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“Dear Kate” knows all of Sofia’s secrets… and she’s dating the one person Sofia is hiding them from Fourteen-year-old Sofia Wolfe has her fair share of problems, and she doesn’t have anyone to talk to…until she finds “Dear Kate.” The teen advice columnist provides Sofia with an anonymous outlet where she can express everything she’s been holding inside. But then “Dear Kate” shows up on her doorstep. With her dad. As his girlfriend. With the keeper of all of her secrets now dating her dad, how on earth will Sofia make it through the year?

-It’s puppy love at first sight when Kat and Maya meet adorable Bailey! -Being the new kid—or puppy—isn’t always a walk in the park…

In this enchanting debut, Izzy must save her sister from a fairy land as dangerous as it is magical Izzy’s family has just moved to a town her parents call “quaint” but Izzy calls “boring”…until she overhears the stories about the witch who lives next door. Then Hen, Izzy’s little sister, disappears, and the witch is the only one who can help. Hen has been whisked away to Faerie, a mysterious place ruled by an evil queen and overrun with horrible creatures that do her bidding. Joined there by a band of outlaw Changelings—magical children that can shift from one form to another—Izzy sets out on a search-and-rescue mission across a foreign land that is both alluringly magical and utterly terrifying.

Who eats Cheetos with chopsticks?! Avery and Becca, my “Chinese Sisters,” that’s who. We’re not really sisters—we were just adopted from the same orphanage. And we’re nothing alike. I pretend like I don’t know them. Which is not easy since we’re all going to summer camp to “bond.” So I’m stuck in a cabin with five other girls who aren’t getting along, competing for a camp trophy and losing (badly), wondering how I got here…and where I belong.

Dara Palmer knows for a fact that she was meant to be onstage. But when The Sound of Music is selected for the school musical, Dara isn’t cast as Maria—or at all. She can’t help but wonder: is it because she’s different? Maybe it’s because she was adopted from Cambodia and doesn’t look like a typical fraulein… So irrepressible Dara comes up with a grand scheme to shake the school: write her own play about her own life. Then she’ll have to be the star.

When troublemaking Scarlet vanishes from Rookwood boarding school, Ivy, her quiet twin sister, is invited to “take her place.” But when Ivy arrives, she discovers the school’s true intention. She is not simply taking up Scarlet’s enrollment. She must think like Scarlet, act like Scarlet, become Scarlet. What on earth happened to the real Scarlet, and why is the school trying to keep it a secret?****

Sparks is an 11-year-old cabin boy on the Southern Cross, a pirate ship led by Captain Barracuda. When he and the crew discover a book left by the infamous pirate Phineas Johnson Krane, they must learn to read in order to decipher its contents and go in search of Krane’s hidden treasure. A satisfying tale packed with pirates, outlaws, danger and, in the words of its narrator, “no second chances.”

Discover Abigail’s triumphant story of friendship told through heart-touching letters and list

What would middle school be like if you lived in a zoo? Ana didn’t ask to be named after an anaconda. She didn’t ask for zoologist parents who look like safari guides. And she definitely didn’t ask for a twin brother whose life goal seems to be terrorizing her with his pet reptiles. Now, to make matters worse, her parents have decided to move the whole family INTO the zoo! All of which gives the Sneerers (the clan of carnivorous female predators in her class) more ammunition to make her life miserable—and squash any hope of class tennis stud, Zack, falling in love with her. Ana tries to channel her inner chameleon and fade into the background, but things are changing too quickly for her to keep up.

For Maggie Malone every day is Freaky Friday with the help of her very special new boots When Maggie Malone’s Aunt Fi gives her a pair of used, scuffed, plain brown boots for her birthday, she’s less than impressed. Why couldn’t her life be more like Tween pop sensation Becca Star? Instead Maggie’s stuck going to a new school in ugly boots. Until she wakes up in Becca’s shoes—literally. Maggie’s new boots are magical. They won’t make broccoli taste like macaroni and cheese, but they will let her spend a day in the life of anyone she chooses.

An endearing tween story about friendship, family, identity, and inspiration

Horrid Henry is a publishing and media phenomenon the world over. This laugh-out-loud series has sold 12 million copies in the UK including 3 million last year alone, has spawned a very successful TV show in Britain, has been published in 27 languages, and has received incredible praise from the press, librarians, booksellers, parents, and, most importantly, kids, the world over!

This book was written by a 14 year-old in 1992 who was able to inspire a whole generation of children about one of our planet’s most precious and fragile realms: rainforests. Young readers are guided through the alphabet as they engage in fun alliterations about many of the animals one encounters in the rainforest. Following XYZ the Ant, children learn about anteaters, macaws, quetzals and many other inhabitants of the rainforest. Large text with content for younger readers and smaller text with content for more advanced readers allows for classroom scaffolding and the ability to reach a larger age range. Kristin Joy Pratt-Serafini once again successfully inspires many children to become invested in our rainforest.

