, Ginny hears a male loon, Yudel, sparring with a younger bird over territory. Canoeing with her friend, Wes, Ginny discovers a loon nest on an island. They quickly find themselves protecting the defenseless eggs against predators. During the summer, the loons raise three loonlings. Now faced with many dangers, Yudel and his mate, Owala, will put their courage to the test. Follow the journey of Ginny and the loons ... more

Josiah's Apple Orchard

by Katherine Holmes

Besides music, Vivvy loves green apples. She and her brother Matt go on morning apple raids until, one fall, their father drives them to a pick-your-own orchard. The cross old Josiah inhabits another time where pixies might appear like uprooted saplings. In the early, eventful 1960s, Vivvy takes the flute from Mr. Fortray, a band teacher who plays jazz. Detours confuse another apple picking trip and Josiah is angry about progress. Yet if Vivvy wants to do what she loves, she must think beyond a ... more

Kobee Manatee: A Wild Weather Adventure

by Robert Scott Thayer

Kobee Manatee wants to surprise his sister, Kim, who lives in the Bahamas, on her birthday. But it won’t be easy to get there from Key West, Florida. Kobee will have to travel across the mighty Atlantic Ocean and into the strong Gulf Stream current. Not only that – it’s hurricane season!

Can Kobee and his friends Tess and Pablo swim safely through a giant thunderstorm, a wild waterspout and a monster hurricane? A thrilling tale loaded with surprises,... more

Kobee Manatee: Heading Home to Florida

by Robert Scott Thayer

Kobee Manatee swam from Florida all the way up to Cape Cod, Massachusetts. But it's late September and he has to get back home or he'll die from the cold. On his twelve hundred mile journey to Florida, Kobee meets two new friends: Tess the seahorse and Pablo the hermit crab. Tess always asks Kobee questions because she loves learning. Pablo has lost his shell and needs to find a new one for his home.

Their adventure is a thrilling story that's filled w... more

Jack David, The Noisiest Kid in the Class

by Lindy Brown

Jack David has a hard time sitting still in school. But when his class takes a walk in the woods, he shines, showing his classmates some of the everyday wonders of the forest. And when they begin to wonder if there’s a bear around, Jack David knows just what to do. For ages 5 and up, Jack David, The Noisiest Kid in the Class is a Tell and Show™ book, designed to foster imagination, creativity, and just plain fun. This book has the text on the left-hand pages, along with color photos of “wonde... more

Body Of Music

by Stacey Culpepper

What does a girl do to overcome her stage fright? Music and singing have always been a major part of her life. Her bi-racial background exposes her to a variety of music. She loves to sing in her room alone. But what happens when her grandparents want her to sing a special song for their big anniversary party? Melody discovers that only she can muster up the courage to overcome this fear to realize her dream of singing publicly. This story is written for girls and boys of all ages. Melody will e... more

Fault Lines

by Brenda Ortega

When her revenge plan goes awry, fourteen-year-old Dani Burkhart finds herself in unexpected places: the back seat of a cop car, the police station holding room, Juvenile Court. She wants her old life, the one with a family that’s not falling apart. She wants to stay in her home with the woods in back, and keep her carefree dog with the windshield wiper tail, and hear her big brother laugh and shout “Sweet, D-Dawg!” when her curveball dips like a sparrow. Dani has always believed her grandmoth... more

The Twelfth of Never

by Brenda Ortega

Presley may be smart, but she buckles under pressure – or more specifically, she alphabetizes. In stressful moments her mind grabs words and compulsively sorts the letters, like a frightened guard dog chasing its tail. So it’s no surprise when signs from the universe constantly warn her: stay out of the spotlight. That’s hard to do when her Elvis-loving mom, the school secretary, plays embarrassing snippets of The King’s hits on the PA every day. It’s even harder when the school’s biggest g... more

An Amazing Circus of Phonograms: Act 1 (Volume 1)

by Mary Jo Nyssen

Come boys and girls to the big top show Where you will see and hear things you need to know. Learning to read is like breaking a code—and if you already know the twenty-six letters of the alphabet, you’re nearly there! Next up are those pesky pairings of letters that create noises as a team, like when “ea” in the word “break” makes the same long “a” sound as in “take.” Here to tell you all about it is a uniquely clever ringmaster, an... more

A Song for Jordan

by Mya Kay

Jordan Crystal Myers has it all – good grades, a great music collection, her own band and she gets everything she wants. Except for one thing – the 15-year-old, biracial teen has never, ever met her father. All she knows is that he’s a black musician who left her white mother for someone else. Only she doesn’t believe that’s the truth. Complete at 64,000 words, A Song for Jordan is a contemporary YA novel set in Silver Springs, Maryland and Atlanta, Georgia. It tells the story of a teenage g... more

Emmie of Indianapolis

by Kay Castaneda

In 1963, a young teenage girl moves with her mother and sisters from the suburbs to the downtown of a Midwestern city when her parents divorce. Emmie, a naïve, curious and intelligent girl, wants the security of her suburban life but has always dreamed of adventure in faraway places. She must take risks, meet new people and become independent. The change is difficult for all because of her mother’s failing health and lack of a... more

Vanilla and Chocolate/Vainilla y Chocolate

by Maritza Martinez Mejia

A concerned teacher helps two friends be together after their parents refused to let them play because of their skin color. This book is dedicated to all teachers who dedicate their lives to education.

Grandma's Treasure

by Maritza Martinez Mejia

An upset Grandma teaches their grandchildren a lesson for life to value what they have as she reveals her most valuable treasures when she was a child. This story is a tribute to my grandmother who passed away at age one hundred and taught me Lessons for Life.

The Royal Crane

by Ehud Lavski

It is the time of the french revolution. The king’s favourite bird is taken from the palace and put in a cage in the Paris zoo. When a sewer rat finds this out, he decides to free the crane and take him back to the grateful king. What follows is a grand, colourful adventure through the streets of Paris.

The Dangerous Summer of Jesse Turner

by D. C. Reep

When sixteen-year-old Jesse Turner lies about his age and joins Colonel Theodore Roosevelt’s Rough Riders to fight the Spanish in Cuba in 1898, he expects to prove himself in battle. What he doesn’t expect is a fellow volunteer who is determined to kill him for something his outlaw father did in the past. Jesse and his new friends, New Yorker Will and Ben, a Comanche from the Indian Territories, share the frustrations and hazards of a volunteer military force unprepared for war and the reality ... more

Buckwheat's Journey...

by Sandra Reed

Jessica’s father arrives with a new doll Buckwheat for her display case. Jessica criticizes Buckwheat’s appearance. When her father gives her a brief history lesson about Buckwheat’s origin, she accepts him in her display case. Buckwheat is now surrounded by black and classy female dolls. The aura in the display case shifts and becomes animated, tense, mysterious and simply a nightmare. Dark shadows of rejection and isolation shroud Buckwheat. Something is amiss. The house is in disarra... more

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