Synopsis: From the author of the Project (Un)Popular series and Too Cool For This School, a fun middle school story about a girl determined to make the best of any situation.

Imagine being Camille McPhee. She has low blood sugar, so she carries extra food in a cooler. Would you want to do that?

Didn't think so.

And you wouldn’t want to fall under the school bus. That happened to Camille too!
Her cat, Checkers, is lost. And her best friend, Sally, moved to Japan.

It would be hard to stay optimistic, right? But Camille is what her mom calls HOPEFUL. Because really? There are plenty of things to be positive about:

gifted reading
a nonsqueaky mattress
eating banned foods
the big blue butterfly

Even making a new friend. Imagine that!

"This book about friendship and loss kindly teaches that life is pretty much what one is willing to make of it." --School Library Journal, starred review

"[A] touching debut." --Kirkus Reviews

Synopsis: The Dangerous Book for Boys with a fantasy twist!

Ever wonder how to:
 
 Improvise a wand?
 
 Capture a werewolf?

 Make a monster-catching net?

Why wait to be accepted into wizardry school to learn the answers? Packed with easy projects using everyday materials, this fact-filled activity book shows wannabe wizards how to craft unique creations such as their own wizard robes, play games such as vampire tag, master adventuring skills like mapping a monster-filled dungeon, and follow step-by-step instructions on how to "survive" almost any monster attack.

The fantastical fun never ends in this book that will inspire hours of imaginative play!

Synopsis: What if John Henry had a son?

Twelve-year-old Ray is haunted by the strangest memories of his father, whom Ray swears could speak to animals. Now an orphan, Ray jumps from a train going through the American South and falls in with a medicine show train and its stable of sideshow performers. The performers turn out to be heroes, defenders of the wild, including the son of John Henry. They are hiding the last of the mythical Swamp Sirens from an ancient evil known as the Gog. Why the Gog wants the Siren, they can’t be sure, but they know it has something to do with rebuilding a monstrous machine that John Henry gave his life destroying years before, a machine that will allow the Gog to control the will of men and spread darkness throughout the world.


From the Hardcover edition.

Synopsis: What if you knew everything there was to know? What if the true answer to any question was ready in your mind the moment you asked for it? What if the answers always came every time, and were never wrong? What questions would you ask? What would you do with the answers? And who would you trust?

Sara Starbright has exactly that problem. Being eleven is hard enough, but not having anyone to confide in is even harder. What's the point in getting to know someone if you already know everything about them? Sure, Sara's single mom tries her best to understand her daughter, but making ends meet is about all she seems to have time for these days. And Sara has bigger problems on the way too, problems that even she can't see coming, for having all the answers is nice, but asking the right questions is the real talent.

Sara Starbright has the most important gift the universe has ever given, and all manner of creatures from all realms of the imagination want to take it for themselves. What can one small girl do to protect herself from the deadliest and most impressive force creation has ever amassed? Yet in her darkest hour, Sara may have just met the one person in the entire universe capable of being her friend. Stifled and stunted in the deepest inner chambers of the Fish Man's worldship prison colony, a boy named Jonathan Wheeler lies in a state of suspended animation. Through an unlikely twist of fate, he has found himself in the body of an ever-growing and ever-changing monster, the Chimera. With boundless energy and strength at his command, all he needs is the right bit of knowledge to get himself out of his cell and to freedom.

As they escape from one world to the next, Sara and Jonathan find that together they make a pretty good team. But when you can't trust anyone, and when the universe turns out to be quite a bit bigger than you could have ever imagined, who can you count on to guide you towards somewhere you actually want to be?

Meow.

Synopsis: Crackpot notions, community spirit, and sky-high aspirations
transform a quiet boy’s life in this whimsical tale from the stellar team of David Almond and Polly Dunbar. (Ages 8-12)

There are some strange ideas floating around in Paul’s apartment block. There’s Mabel, who now calls herself Molly and whose brother hides under a paper bag. Then there’s Clarence, the poodle who thinks he can fly. But the strangest notion of all is Paul’s. You see, Paul believes that the moon is not the moon but a great hole in the sky. And he knows that sausages are better than war. How on earth (or not) will he find out if he is bonkers or a genius? With a few equally bonkers (or genius) helpers and a very long ladder, that’s how! From a master of magical realism and a celebrated artist comes another delightfully outrageous expedition.

Synopsis: Vienna, Austria, 1938

Maestoso Petra is a world-famous Lipizzaner stallion. He has spent years in the Spanish Riding School, training to perform the complex airs above the ground that only Lipizzaner can accomplish. But when World War II breaks out in Europe, he learns to think less about performing and more about survival. Here is Maestoso Petra’s story . . . in his own words.