Family Tree Fiction

Clayton feels most alive when he's with his grandfather, Cool Papa Byrd, and the band of Bluesmen - he can't wait to join them, just as soon as he has a blues song of his own. But then the unthinkable happens. Cool Papa Byrd dies, and Clayton's mother forbids Clayton from playing the blues. And Clayton knows that's no way to live. Armed with his grandfather's brown porkpie hat and his harmonica, he runs away from home in search of the Bluesmen, hoping he can join them on the road.

As the grandson of a late, great action star, Lionel Honeycutt III knows all about heroics. Not that any of Grandpa’s genes were passed down to him; Lionel is solidly a Background Character in the social hierarchy of his high school. But when a fire at a pet store has Lionel cast as the brave teen who helped everyone escape, Lionel can finally live up to the family name. Honestly, though…Lionel isn’t sure he did any saving, despite smoky security footage that shows someone who could be him ushering victims to safety.

The Hornbeam Tree is a fast-moving, funny, passionate and heartbreaking story that travels the dizzying highs and lows of love, the scandalous manoeuvrings of greed and power and ultimately the unbreakable bond between a single mother and her teenage daughter.

News stations across the country are reporting mysterious messages that Earth has been receiving from a planet - Alma - claiming to be its creator. If they’re being interpreted correctly, in seven days Alma will hit the kill switch on their “colony” Earth. True or not, for teenagers Jesse Hewitt, Cate Collins, and Adeem Khan, the prospect of this ticking time bomb will change their lives forever. With only a week to face their truths and right their wrongs, Jesse, Cate, and Adeem’s paths collide as their worlds are pulled apart.

Grandpa's trees can grow all sorts of fun things! With easy-to-understand text, emergent listeners will learn about different kinds of trees. Pairs with nonfiction title Parts of a Tree.

A house. A mess. A mystery. Amongst the scattered papers and photographs, intriguing questions lay unanswered in the Anderson family lineage, hidden for decades. When a stash of ancient coins is found and a gifted stranger moves in next door, windows are opened to incredible possibilities that transcend imagination, transporting Tora throughout her family’s generations.

As the youngest of eight, painfully average Pup Flanagan is used to flying under the radar. He’s barely passing his classes. His lets his longtime crush walk all over him. And he’s in no hurry to decide on a college path. The only person who ever made him think he could be more was his older brother, Patrick. But that was before Patrick died suddenly, leaving Pup with a family who won’t talk about it and acquaintances who just keep saying, “Sorry for your loss.” When Pup excels at a photography assignment he thought he’d bomb, things start to come into focus.

“Tender, immersive, and thrilling." —Gabrielle Zevin "One of the best novels I’ve ever read about friendship.” —Stephen King "I can't remember the last time I cared about fictional characters as desperately as I came to care about the beautiful, hilarious and courageous teenage...

For Julie Holt, travelling to the beautiful but ravaged coast of Biloxi, Mississippi, is a journey into a secret past, and a life she never expected.... Julie first knew loss at the age of 12, when her sister disappeared, never to be found. As her once close-knit family grew apart, Julie's mother obsessively searched for the girl, and when her mother died, Julie took up the search, never letting go of the hope. Then, at an art exhibition in New York, she meets Monica....

The Johns family is unraveling. Hollis, a retired Ohio banker, isolates himself in esoteric hobbies and a dangerous flirtation with a colleague's daughter. Susan, his wife of 40 years, risks everything for a second chance at who she might have been. David, their eldest, thrashes to stay afloat as his teaching career capsizes in a storm of accusations over a missing student and the legacy of Christopher Columbus.

A beautiful story of a man's realization of what matters in life, told in Kenneth M. Martin's immortal words. Best-selling author Dan Alatorre ( Savvy Stories) teamed up with teacher Allison Maruska to bring the world Kenneth M. Martin's new take on wisdom, old age, and a purposeful life. The result is a tender, engaging story of a good man who always knew who he was and how he mattered - until he retired and somehow lost track.

Set in the present day, with flashes back to the 17th Century, Trace is a story of seemingly unrelated people from around the world who take part in DNA testing for a variety of reasons with unexpected results. Finding family where it isn’t expected and demonstrating just how small of a world we live in, this fictional tale demonstrates the power of genetic genealogy in bringing people together, while also guiding aspiring genealogists to make the most of their ethnicity testing results.

When the revered children's book author Mort Lear dies accidentally at his Connecticut home, he leaves his property and all its contents to his trusted assistant, Tomasina Daulair, who is moved by his generosity but dismayed by the complicated and defiant directives in his will. Tommy knew Morty for more than four decades, since meeting him in a Manhattan playground when she was 12 and he was working on sketches for the book that would make him a star.

Meet the Keller family, five generations of firstborn women - an unbroken line of daughters - living together in the same house on a secluded olive grove in the Sacramento Valley of Northern California. Anna, the family matriarch, is 112 and determined to become the oldest person in the world. An indomitable force, strong in mind and firm in body, she rules Hill House, the family home she shares with her daughter Bets, granddaughter Callie, great-granddaughter Deb, and great-great-granddaughter Erin. Though they lead ordinary lives, there is an element of the extraordinary to these women.

Iyana and Chikelu break their curfew every night to meet up at a special old coconut tree and talk about their dreams. Their isolated island home is governed by strict rules that make it impossible for them to ever realize their vision of a greater purpose in the world. After the mysterious arrival of some foreigners on the island, the two friends must consider whether the right thing to do would be to follow the rules or their hearts.

Christmas is a time for family, particularly children who keep the magic of Christmas alive. What happens though when children become nasty and fight over the wrapped presents under the tree? Six cousins find out in the Town Beneath The Christmas Tree. In the spirit of Charles Dickens, the cousins are placed into an unfamiliar, upside-down world, where they are forced to deal with - and rely on - each other.

Great Uncle Bulgaria loves telling the ancient and revered history of the Womble clans to the younger Wombles. But to his great sadness he notices that the young Wombles are not nearly as interested in the history as he is. So Great Uncle Bulgaria decides to take action and show these young Wombles how wonderful - and international - the history of the Wombles is. Tobermory invents some very eco-friendly clockwork air balloons to travel in and Orinoco, Bungo, Tomsk and Wellington are sent variously to America, Tibet and Australia.

It is a typical holiday season at chaotic Chicago O’Hare when a few members of the large Alexander family waited to board flights - one to South Carolina and the other to Washington, DC. At the same time, a member of the Montgomery clan from the Pennsylvania mountains also waited for a delayed flight. Little did either family know or suspect, the effects from this first meeting would last forever. Family is everything to the Alexanders and the Montgomerys. Although they both come from farm backgrounds, they didn’t know each other or the histories involved.

An epic story about the power of words and actions, and the legacy of violence and abuse passed down through generations - and the redeeming strength of one singular woman to overcome the effects of a horrific secret. Ruth, a clear-eyed young artist with a promising future, is stymied at every turn by men who seek to maintain power over her. Gripping and inspiring, Tree of Lives spans the 20th century, and in following Ruth's development, demonstrates how feisty and independent women paved the way in the fight for social equality as the decades unraveled.

Delilah always keeps her messy, gooey insides hidden behind a wall of shrugs and yeah, whatevers. She goes with the flow—which is how she ends up singing in her friends’ punk band as a favor, even though she’d prefer to hide at the merch table.