Readers will gain a deep appreciation for ancient forests and understand how crucial they are to animals and to us. There is a whole ecosystem in the ancient forests, and animals and humans depend on it for survival. We have allowed over 90 percent of these forests to be cut down, but we can still save the remaining 10 percent. It requires a deep love for something in order to save it, and this book will give young readers that love for ancient forests. The cumulative verse format slowly builds to move readers through the forest to see the three-hundred-year-old tree, the roots, soil, underground truffles feeding the voles and mice that feed the owl and owlets that live in a hollow in the tree.

By thinking about the lifetimes of different animals on earth, children begin to see our planet and it’s creatures as one and develop a personal connection to it. Beginning with “A lifetime for a mayfly is about one day,” it presents 24 “lifetimes” such as that of an earthworm (about six years), a giant sequoia (about 2,000 years), a bacteria (“well, that depends”), a dinosaur (“never again”) and the universe (about 15 to 20 billion years). Each plant or animal is practically a lesson plan in itself, with “tell about it,” “think about it,” and “look it up” challenges. Written by a retired teacher, this is a favorite book for children and teachers alike.

Each of nature’s creatures “passes the energy” in its own unique way. In this upbeat rhyming story, the food chain connects herbivores, carnivores, insects and plants together in a fascinating circle of players. All beings on Earth from the anchovy to the zooplankton depend upon the green plant, which is the hero of the story. Barbara McKinney’s special talent for being able to present the science curriculum so concisely, creatively, and cleverly, shines again. Each of nature’s creatures “passes the energy” in its own unique way. In this upbeat rhyming story, the food chain connects herbivores, carnivores, insects and plants together in a fascinating circle of players. All beings on Earth from the anchovy to the zooplankton depend upon the green plant, which is the hero of the story. Barbara McKinney’s special talent for being able to present the science curriculum so concisely, creatively, and cleverly, shines again.

A poetic yet scientifically accurate description of the life cycle of a salmon. This book will inspire children in classrooms and at home to appreciate the world around us! Fast-paced prose and brilliant illustrations follow the salmon from their form as eggs in a stream to the wide ocean, eventually making a hazardous journey home to their stream of origin. As in her earlier best-selling book, author Carol Reed-Jones uses cumulative verse, a literary technique that is not only enjoyable but suggests how interconnected salmon are with their habitat. At the back is a section on salmon facts and what makes a good habitat for them, teaching the basics of ecology and why clean streams and waters are so important.

A whole community of insects and other creatures lives under rocks-worms and ants, spiders and slugs, crickets and beetles. Dr. Fredericks focuses on the whole “community” of neighbors where the ground beneath a big old rock is home to them all. Two pages of “Field Notes” and “fun facts” at the back of the book offer intriguing information on these creatures. A whole community of insects and other creatures lives under rocks-worms and ants, spiders and slugs, crickets and beetles. Dr. Fredericks focuses on the whole “community” of neighbors where the ground beneath a big old rock is home to them all. Two pages of “Field Notes” and “fun facts” at the back of the book offer intriguing information on these creatures.

Old MacDonald had a … garden? Yes! Sing along with young Jo MacDonald as she grows healthy food for people and wild creatures. E-I-E-I-O! Find out how butterflies, bumblebees, and birds help a garden to thrive – and how you can help them too. And keep an eye on one mysterious plant. What will it become? Youngsters learn about garden ecosystems and stewardship through this playful adaptation of “Old MacDonald Had a Farm.” Old MacDonald had a … garden? Yes! Sing along with young Jo MacDonald as she grows healthy food for people and wild creatures. E-I-E-I-O! Find out how butterflies, bumblebees, and birds help a garden to thrive – and how you can help them too. And keep an eye on one mysterious plant. What will it become? Youngsters learn about garden ecosystems and stewardship through this playful adaptation of “Old MacDonald Had a Farm.”

The rhyming text draws the reader to the shoreline of the beach and into the state of mind one finds when they are exploring the water’s edge. Counting from one to twelve (one to ten in the Board Book edition), Sue picks up shells-periwinkle, kitten’s paw, scallop-and carefully adds them to her bucket as a gift for Grandma. She and her friend identify the shells, and when they discover one that still has the mollusk living inside they put it back in the water-learning that shells are actually the (usually) abandoned homes of sea animals. The paperback edition contains a tear-out shell identification card to enhance the hands-on lesson in nature’s simple wonders.