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.

Girls who are fans of Judy Moody, Matilda and Clementine will love Alice-Miranda, the  precocious and endearing heroine whose adventures continue in book #2 of the Alice-Miranda series. Alice-Miranda Highton-Smith-Kennington-Jones has survived her first semester at boarding school. Now she's headed home for break—and she's invited Jacinta Headlington-Bear, the school's second-best tantrum thrower, to join her. The two girls are looking forward to a fun mini-vacation. Nothing too eventful! But a cranky boy is causing mischief, a movie star has come to visit, and a stranger is snooping around. Add a naughty pony, a hint of romance, and a dastardly scheme, and Jacinta and Alice-Miranda might have a more exciting time than they ever expected. . . .

"Unfolds in pitch-perfect regional dialect. . . . For fans of Ruth White's and Kerry Madden's Appalachian-inspired fiction."--Kirkus ReviewsIt's about keeping the faith.Growing up poor in 1953 in the Appalachian Mountains of West Virginia doesn't bother Lydia Hawkins. She treasures her tight-knit family. There's her loving mama, now widowed; her whip-smart younger brother, BJ, who has cystic fibrosis; and wise old Gran. But everything falls apart after Gran and BJ die and mama is jailed unjustly. Suddenly Lydia has lost all those dearest to her. Moving to a coal camp to live with her uncle William and aunt Ethel Mae only makes Lydia feel more alone. She is  ridiculed at her new school for her outgrown homemade clothes and the way she talks, and for what the kids believe her mama did. And to make matters worse, she discovers that her uncle has been keeping a family secret—about her.If only Lydia, with her resilient spirit and determination, could find a way to clear her mother's name. . . .

Dale E. Basye sends Milton and Marlo to Snivel, the circle reserved for crybabies, for their latest hilarious escapade in Heck. Snivel is a camp—a bummer camp—a dismal place where it's always raining, and Unhappy Campers are besieged by swarms of strange mosquitoes that suck the color right out of them. Soon the Fausters discover that some Unhappy Campers have been disappearing. So after Marlo gets chosen for a special project and never comes back, Milton makes up his mind to find her and all the missing children.Can Milton find his sister and get the heck out of Snivel? With the help of some new friends, his pet ferret, and Vincent Van Gogh's ear, he just might have a chance.