Synopsis: Thirteen is when a Beaumont’s savvy hits—and with one brother who causes hurricanes and another who creates electricity, Mibs Beaumont is eager to see what she gets. But just before the big day, Poppa is in a terrible accident. And now all Mibs wants is a savvy that will save him. In fact, Mibs is so sure she’ll get a powerful savvy that she sneaks a ride to the hospital on a rickety bus with her sibling and the preacher’s kids in tow. After this extraordinary adventure—full of talking tattoos and a kidnapping—not a soul on board will ever be the same.

A Discussion Guide to Scumble and Savvy by Ingrid Law

Book Details:Format: PaperbackPublication Date: 3/23/2010Pages: 368Reading Level: Age 8 and Up

Synopsis: Isabella Swan's move to Forks, a small, perpetually rainy town in Washington, could have been the most boring move she ever made. But once she meets the mysterious and alluring Edward Cullen, Isabella's life takes a thrilling and terrifying turn. Up until now, Edward has managed to keep his vampire identity a secret in the small community he lives in, but now nobody is safe, especially Isabella, the person Edward holds most dear. The lovers find themselves balanced precariously on the point of a knife-between desire and danger.Deeply romantic and extraordinarily suspenseful, Twilight captures the struggle between defying our instincts and satisfying our desires. This is a love story with bite.

Synopsis: Roy Eberhardt is the new kid--again. This time around it's Trace Middle School in humid Coconut Grove, Florida. But it's still the same old routine: table by himself at lunch, no real friends, and thick-headed bullies like Dana Matherson pushing him around. But if it wasn't for Dana Matherson mashing his face against the school bus window that one day, he might never have seen the tow-headed running boy. And if he had never seen the running boy, he might never have met tall, tough, bully-beating Beatrice. And if he had never met Beatrice, he might never have discovered the burrowing owls living in the lot on the corner of East Oriole Avenue. And if he had never discovered the owls, he probably would have missed out on the adventure of a lifetime. Apparently, bullies do serve a greater purpose in the scope of the universe. Because if it wasn't for Dana Matherson...

In his first novel for a younger audience, Carl Hiaasen (Basket Case, etc.) plunges readers right into the middle of an ecological mystery, made up of endangered miniature owls, the Mother Paula's All-American Pancake House scheduled to be built over their burrows, and the owls' unlikely allies--three middle school kids determined to beat the screwed-up adult system. Hiaasen's tongue is firmly in cheek as he successfully cuts his slapstick sense of humor down to kid-size. Sure to be a hoot, er, hit with middle school mystery fans. (Ages 10 to 15) --Jennifer Hubert

Synopsis: 50 years of an iconic classic! This international bestseller and inspiration for a beloved movie is a heroic story of friendship and belonging.

No one ever said life was easy. But Ponyboy is pretty sure that he's got things figured out. He knows that he can count on his brothers, Darry and Sodapop. And he knows that he can count on his friends—true friends who would do anything for him, like Johnny and Two-Bit. But not on much else besides trouble with the Socs, a vicious gang of rich kids whose idea of a good time is beating up on “greasers” like Ponyboy. At least he knows what to expect—until the night someone takes things too far.

The Outsiders is a dramatic and enduring work of fiction that laid the groundwork for the YA genre. S. E. Hinton's classic story of a boy who finds himself on the outskirts of regular society remains as powerful today as it was the day it was first published.

"The Outsiders transformed young-adult fiction from a genre mostly about prom queens, football players and high school crushes to one that portrayed a darker, truer world." —The New York Times

"Taut with tension, filled with drama." —The Chicago Tribune

"[A] classic coming-of-age book." —Philadelphia Daily News

A New York Herald Tribune Best Teenage Book
A Chicago Tribune Book World Spring Book Festival Honor Book
An ALA Best Book for Young Adults
Winner of the Massachusetts Children's Book Award

Synopsis: In Trading Faces by Ann Herrick, published by Books We Love, An "Ugly Betty" and a Popular Beauty wind up trading faces—and lives—and the situation is not what either one expected!

When 15-year-old Darcy Doane wakes up as Cybil Sheffield, she is thrilled. Cybil is everything Darcy has ever wanted to be. Pretty. Popular. Only… all the attention isn’t exactly what Darcy expected. Especially when her own brother, Joey, is crushing on her. Gross.

