Synopsis: Twisted Sisters's Aspen Brooks can't catch a break-even during spring break...

Aspen Brooks trades in sand between her toes for shopping on The Strip when she agrees to go to Las Vegas for spring break with her boyfriend, Rand, her bff, Angel, and Angel's bf, Lucas. Their hotel is hosting the Miss Teen Queen Pageant and surgically enhanced beauty contestants are everywhere. But when Miss Illinois goes AWOL, it's up to Aspen to represent her home state and find out what's really going on. Even if it means putting down the suntan lotion and ignoring Angel's meltdown over breaking up with Lucas...

Synopsis: Stuck at home caring for her severely depressed mother and abandoned by her father, Mazzy has only the day-to-day dramas of her neighborhood to keep her busy. But between flirting with the boy next door and worrying about the fact that she's flat-chested, Mazzy has to face the fact that her mom is emotionally paralyzed by a family tragedy. As readers delve into the story, they'll eventually discover what it was that tore Mazzy's family apart, and they'll see what it takes to put it back together.

Despite its serious subject matter, Mazzy brings humor to the trying age of adolescence and gives readers just the kind of awkward, troubled, and endearing character they will gladly embrace.

Synopsis: It is 1954 in small-town Oklahoma and for 14-year-old Albie Stone and his two best friends, their innocent summer vacation revolves around fishing in the creek, afternoons at the local swimming pool and riding their bikes outside of town to explore the dark, hidden crevasses of the nearby caves they've recently discovered. But the caves become more than a simple adventure destination when an elderly, silver-haired Indian man appears almost magically out of nowhere to join them during a weekend campout. The old man befriends and mesmerizes the spellbound youngsters with his captivating campfire stories . . . before quietly disappearing into the summer night! Returning to the caves a few weeks later in hopes of another visit with the Indian they know as Johnny Killbird, the boys are instead swept into a dangerous fight for survival with an escaped murderer who's hiding out in the caves. Albie flees to a secret hideaway in the caves but soon finds himself in a face-to-face confrontation with the heartless convict. The battle in the darkened caves suddenly comes to a shocking conclusion as Albie emerges only to himself swept into the middle of a . . . murder investigation! It's a summer . . . and the fond memories of an old Indian . . . that Albie will never forget!

Synopsis: Willy Hynes can't understand how he pulled a patch of caribou skin out of his dream. Willy's mentor, Vince, explains that other residents of Sleepy Owl have had similar dreams. It is a sign to join the Pniese, a secret society formed for Halloween, when the undead are allowed to cross over. This year, they must recover a leprechaun's stolen gold and find a missing child gorgon without turning into stone. There is also a traveler entering Sleepy Owl. His name is Jack and until recently, he was doomed to walk the earth. Now, Jack is free to commit all the chaos he pleases.

Synopsis: It's hard to be a "Black Sheep Baxter," at least for 12-year-old Polly. From a poor white family, Polly's best friend, Timbre Ann Biggs, is black, making them the only "salt-and-pepper" friends in town. But in that fall of 1959, life in quiet Holcolm County starts to heat up as one by one, thriving colored businesses burn to the ground. When someone throws a note wrapped around a brick through the window of Biggs Repair, Polly worries that Timber Ann will be blinded by the color of her skin and forget they were ever close. When a tragic fire brings everything to a head, the spotlight falls on Polly's family. Sensitively painting a vivid portrait of the Jim Crow South, Polly's inspiring story captures the defiant spirit of youth in an oppressive small town, just as the seeds of the Civil Rights Movement begin to sprout.

Synopsis: WHEN DONALD GARDNER'S parents tell him they'll be taking an exciting road trip through Kansas, he openly cringes. He is sure it will be a boring summer vacation. But at one of their final roadside stops on the way home, they are approached by a poor woman offering to sell a curious item--an antique silver shoe. While Donald's mother is initially reluctant, she is ultimately smitten with the shoe and buys it. Donald is skeptical that the shoe is anything more than a relic, but when the new school year starts, he brings it in for show-and-tell, attempting to impress his classmates. His friends liken it to something out of The Wizard of Oz, and his teacher agrees the idea is not far-fetched considering author L. Frank Baum wrote about silver shoes, not ruby slippers, which were strictly in the movie. Yet when he accepts a dare from his two best buddies to try it on, frightening and incredible things begin to happen. Strange animals cry out in the night. Dark, shadowy shapes lurk in distant corners. Scratching sounds are heard just outside his bedroom window. And when he meets George Clarke, a reclusive man who has been in hiding and on the run for many years, Donald finds out there is a lot more to Baum's story than he thinks. Join Donald as he unravels Baum's earth-shattering secret in Silver Shoes.