Children Realistic Fiction

Halloween is just around the corner, and with it comes the dreaded overnight class trip at a smelly farm. Fonda has ideas for a way cooler trip, but before she can say Catalina Island, other kids (including her best friend’s crush’s best friend!) come forward with class trip proposals of their own. There's only one solution: a petition competition, and whoever gets the most signatures wins. Fonda enlists her besties, Drew and Ruthie, to help, but are they ready to do whatever it takes to win?

Junie B. and her family are going on a vacation to Hawaii! And ha! Mr. Scary is giving Junie a real, actual camera to keep a photo journal of her trip! But taking good vacation pictures is not always easy. 'Cause what if your airplane is full of grouchy ladies? And what if there is an unfortunate inner tube incident at the swimming pool? Will Junie B.'s vacation end up picture perfect? Or will her trip to Hawaii be aloha-horrible?

When Geetha and her mom move from India to Rhode Island after her parents’ divorce, they leave everything Geetha loves behind—her family, her friends, her dog, and all that’s familiar. As if that’s not hard enough, Geetha is bullied at her new school for her clothes, her food, and her English (who knew so many English words could be spelled or pronounced differently in the US—or just be altogether different!). She finds some solace in playing her flute and writing poetry, and even more when she meets Miguel, a kid with whom she has a lot in common.

Hi, whoever is reading this. I’m Zipporah Chava McConnell, but everyone calls me Zippy. Things used to be simple—until a few weeks ago. Now my best friend, Bea, is acting funny; everyone at school thinks I’m weird; and my mom is making me start preparing for my bat mitzvah, even though we barely ever go to synagogue. In fact, only thing that still seems to make sense is magic. See, the thing is, I’m a witch. I’ve been casting spells since I was little. And even if no one else wants to believe in magic anymore, it’s always made sense to me, always felt true.

The stakes have never been higher than in the final installment of Magisterium from the best-selling powerhouse authors Holly Black and Cassandra Clare.

Great Rapscott School for the Daughters of Busy Parents is not your typical boarding school. Students arrive in boxes, birthday cake is served for breakfast, and two very talented corgis assist the rather quirky headmistress. This semester the girls will learn how to get to The Top, but the semester is not off to a good start. One of the girls doesn't make it back to school, and when her friends try to rescue her, they wind up at the Bottom of the Barrel. Luckily Ms. Rapscott knows that learning to fail is the secret to Going Far in life.

Nobody said starting fifth grade would be easy, and Penny Lowry's anxiety means a million questions are always spinning through her thoughts. Luckily she's got a lot to look forward to, like her favorite after-school activity, Art Club, and seeing her best friend Violet again after spending the whole summer apart. The thing is, Violet has been acting weird ever since she got back. She never wants to hang out anymore, says Art Club is for babies, and spends all her time with Riley, the meanest girl in school. Did Penny do something wrong? And if she did, can she undo it?

When eleven-year-old Hank’s mom doesn’t come home, he takes care of his toddler sister, Boo, like he always does. But it’s been a week now. They are out of food and mom has never stayed away this long… Hank knows he needs help, so he and Boo seek out the stranger listed as their emergency contact. But asking for help has consequences. It means social workers, and a new school, and having to answer questions about his mom that he's been trying to keep secret. And if they can't find his mom soon, Hank and Boo may end up in different foster homes—he could lose everything.

Bobby Phillips is an average 15-year-old boy. Until the morning he wakes up and can't see himself in the mirror. Not blind, not dreaming, Bobby is just plain invisible. There doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to Bobby's new condition; even his dad the physicist can't figure it out. For Bobby that means no school, no friends, no life. He's a missing person. Then he meets Alicia. She's blind, and Bobby can't resist talking to her, trusting her.

Grace and Ellie have been best friends since second grade. Ellie's always right in the center of everything - and Grace is usually happy to be Ellie's sidekick. But this time, it's Grace who suddenly has everyone's attention when she accidentally starts a new fad at school. It's a fad that has first her class, then her grade, and then the entire school collecting and trading and even fighting over...buttons? A fad that might also get her in major trouble and could even be the end of Grace and Ellie's friendship. Because Ellie's not used to being one-upped by anybody.

