Author Torey Hayden teaches specials needs students at her public school. It's a new school year and her students are doing well and getting along. That is until six-year-old Sheila arrives. Sheila's violent and unpredictable behavior sets the class on edge and it is up to Torey to break through Sheila's tough exterior. Sheila has issues. Sheila was abandoned on the side of a road by her mother and is now being raised by her alcoholic father. She is one angry little girl. If you enjoy books by David Pelzer such as A Child Called It, then you might try this one.
John Rodgers loves to run. On one of his runs through the redwood forest of his small California town, John notices a beautiful blue butterfly. Later in Biology class, John discovers that the butterfly is an endangered species. The butterfly's habitat is threatened by the local logging industry. This pits environmentalists against the locals, and John is right in the middle. 
DJ lives and works on her family's dairy farm. She has spent the summer running the farm while her dad recovered from an operation. A football coach friend of her father's loaned the family the services of Brian Nelson, the cute quarterback from Hawley High. Brian helps DJ with work around the farm and she, in turn, helps him train. DJ knows football. Her two older brothers are attending college on football scholarships and her dad is a former coach. Training Brian and all the hard work on the farm has DJ in great shape, so DJ decides to try out for the Red Bend team. A girl trying out for the football team! DJ is the talk of Red Bend.
Julianna has had a "crush" on Bryce ever since she saw him when she was seven and they were in second grade. But Bryce, being a typical second-grade boy, would have nothing to do with Juilianna. Bryce and Juilianna are now in eighth grade. Bryce's grandfather has moved in with the family and he has noticed what a wonderful young lady Julianna is. Bryce notices that Julianna no longer follows him around like a puppy dog any more. She's moved on to other interests. Bryce finds himself thinking quite a bit about Julianna. Bryce has fallen in love with Julianna and the roles have flipped!
Titus and his friends all have "feeds". Feeds are brain implants which are connected to a computer network that runs 24/7 advertising everything Titus and his friends would ever want or need. Titus and his friends no longer have to speak verbally with one another. They communicate telepathically. The "feed" keeps everyone occupied and compliant. On a trip to the moon with his friends, Titus meets Violet. There's something different about Violet that catches Titus's attention. Violet has an older feed and has been home-schooled by her father who is a professor. When Violet contracts a virus that causes her feed to fail, she comes out fighting against the feed leaving Titus with a decision to make. Should he join Violet's rebellion?
World War II ends leaving Beverly and Evie Spooner's anxiously awaiting the return of their solider. Evie's step-father, Joe, returns a year later. When Joe finds out that an old war buddy, Peter Coleridge, is trying to track him down, Joe plans a spontaneous vacation to West Palm Beach, Florida. When Peter shows up at their hotel in West Palm Beach, Joe seems very tense. Evie falls head-over-heels for the handsome and gregarious young man against Joe's wishes. Perhaps Peter isn't exactly who he seems to be. When a tragedy occurs, Evie finds herself having to make some hard decisions regarding her family and Peter.
Katsa has a grace as is evident in her eyes. Each of her eyes has a different color. Katsa has been graced with superior fighting skills and her Uncle Randa uses Kasta as his enforcer in the kindgom of Middluns (one of the seven kingdoms.) Working as King Randa's enforcer bothers Katsa to her very core, so she and her team of four friends have formed an underground network called The Council that fights for the underdog throughout the Seven Kingdoms. On a secret mission for the Council, Katsa and her team rescue an elderly Lienid who has been kidnapped and is being held prisoner in King Murgon of Sunder's dungeon. It is during this rescue, Katsa battles a graced Lienid whose skills are close to her own. This encounter spins Katsa's life in a different direction. Read Graceling to follow Katsa's amazing journey.
Bliss In The Morning Dew, who has been raised in a commune, finds herself living with her proper Southern grandmother when her parents skip out to Canada to avoid the Vietnam War. Bliss's grandmother has enrolled Bliss in the prestigous Crestview Academy for high school. But Crestview has a history and Bliss with her sixth sense hears and feels an evil ghostly presence in one particular school building. Bliss's new friends have a history too. Bliss, set in the '60s, brings together many issues of the time, as the tale gets creepier and creepier.
This is Alane Ferguson's third forensic mystery featuring Cameryn Mahoney. Cameryn is an assistant county coroner in Silverton, Colorado working for her father. Cameryn plans to be a forensic scientist when she graduates from high school. Cameryn and her mother, who has just recently returned to Silverton after a long absence, are getting to know one another and working on building a relationship when a mysterious hitch-hiker is found dead. The last person to see the hitch-hiker alive was Cameryn's mom, Hannah, who gave the young lady a lift. As evidence is uncovered, Cameryn must decide whether to share information that may incriminate her mother.
