Showing results by narrator "Josh Hurley" in All Categories

Mal lives on the fringes of high school. Angry. Misunderstood. Yet loving the world - or, at least, an idea of the world. Then he meets Hooper. Who says he's from another planet. And may be going home very soon.

Chase Cooper here, and this is my sixth diary as a sixth grade ninja. As always, there's trouble brewing in the halls of Buchanan School. A bandit is on the loose who's stealing from innocent students, and as each day passes, the bandit's reach grows even further. As if the situation wasn't bonkers enough, help has come in the unlikeliest of places - Wyatt. But I have sick feeling in my stomach about the whole mystery, like something far worse is going on than anybody realizes.

Over 50 years, Charles M. Schulz created a comic strip that is one of the indisputable glories of American popular culture. Some 20 years after the last strip appeared, the characters Schulz brought to life in Peanuts continue to resonate with millions of fans, their beguiling four-panel adventures and television escapades offering lessons about happiness, friendship, disappointment, childhood, and life itself. Here, 33 writers and artists reflect on the deeper truths of Schulz’s deceptively simple comic, its impact on their lives and art and on the broader culture.

An influencer, an overachiever, a heartthrob, an outcast, and a conspiracy theorist all go into the woods. Sometime around midnight, one of them vanishes. Now, the four who came back sit at the police station, and they each have a very different story to tell about the events of the night. What truths will their lies reveal? And with the clock ticking, will the real story come out before one of them is gone for good?

Tate's younger brother Indy is probably the best skateboarder in Spokane. He's also really smart though he couldn't care less about school. But when Indy clashes with his father one too many times and drops out of school, it's up to Tate to win his brother back from the seedier elements of Spokane. Can Tate convince Indy to come home, finish his high school degree, and return to skating under the bridge with their crew?

One frigid winter night, the happily prosperous Mia and Michael Slate discover that a close friend and business partner has cheated them out of their life savings. On the same night, their son, Finn, passes out in the snow at a party - a mistake with shattering consequences. Everyone finds their own ways of coping with the ensuing losses. For Finn, it's Jess, a former babysitter who sneaks into his bed at night, even as she refuses to leave her boyfriend.

Four teens have dug up the time capsule that their parents buried in 1986 and never bothered to recover. But in addition to the expected ephemera of mixtapes, Walkmans, photographs, letters, toys, and assorted junk, Elayah, Liam, Marcie, and Jorja discover something sinister: a hunting knife stained with blood and wrapped with a note. “I'm sorry. I didn't mean to kill anyone."

People work; folk play. That is how it has been in this country for as long as Sam can remember. He is happy, and he understands that this is the way it should be. People are bigger than folk. They are stronger. They do not need food or water. They do not need the warmth of a fire. All they need are jobs to do and a blacksmith to fix them when they break. The people work so the folk can drink their moonshine, fish a little, and throw horseshoes. But once Sam starts to wonder why the world is like this, his life will never be the same.

My name is Chase Cooper, and this is my fourth diary as a sixth grade ninja. A few weeks have breezed by since my last entry, but things don't stay quiet at my school for long. The science fair is coming up, and everyone's been working crazy hard to get their projects finished on time. But at the beginning of the week, projects started disappearing, only to be found later completely destroyed. Did I mention the anonymous invitation I got that sent me on a messed up treasure hunt in search of the missing projects?

Patrick O’Neil is a travel agent who never goes anywhere. His closest confidante, Sharon, is chain-smoking her way to singles hell, passing up man after man. His parents, proprietors of a suburban men’s store whose fortunes are sagging more visibly than its customers, can’t agree how best to interfere in their sons’ lives. And his lover, Arthur (a nice golden retriever of a guy to whom Patrick can’t quite commit), wants to cement their relationship by buying a house. Then a call comes in the middle of another sleepless night.

Chase Cooper here, and I'm back with my 11th diary as a sixth-grade ninja! Craziest. Week. Ever. It's the week of the supermoon, and the Astronomy Club is hosting an overnight on Thursday. Sounds like an awesome time, except for the fact that the red and green ninjas, a.k.a. the holiday ninjas, have secretly planned a finishing move for Wyatt that would destroy him forever. As if that weren't enough, some kid name Chris Moss, a.k.a. Christmas, makes me an offer that's hard to refuse.

The name’s Chase Cooper, and this is my 10th diary as a 6th grade ninja. If I had a penny for every time trouble came knocking at my door...I’d have 10 pennies. A few days have passed since the green ninja clan appeared, but that's more than enough time for them to give me a headache. It doesn’t help that my attention is stretched between a crazy robotics competition, an annoying pirate poser, and the ex-leader of the red ninja clan.

Eleven-year-old Sam Calico is an excellent storyteller, inventing wild escapades, but has never had the courage to have a real adventure of his own. That is until one day when a mysterious invitation arrives along with a mechanical dog, inviting him to the Equinox Curiosity Shop - which happens to be in an abandoned building. Despite his fears, Sam follows the instructions and boards a train to the magical Equinox Valley, where he discovers that the Nexus, which holds the world in equilibrium, is under attack.

It's Spirit Week, and that means costumes, competitions, and chaos. And it's only Monday.... I've got to step up and win the Spirit Week games or Wyatt's red ninjas will have free rein to take over the school. But no matter how hard I play, Wyatt keeps beating me. It's gonna take all my ninja skills to get through this week. My name is Chase Cooper, and I'm a sixth grade ninja.

It’s July 1946, and after a decade of Depression and war, life in America is returning to normal. But for Charlotte and Mary Oswald, one tumultuous summer will unearth all their secrets and upend their world, once again. Charlotte Oswald’s life is dictated by rules. Where she can go. Whom she can speak to. How she can spend her long, dull summer days. It’s a small, closeted existence, but necessary to protect Charlotte, who has suffered from debilitating fits since childhood.

Russel Middlebrook is convinced he's the only gay kid at Goodkind High School. Then his online gay chat buddy turns out to be none other than Kevin, the popular but closeted star of the school's baseball team. Soon Russel meets other gay students, too. There's his best friend Min, who reveals that she is bisexual, and her soccer-playing girlfriend Terese. Then there's Terese's politically active friend, Ike. But how can kids this diverse get together without drawing attention to themselves?

Geography Club's Russel Middlebrook is back, and he and his friends are off to work as counselors at a summer camp. Brent Hartinger's third novel is the story of Indian legends, skinny-dipping in moonlit coves, and passionate summer romance. It's also the story of Russel's latest club, the Order of the Poison Oak, a secret society dedicated to helping its members see life's hidden beauty and accept its sometimes painful sting.

Russel Middlebrook is 23 years old, gay, and living in trendy Seattle, but life isn't keeping up with the hype. Most of his friends have a direction in life - either ruthlessly pursuing their careers or passionately embracing their own aimlessness. But Russel is stuck in place. All he knows is that crappy jobs, horrible dates, and pointless hook-ups just aren't cutting it anymore. What's the secret? What does everyone else know that he doesn't?

Bastion was supposed to mean safety. When they arrive in the capital, Tina and James find a city on fire in more ways than one. Players and non-players hunt each other in the streets, while the king who controls the city’s all-powerful artifact cowers from the chaos in his castle. When they discover that the captain of the Royal Knights has been massacring low-level players in revenge disguised as justice, James and Tina will have to decide which is more important: the lives of their fellow gamers, or the stability of their new world’s last great city.

It's a horror-movie extravaganza in this, the second sequel to Brent Hartinger's Geography Club. Two complete books in one recount the stories of best friends Russel and Min who sign up to be extras on the set of a zombie film and learn that there's nothing scarier than high school romance.