Drifting in the dark waters of a mysterious river, the only thing Amelia knows for sure is that she's dead. With no recollection of her past life - or her actual death - she's trapped alone in a nightmarish existence. All of this changes when she tries to rescue a boy, Joshua, from drowning in her river. As a ghost, she can do nothing but will him to live. Yet in an unforgettable moment of connection, she helps him survive.

For months Clara Gardner trained to face the fire from her visions, but she wasn't prepared for the choice she had to make that day. And in the aftermath, she discovered that nothing about being part angel is as straightforward as she thought. Now, torn between her love for Tucker and her complicated feelings about the roles she and Christian seem destined to play in a world that is both dangerous and beautiful, Clara struggles with a shocking revelation: Someone she loves will die in a matter of months.

Little by little, Penny Lowry is making it through the fifth grade—with a bit of help from her friends Maria, Kristian, and Rocco, as well as her lovable dog Cosmo. And there's a lot of change to deal with this year! Penny's newborn twin brother and sister have everyone in her family on their last nerve with their crying. Her friends Maria and Chloe are spending a lot of time together without inviting Penny along, making her worry they might be getting tired of her. And on top of everything, Penny and her friends discover a very old map in her attic that sends them on a wild scavenger hunt.

Halfway through the fifth grade, Penny Lowry is discovering that things are actually going . . . okay! With her friends Maria, Kristian, and Rocco on her side, and her lovable dog Cosmo, she can make it through anything. And when her anxiety comes back, there's always her doodling, or talking to Mrs. Hines, the Feelings Teacher. But big change is around the corner: Penny's family is moving to a new house, her mom is about to give birth to twins, and most stressful of all, she's been tapped for a role in her class play!

Shawn McDaniel's life is not what it may seem to anyone looking at him. He is glued to his wheelchair, unable to voluntarily move a muscle - he can't even move his eyes. For all Shawn's father knows, his son may be suffering. Shawn may want a release. And as long as he is unable to communicate his true feelings to his father, Shawn's life is in danger. To the world, Shawn's senses seem dead. Within these pages, however, we meet a side of him that no one else has seen - a spirit that is rich beyond imagining.

Second-grader Freddy Dissel has that left-out kind of feeling. Life seems lonely when you're the middle kid in the family. Freddy feels like "the peanut butter part of a sandwich", squeezed between an older brother and little sister. But now, for the first time, it's Freddy's chance to show everyone, including himself, just how special he is!

At the historic Morton Academy, a school for high-achievers, everyone wants to be Head Girl and gain all the prestige and success that comes with the title. But when bodies start piling up, the students begin to worry that someone is too determined to take that crown. Liz, Taylor, Kat, Marcus and Cole all set out to discover what exactly is going on. Is it the secret society that they have sworn allegiance too? The history of a cult that plagues Morton Academy? Or even a greedy teacher? They need to find the truth...and quickly.

Thanks to her Ye-Ye’s epic scavenger hunts, thirteen-year-old Ruby Chu knows San Francisco like the back of her hand. But after his death, she feels lost, and it seems like everyone—from her best friends to her older sister—is abandoning her. After Ruby gets in major trouble at school, her parents decide she has to spend the summer at a local senior center with her grandmother, Nai-Nai, and Nai-Nai’s friends for company. When a new boy from Ruby’s grade, Liam Yeung, starts showing up too, Ruby’s humiliation is complete.

From the critically acclaimed author of the ALA Notable and Charlotte Huck Honor Book Forever, or a Long, Long Time comes a moving own-voices story that shines a light on how one girl’s learning differences are neither right nor wrong...just perfectly individual.

What is a purple person? Great question. I mean, really great! Because purple people always ask really great questions. They bring their family, friends, and communities together, and they speak up for what’s right. They are kind and hardworking, and they love to laugh (especially at Grandpa’s funny noises)! A purple person is an everyday superhero! How do you become one? That’s the fun part! Penny Purple will lead you through the steps. Get ready to be silly, exercise your curiosity, use your voice, and be inspired.