Danny's tall and skinny. Even though he’s not built, his arms are long enough to give his pitch a power so fierce any college scout would sign him on the spot. Ninety-five mile an hour fastball, but the boy’s not even on a team. Every time he gets up on the mound he loses it.
But at his private school, they don’t expect much else from him. Danny’ s brown. Half-Mexican brown. And growing up in San Diego that close to the border means everyone else knows exactly who he is before he even opens his mouth. Before they find out he can’t speak Spanish, and before they realize his mom has blond hair and blue eyes, they’ve got him pegged. But it works the other way too. And Danny’s convinced it’s his whiteness that sent his father back to Mexico.
That’s why he’s spending the summer with his dad’s family. Only, to find himself, he may just have to face the demons he refuses to see--the demons that are right in front of his face. And open up to a friendship he never saw coming.
"[A] first-rate exploration of self-identity."-School Library Journal
"Unique in its gritty realism and honest portrayal of the complexities of life for inner-city teens...De la Peña poignantly conveys the message that, despite obstacles, you must believe in yourself and shape your own future."-The Horn Book Magazine
"De la Peña does an excellent job...Readers see themselves in Danny, Uno, and Sofia, whether or not they share their backgrounds. In the end, they find themselves wanting the characters to succeed."-VOYA
"The baseball scenes...sizzle like Danny's fastball...Danny's struggle to find his place will speak strongly to all teens, but especially to those of mixed race."-Booklist
"De la Peña blends sports and street together in a satisfying search for personal identity."-Kirkus Reviews
"Deftly explores the subject of interracial mixing."-Multicultural Review
"Matt de la Pena has done the impossible; fired a perfect fastball on the low inside corner and hit a towering home run at the same time. A tough, funny, edgy, hopeful story about friendship under fire and love in its true sense."-Chris Crutcher, author of Deadline and Whale Talk
"Mexican Whiteboy...shows that no matter what obstacles you face, you can still reach your dreams with a positive attitude. This is more than a book about a baseball player--this is a book about life."-Curtis Granderson, New York Mets outfielder
An ALA-YALSA Top Ten Best Book for Young Adults
A Junior Library Guild Selection
Christina wakes in a new world with no memory of who she is or where she came from. Tasked with solving a riddle that will save the duke and duchess who rescue her and take her in as a changeling, Christina seeks to puzzle out just what she's doing here and why her memory has fled.
But the riddle isn't just a key to saving the duke and duchess--it's Christina's key to something far more dire, a mission she knows she must remember, one that involves the strange young man who keeps appearing in odd places. Is the riddle a prophecy or a warning?
Acclaimed YA author Amanda M. Jenkins, in partnership with Tiffany Trent, takes on Christina's voice to determine just how much Christina's fate depends upon the answer to that question.
Themes such as friendship, rivalry, disappointment, and success run through these tales about dance and dancers. There are autobiographical contributions from famous prima ballerinas such as Margot Fonteyn, as well as stories by popular writers such as Cynthia Voigt, Noel Streatfeild, and Michelle Magorian. This artfully chosen anthology will delight any dancer or fan of the ballet.
Violet Greenfield knows she?s supposed to be a super-confident nineteen-year-old because she?s done runway shows in New York and internationally. But now that she?s finally headed to college, she?s afraid she?ll turn back into that girl who blended into the walls in high school. Vassar is just two hours away from New York City??her friends in fashion think she?s crazy to stop modeling now. And her old friend Roger is there...but things have been weird ever since they kissed. The real question is if she?s not going to be ?Violet on the Runway? anymore...who is she?
Laudae Sissy, the new H igh Priestess of the world called H armony, reaches across all seven castes of her society, seeking a new unity that will protect their isolation from the rest of the galaxy. But other cultures and races are testing their borders, searching for the most valuable commodity in civilized space. Sissy's quest leads her through a quagmire of human motivations in search of a new understanding of life upon H armony's Path.
The stores in Enchantment Place live up to the title, catering to a rather unique clientele ranging from vampires and werecreatures to wizards and witches, elves and unicorns?in short, anyone with shopping needs not likely to be met in the chain stores. Here are seventeen shopping trips you?ll never forget, from a store that sells the highest quality familiars?to the non-magical daughter of a magic-filled family who is left to mind the family jewelry store though she has no means to defeat an enchanting thief?to a woman running a Wiccan supply store who is suddenly faced with an IRS audit?
The stories in this delightful anthology feature a wide variety of animals--from geese and otters to lions and mules. The impressive list of contributors includes three Nobel laureates. Classics such as Jack London's The Call of the Wild, Rudyard Kipling's The Cat That Walked by Himself, and Ernest Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea accompany more recent favorites such as Charlotte's Web and Dick King-Smith's Godhanger. This anthology provides a terrific introduction to animal stories and acclaimed writers, past and present.
A New Twist on this Years Fantasy Adventures!
EverWing, the next historical adventure, brings us along with a young royal Masu¨ra named Gavee, who discovers his understanding between right and wrong differs from his clans. He finds himself torn between what he was trained to become and what he feels to be right. This first book brings us into the Masu¨ra world and how Gavee answers the question between following his heart over the demands from his family. EverWing is the beginning for Gavee and his travels, as he moves through the struggles of his island and watches one Masu¨ra destroy everything he holds dear.
The bestselling author of The Hidden Diary of Marie Antoinette and The Last Wife of Henry VIII returns with an enchanting novel about the ambitious, amoral, vulnerable woman who became the first wife of Napoleon Bonaparte.
Fashion icon, leader of France's society in the turbulent years of the guillotine and the bloody Napoleonic Wars, the alluring Josephine was a tough survivor―yet she also had a gentle, haunting quality that made her irresistible to her contemporaries, especially to the mysterious, compelling stranger from Martinique who captured her heart.