Synopsis: In a wry new early reader, the world’s most optimistic pig and his nervous hamster sidekick set out on an exploration to find the Ends of the Earth.

Pigsticks is the last in a noble line of explorers, and he’s decided it’s time for him to follow in his forepigs’ footsteps — with an assistant to do the heavy lifting, of course. When his help-wanted ad draws a motley crew of candidates, he chooses a hapless delivery hamster named Harold. As the unlikely duo set off from Tuptown with plenty of tea cakes in tow, Pigsticks is breathless with excitement (and Harold is struggling for breath under all the gear). But after a long trek through jungles, over deserts, and up a giant ice-topped mountain, the last crumb of cake is stolen by a herd of thieving goats, and their goal is nowhere in sight. Will they ever discover the Ends of the Earth? Could it be in the last place they’d ever think to look?

Synopsis: Before her plane even touches down in Newfoundland, Cheryl is already plotting her escape. The unwilling spectator of her father’s morbid fascination with “dying cultures,” Cheryl has seen more than her fair share of towns so depressing they could haunt your dreams. His decision to study the defunct east-coast fishing industry is Cheryl’s breaking point—this city girl is more determined than ever to get back where she belongs. Will Cheryl’s cold, goth exterior and her refusal to embrace a new life cut her off from those who love her?

Synopsis: The Story Continues in When the Music Stops: Dance On

Martas life: Part Two. Marta struggles to regain her ability to dance. As she finds a job to support herself, her dance and her personal life takes several unexpected and harrowing turns. Will she be able to find a deeper well of strength to meet these new challenges head-on?

Eighteen year-old Marta Selbryth remained in Billings, Montana until she realized she'd need an extended recovery time before she'd be able to return to dancing. As the story begins, it's May, 1958 and Marta's returned to her family home in Bremerton, Washington. Her plan: work on her recovery and make decisions about her future as a dancer as well as her relationship with her boyfriend, Steve Mason.

It's true, it is hard to go home after being on your own, but Marta's mother welcomes her and lets her discover her own way forward. However, Marta feels displaced by her mom's special friend, Robert. Being alone and lonely, she wanders aimlessly through her days and nights. When she takes a job with the local community theatre, her energy returns. Her enthusiasm further reignites when her former ballet teacher, Miss Holland, invites Marta to teach at her dance studio.

Over the fall, winter and into spring, a series of unexpected events at the dance studio and in Marta's romantic relationships throw her life in chaos. She must rethink what and who she wants and needs in her life as well as how much she's willing to forfeit to achieve her goals. Read the first chapter...

Synopsis: The adventure of Brian Parker's dreams has just become a nightmare. While on a school trip to Europe, Brian hopes for just a taste of the glamour and excitement from his favorite spy novels. Yet he gets way more than he bargained for when he stumbles across a wounded spy in a Lucerne alley. The man's dying words catapult Brian into a desperate chase across the continent. America's latest super weapon is at stake, and everyone from a rogue CIA officer to a sadistic criminal mastermind is after it-and Brian. New enemies emerge at every turn, but he soon finds a welcome ally in Larissa, a beautiful French girl who loves the Ramones and is handy with a blast of pepper spray. Brian faces a deadly path, but reading all those spy novels has taught him a few tricks of the trade. They just might save his life.

Synopsis: Chuckle your way through this easy-to-read illustrated chapter book about a big-toothed beaver who learns the importance of self-acceptance.

All beavers have flat tails and furry coats. Most beavers have two front teeth. And then there’s Buck. Unlike the rest of his family, he has one gigantic front tooth—and he hates it! His tooth ruins everything for him, especially the Annual Talent Show.

Whatever Buck tries to do for the contest—whistle, walk on stilts, blow bubbles—his tooth gets in the way. Can Buck learn to embrace his inner tooth?

Synopsis: Set in Korea, this multicultural, middle-reader novel is the riveting story of a magical realm, a little girl, her brother and a daring rescue.

So annoying…In Young-hee's life everything feels wrong. It seemed like only yesterday that her world was just as it should be. But now her dad is gone, her mom is overextended, and Young-hee is forced to move back to Seoul—and not a nice part of Seoul, either. To make matters worse, the girls at her new school are nasty, and her little brother Bum is an insufferable, attention-hogging pain.

Then Young-hee stumbles into a magical world, where the fairy stories of her childhood are real and all the frustrations of her everyday life fade away—until Bum is kidnapped, and the only way Young-hee can save him is by finding the magical pullocho plant. Soon, she is plunged into an epic quest, encountering dragons and fairies and facing decisions that affect not only Bum, but the fate of an entire world.

In Young-hee and the Pullocho, debut novelist Mark James Russell puts a Korean spin on an evergreen fantasy trope, interweaving Korean folktales with the story of a young girl who, without realizing it, is in search of herself. Readers of all ages will want to join Young-hee as she journeys from the dingiest part of Seoul to enchanted lands that prove more beautiful—and more dangerous—than she ever could have imagined.

Synopsis: Gertie has become friends, and has possibly fallen in love, with both a demigod and a vampire, who happen to be at war. Although she sympathizes with the vampire uprising and has even become a vampire herself, she distrusts the leaders, especially when they plan to kill humans to cull out the demigods before ambushing them. As the three unlikely friends discover that neither side is perfectly good or evil or right or wrong, they work together to try to bring about the best outcome; but, when their parents and the gods undermine their efforts and hang them out to dry, the three teens realize they're on their own and no one will save them.