Living in a world where magic is outlawed, Sadima's special gift to speak to the animals binds her to two young men who are determined to restore magic to their poor village in order to save the people they love.

An offer she can't refuse. Kate Blessing is not your typical high school junior. She's a good student who's into guys and the latest designer jeans...and she's also part of the mob. Her father, Bobby Blessing, is the head of the family, and her mom, Amanda, is the brains behind the operation. Kate may not partake in the "family business," but she knows what goes down. She's proud of her family -- and of course, there are plenty of perks: her indoor pool, Caribbean vacations, expensive haircuts... But when Amanda gets fed up with Bobby's cheating and moves out, someone needs to make decisions, give orders, and keep things running. Kate has no choice but to step into her mother's shoes and prop her dad up. Bobby may be the face of the mob, but it's not long before the princess is running the show.

At the age of 16, it's standard procedure for every girl at Lynnie Russo's posh Los Angeles prep school to get a car. So on her 16th birthday, Lynnie is startled when she opens the small gift box from her father—it doesn't contain the shiny new set of keys she was expecting. Instead she finds a worn-out bird charm bracelet. What can he be thinking? When she cuts school to go try surfing so as to have a special day, instead of grounding her, her father hands her a manuscript box and says, "Your mother wanted you to have this when it seemed you were losing perspective. I think now's the time."Through "The Noah Confessions," Lynnie uncovers her family's secrets, loves, and tragedies, and comes to recognize that their past may not necessarily determine her future.

Here's the first book in the hilarious Moxy Maxwell series, which includes Moxy Maxwell Does Not Love Writing Thank-you Notes and Moxy Maxwell Does Not Love Practicing the Piano. It wasn't as if Moxy hadn't tried to do her summer reading. She and Stuart Little had been inseparable all summer, like best friends. If Stuart Little wasn't in her backpack, it was in her lap . . . or holding up the coffee table . . . or getting splashed when Moxy went swimming. But now it's the end of August—the day before fourth grade. And if Moxy doesn't read all of Stuart Little immediately, there are going to be "consequences." It may look like Moxy is doing nothing, but actually she is very busy with a zillion highly crucial things—like cleaning up her room (sort of) and training her dog and taking a much-needed rest in the hammock. Just look at the pictures her twin brother Mark takes to document it all—they're scattered throughout—and you'll see why it's so difficult to make time for a book about a mouse. Of course our heroine does manage to finish her book, falling so in love with it that she finds herself reading under the covers with a flashlight, late into the night.