Cybil is shocked when she looks in the mirror and sees a face she totally doesn’t recognize. She thought not always being the center of attention might be a good thing, but being invisible is hardly bearable. Even her boyfriend, Devon, looks right through her! How can she survive when the only people (except a family of strangers) who even know she's alive are three dipsticks she can't remember ever seeing before?

With the school play and an A-List party coming up, Darcy and Cybil have a lot to work out. There’s a learning curve for both of them, especially after they are caught fighting at school and forced by the principal to help her at a Return-to-Work project for displaced women.

Trouble is, how do they get their own lives back?

Synopsis: Leaf is an impish, stick creature called a Twig. He lives in an old forest at the foot of an ancient volcano capped by a vast glacier ~ the Long Ice. Leaf entertains his mischievous, younger, twin brothers with stories about the rare beasts that still survive on the Long Ice even though it shrinks more and more as the seasons grow hotter. One afternoon, the twins run away to play in the vanishing ice and snow. They hitch a ride on a giant moth, befriend a snowshoe bunny, and stumble upon a hermit's creepy cave. Mistaking the hermit's odd pets for a cave beast's meal, the twins rescue them all. When a bold mountain goat kid leaps into the expedition, a mighty eagle called Slayer attacks! Panicked, the Twig twins and their terrified companions rush into the glacier's icy tunnels, and are soon bewildered by a maze of melting blue tubes. Yet all is not lost, for with the help of a courageous pika, Leaf and the grumpy hermit join forces to find the twins. But in a dreadful turn of events, it is the snow beasts of the Long Ice that will decide their fate.
 In the Twig Stories adventure novels young Twigs are thrust upon dangerous paths. Still, they discover their world has unexpected help. In the midst of disappearing habitats, beavers build mighty dams to control floods and quench wildfires. Bark beetles are fought. Rare trees are saved from extinction. Glaciers may shrink, but their precious water is not lost. Now Twigs must learn a lesson from the eruption of a volcano ~ incredible adaption is possible, so Leaf and his loyal Twig friends stick together and battle to survive. 

Royalties are shared with nature conservancy nonprofits protecting wildlife and forests.

Twig Stories are illustrated by D.W. Murray, a Disney artist. His credits include Mulan, Tarzan, Lilo & Stitch, Brother Bear, and Curious George. He is a recipient of the New York Society of Illustrators Gallery and the 2004 Gold Aurora Award.

Praise for Leaf & the Long Ice ~

"Excellent storytelling combined with accurate science make this book a must-read for children interested in nature and stories of adventure."
Sarah Boon, PhD, Alberta Water and Environmental Science
University of Lethbridge

"The theme of environmental change is woven into the narrative as a backdrop to a story of adventure, danger, camaraderie, and kindness. Readers of all ages will relate to the magic that draws Buddy and Burba to the snow in the first place, and will be reminded of our connection to Earth's changing cryosphere."
Dr. Gwenn Flowers, Canada Research Chair in Glaciology
Simon Fraser University

"Leaf & the Long Ice is a must-have in your library. Rich fictional characters, vivid word imagery, evocative sensorial language, and layered science content... Jo Marshall gives us a great age-appropriate teaching tool that helps lay a foundation for students in fostering a nature care-taker's ethic."
Clay Heilman, Environmental Educator
Nature Vision

Synopsis: Smelling Herself is told through the voice of Bernadine, a precocious eleven-year-old wordsmith. Being an African American girl living in West Oakland projects in 1964 is a vulnerable and scary affair. Bernadine is convinced that the solution to her predicament is to grow up. But she soon discovers that growing up is more complicated than she expected.

Bernadine’s precarious sense of well-being begins to unravel when Jessie Mae, a girl not much older than she, moves into the apartment above hers and Bernadine discovers the girl is being abused. Bernadine makes it her mission to save Jessie Mae as though she’s saving herself and every other child who lives with constant threats, though the harder she tries the more her loved ones are put in danger.

Smelling Herself is imbued with Bernadine’s humor, intelligence, and kindred love, as Terris McMahan Grimes unflinchingly investigates—through the eyes of a quick-witted child—what it means to navigate dangerous times without fully understanding the world she lives in. It’s the story of childhood’s brazen hopes and hindrances.