Growing Life

Since emigrating from Bangladesh, 14-year-old Nadira and her family have been living in New York City on expired visas, hoping to realize their dream of becoming legal U.S. citizens. But after 9/11, everything changes. Suddenly being Muslim means you are dangerous - a suspected terrorist. When Nadira's father is arrested and detained at the U.S.-Canadian border, Nadira and her older sister, Aisha, are told to carry on as if everything is the same. The teachers at Flushing High don't ask any questions, but Aisha falls apart....

Enter the world of Millie Maven, a twelve-year-old orphan who embarks on a great adventure that takes her to the distant, mysterious world of FIGS, the FarPointe Institute for Gifted Students. There, she discovers that there is more to her than she ever dared imagine or believe....and that there are some truths that change everything.

Fourteen-year-old Ozzy lives near Portland, Oregon, and is desperate for help. His scientist parents have been kidnapped after discovering a formula that enables mind control. Their work was so top secret that Ozzy is afraid to go to the police, but without help, he fears he'll never find his parents. Then he stumbles across a classified ad in the local newspaper that says "Wizard for Hire. Call 555-SPEL." Ozzy has read about wizards in books like Harry Potter, but wizards couldn't exist today, could they? After Ozzy meets the wizard Labyrinth - a.k.a. Rin - he's even more skeptical.

Three stories in one collection! This volume includes The Amusement Park Mystery, The Mystery of the Mixed-Up Zoo, and The Camp-Out Mystery. In The Mystery of the Mixed-Up Zoo, the zoo is wonderful - it has seals and giraffes and elephants and tigers, and Benny’s favorite, a little monkey named Amos. It also has a mystery. Someone is mixing up signs, switching off electricity, and endangering the animals’ lives. If the Boxcar Children want to save the animals, they’ll have to solve the mystery - and fast!

It is 1940 and William, 12, Edmund, 11, and Anna, nine, aren't terribly upset by the death of the not-so-grandmotherly grandmother who has taken care of them since their parents died. But the children do need a guardian, and in the dark days of World War II London, those are in short supply, especially if they hope to stay together. Could the mass wartime evacuation of children from London to the countryside be the answer?

In a discontented kingdom, civil war is brewing. To unify the divided people, Conner, a nobleman of the court, devises a cunning plan to find an impersonator of the king's long-lost son and install him as a puppet prince. Four orphans are recruited to compete for the role, including a defiant boy named Sage. Sage knows that Conner's motives are more than questionable, yet his life balances on a sword's point - he must be chosen to play the prince or he will certainly be killed. But Sage's rivals have their own agendas as well.

Once Amy and Dan Cahill's choice was simple - take a million dollars or the first of 39 Clues that lead to the source of unimaginable power. Now it's clear that the hunt for Clues is bigger than anything that Amy and Dan could ever have imagined.

Welcome back to the irresistible world of Greenglass House, where 13-year-old Milo is, once again, spending the winter holidays stuck in a house full of strange guests who are not what they seem. There are fresh clues to uncover as friends old and new join in his search for a mysterious map and a famous smuggler's lost haul. This exciting sequel to a beloved book is sure to thrill both fans and newcomers.

Stacey doesn't like to tell everyone that she has diabetes. Her friends in the Baby-Sitters Club are supportive, but Stacey has lost other friends who didn't understand her condition. Stacey's parents don't seem to understand, either; they're constantly taking her to new doctors. The truth is, she likes her doctor and just wants to spend her time being a normal girl and hanging out with the Club. Can Stacey find the courage to be honest - with everyone?

Emily longs to attend Queen's Academy to earn her teaching license, but her tradition-bound relatives at New Moon refuse unless she lives with her disliked Aunt Ruth and gives up writing fiction. Emily reluctantly agrees and is surprised to find that her powers of storytelling continue to develop despite her family's rules. Through a series of adventures, she is furnished with materials to write stories and poems, and she begins to see romantic possibilities bloom.