Antonia Lucia Labella wants to be a saint, a living official saint! She also wants to receive her first kiss. Antonia knows all about saints and frequently writes the Vatican suggesting new patron saints and "humbly" nominates herself to take on the job. She constantly prays to saints to intercede on her behalf to make her first kiss a reality with one handsome baseball player from Bishop Francis, Andy Rotellini. Be careful what you wish for!
This is an amazing story of survival. Cavers Peter Lane Taylor and Christos Nicola heard tales of Jews who survived the Holocaust by hiding in Ukrainian caves. Nicola, determined to find out if these tales were true, began investigating the Popowa Yama story. In 2002, four years after beginning his investigation, Nicola received an e-mail from a man claiming to know a Priest's Grotto Holocaust survivor. Nicola and Taylor visited the Stermer family in Montreal, Canada to learn more of this incredible story of survival. From 1943-1944, three Jewish families survived the Nazi occupation of the Ukraine by living underground in caves. Read The Secret of Priest's Grotto to find out how they survived.
Charlotte's cousin Zachary is coming from "across the pond" to live with her family. Zee, as he is called, is an outgoing, talented soccer player. He fits right into life at her high school. He fits in better than Charlotte. But the students are getting sick at school. Zee shares that it happened at his school in London and Charlotte begins to wonder what is going on. When two strange looking men attack Charlotte and Zee, Mr. Metos, their English teacher, intervenes. Charlotte and Zee share their suspicions with Mr. Metos. Mr. Metos warns them of the shadow thieves and confirms their suspicions. Soon Charlotte and Zee find themselves swept up in a plot to overthrow Hades in the Underworld.
Every year, the Capitol requires each district to send to representatives between the ages of twelve to eighteen to play in the Hunger Games. In the Hunger Games the participants fight to the death on national television. When Katniss Everdeen's younger sister, Prim, gets chosen in the lottery to represent District 12, Katniss steps forward to take her place. But Katniss has skills, she's been providing for her family for years using the knowledge her father taught her. The Hunger Games is Survivor with an edge!
Twins, Connor and Grace Tempest, continue their adventures in the third book of the Vampirates series, Blood Captain. Grace, along with the Captain and other members of The Nocturne, takes blinded Lorcan to the Santuary in hope of a cure for his failing health. While at the Santuary, Grace meets interesting characters, learns more about her healing abilities and struggles with her place in the vampirate world. Meanwhile, Connor aboard the pirate ship, The Diablo, prepares for an exciting mission that will test his commitment to his life as a pirate. Twists and surprises will keep pages turning in this thrilling adventure.
Children of Alcatraz: Growing Up on the Rock portrays what it was like for children to grow up on Alcatraz Island. The book covers different time periods in the island's history from use as a light house, a military post, disciplinary barracks, U.S. penitentiary, site of a Native Amerian occupation, and to its current status as a National Park. Murphy provides interesting photographs of the children who lived on Alcatraz including one of actor Bejamin Bratt who took part in the American Indian occupation of Alcatraz as a child. This book is a perfect non-fiction companion to Al Capone Does My Shirts by Gennifer Choldenko.
Todd Hewitt is the only boy left in Prentisstown, a town full of men. Prentisstown is a settlement town in the New World where Todd's mother and father were pioneers in search of a new simple life. But a germ on the planet killed the women of Prentisstown and now all the men hear each others thoughts and the creatures that live on this planet in a never-ending stream of noise. Todd is just a month away from his special birthday. On this birthday, he will become a man. But Prentisstown has been hiding something under all the noise. Something terrible that has Manchee and Todd fleeing Prentisstown for their lives.
A young toddler wanders away from his home during as a killer has murdered his family. He toddles up the street to the old graveyard with the killer on his trail. The residents of the graveyard sensing danger, hide the toddler from the killer and raise him. Nobody Owens has the protection of the graveyard and its residents. The ghosts assign Bod parents and guardians, teach him what they know and keep him away from the killer who is still searching for Bod. The Graveyard Book is a magical and thrilling read. Come check it out.
Jon Scieszka has put together a collection of guys writing for guys about being guys. The entries a short and "sweet" to borrow a term from Napoleon Dynamite. Each includes a biography and bibliography about the author. So you guys will enjoy pieces by Chris Crutcher, James Howe, Anthony Horowitz, Gordon Korman, Walter Dean Myers, Kenneth Oppell, Darren Shan and other favorite authors. It's an entertaining read. Check it out!
The smallest pup born into a wolf pack that lives in the Minnesota woods is given the name Runt by his father King. "He may be Runt for now," Silver (his mother) said, laying her chin across this lastest arrival, "but who knows what gift he may bring to the pack?" 