Showing results by narrator "Suzy Jackson" in All Categories

Best friends Kenzie “Kenzilla” Ellington and Shelly “Bomb Shell” Baum are counting down the days to their roller derby debut. It looks like their dream is coming true when Austin’s city league announces a junior league. But there’s a catch. To try out together, the Dynamic Duo will have to form a team of five players … in just one week! As they start convincing other girls that roller derby is the coolest thing on wheels, Kenzie has second thoughts. Why is Shelly acting like everyone’s best friend? Isn’t she supposed to be Kenzie’s best friend?

Now part of the official junior roller derby league, the Derby Daredevils are ready to compete in their first tournament. Kenzie starts writing new game plays. Bree works on her speed. Tomoko sharpens her blocking skills. And Jules fearlessly hip checks everyone in sight. But Shelly isn’t sure what she’s best at. In hopes of taking home the tournament’s Star Skater award, Shelly transforms doodles from her sketchbook into extra-special gear for the Daredevils. But not everything works as well as Shelly imagined, and she can’t get the team on board.

Eliza Gordon-Fergus—best friend of Merrilee Campbell—is an expert rule-follower. She has to be; her scientist parents demand she follow dozens of them. They call it “parenting-by-proxy” since they’re rarely on the same continent. Their rules dictate her nutrition, education, sleep, workouts … and forbid her from dating. Eliza studiously obeys them all. Which is why she finds Curtis Cavendish maddening. Rules don’t seem to apply to him. He’s never punished for his class-clown antics—and worse, his mischief actually masks brilliance. Like, give-Eliza-a-run-for-valedictorian brilliance.

Lyla is thrilled when her seventh-grade ELA class begins a daily creative writing project. For the past year she’s been writing a brilliant fantasy novel in her head, and here’s her chance to get it on paper! The plot is super complicated, with battle scenes and witches, although basically it’s a semi-autobiographical story about an overlooked girl who has to rescue her beautiful, highly accomplished older sister.

Katerina and Luka, two majestic, mated white storks, are in flight when … BANG! Katerina suddenly falls from the sky, wounded by a hunter. Nearby, a farmer and his granddaughter rush to her rescue, determined to nurse her back to health with Luka by her side. However, when Katerina feels the coming cold, she must urge her beloved Luka to migrate, despite knowing he faces a difficult journey alone—and she is left hoping for his springtime return …

Despite Clover's victory over the destructive Seamstress, war continues to rage between the fledgling Unified States and Napoléon Bonaparte. Clover and Nessa, former snake-oil salesgirl, join the Women's Service League expecting to dole out soup and socks to invalids and orphans. Instead, under the direction of the wealthy and mysterious Miss Yamada, they're tasked with rooting out the last of the pestilential Vermin. But when the group is attacked by a new kind of monster--a sharp-toothed harehound with bloodshot eyes—they discover a much greater threat lurks.

Narda Pitkethly’s brother vanishes amid several clues in September 2001, near Sun Valley, Idaho. In the search for Jay, the family undertakes extreme measures to find him. This plunges Narda into a prolonged period of searching, not only for her brother, but for inspiration and meaning in her life, which ultimately leads her back to a world that makes sense.