Mary Anne used to have to wear her hair in braids, keep her room painted pink, and ask her dad before she did anything. But not anymore. Mary Anne's been growing up...and the Baby-Sitters Club members aren't the only ones who have noticed. Logan Bruno likes Mary Anne! He has a dreamy southern accent, he's awfully cute - and he wants to join the Baby-Sitters Club. The baby-sitters aren't sure Logan will make a good club member. And Mary Anne thinks she's too shy for Logan. Life in the BSC has never been this complicated - or this fun!

Although the mission school bans all that is Navajo, Ned secretly clings to his native language and culture. Proudly joining the U.S. Marines in 1943, he becomes a top-secret Navajo Code Talker. During bloody battles for Japanese islands, Ned and his brave band of code-talking brothers save thousands of lives using Navajo encryption the enemy never cracks.

When a battle with death-dealing Skinners catapults Daine and her mentor, Numair, into the divine realms the riddles of Daine’s past finally begin to reveal themselves. However the pair must return to their beloved Tortall, for the kingdom is under attack and survival depends on Daine’s wild magic.A harrowing journey across the divine realms leads Daine and Numair through danger to dragons; to a breathtaking confrontation with their great enemy Ozorne; and finally brings Daine face to face with the Great Gods, who will force the girl to make the most important decision of her life.

In this middle-grade novel, eighth-grade student Ali Khan finds that writing poetry—first about his crush, then about what it means to be an immigrant and the anti-Muslim racism around him—helps him discover who he truly is.

Journalist Rick Bowers has contributed to Time, The Washington Post, and USA Today, and his fascinating Spies of Mississippi—about the spy network that tried to take down the Civil Rights Movement—earned a starred review from Booklist. Here, Bowers examines how, in the late 1940s, The Adventures of Superman radio show struck a powerful blow to the Ku Klux Klan when Superman aired episodes pitting the hero against the Klan in an effort to teach young listeners to stand up to bigotry.

Our beloved Harlem family is putting the VAN in Vanderbeekers as they hit the highway to give their dad the best birthday surprise EVER! Re-creating a road trip Papa never got the chance to take with his own father, the whole crew is packed and ready for a cross-country adventure. Things get off to a rocky start when the car breaks down on their way to pick up Papa. But they really veer off course when Laney discovers that Jessie and Orlando are interviewing at a college once they get to California.

Meet Holling Hoodhood, a seventh-grader at Camillo Junior High who must spend Wednesday afternoons with his teacher, Mrs. Baker, while the rest of the class has religious instruction. Mrs. Baker doesn’t like Holling - he’s sure of it. Why else would she make him read the plays of William Shakespeare outside class? But everyone has bigger things to worry about, like Vietnam.

Sixteen-year-old Lexi Stevens has never been kissed - never even been asked on a date. So when she humiliates herself in front of her crush and her brother's best friend offers to be her fake boyfriend for the week to make him jealous, she doesn't know if it's the stupidest idea ever or a dream come true. Noah Taylor gets kicked out of his house by his abusive stepdad. When his new "girlfriend" discovers him sleeping in his car and offers to let him sleep in her closet, he starts to wonder if he's found someone he can confide in after all.

Today's children live in a world filled with adventure, mental stimulation, topical issues, and personal challenges. The values they learn now, between the ages of 5 and 8, will shape the rest of their lives. Through this collection of heartfelt true stories about family ties, helping neighbors, and lasting friendships, children will see how other kids their age have learned valuable lessons from the choices they've made - and most of all, they will realize that they are not alone in dealing with some of the difficult issues in their lives.

Jim Benton delivers a madcap tale starring the strange yet endearing Franny K. Stein. The new kid at school, Franny approaches making friends as an exciting science project. After taking careful notes, she brews a potion that changes her into a perfect girl. But when a monster snatches her teacher, Franny knows there's only one way to save the day - even if it risks her new popularity.