Child Esteem

In this seventh Middle School episode, Rafe heads back to the place his misadventures began: the dreaded Hills Village Middle School, where he's now being forced to take "special" classes.... He also finds himself joining the school's football team - alongside his main tormenter, Miller the Killer! But Rafe has grand plans for a better year: First he decides to start a supersecret art project that's sure to rock the school.

Sasquatch! That's who Judy looks like in her school picture. Antarctica! That's where Judy's been sent three times in a single sour-ball week to chill out. Can Judy's mood get any worse? Well, duh! Of course it can. Unless…it's Backward Day! That means it's time for Judy to turn that frown upside down, make lemonade out of lemons, and be nice to stinky little brothers. Can she stay in a good-not-bad mood for an entire day? How about seven whole days? Will her friends freak out when they see a tidy, on-time Judy who smells like cupcake lip gloss?

Conn may only be a wizard's apprentice, but even he knows it's dangerous to play with fire, especially around magic. His master, Nevery, warns him that it could all blow up in his face. Besides, they have bigger problems to deal with. There is evil afoot in the city of Wellmet, an evil that isn't human.

The sea, the sea, the sea. It rolled and rolled and called to me. Come in, it said, come in. Thirteen-year-old Sophie is the only girl amongst the crew of The Wanderer, made up of her three uncles and two cousins. They sail across the Atlantic toward England, the land of Bompie, her grandfather. The personal journey she takes brings her deeper into a forgotten past than she ever knew possible. Sophie’s 13-year-old cousin Cody isn’t sure why his father brought him along. Everyone, including his dad, thinks he’s nothing but a knucklehead doofus.

James Patterson's hilarious story of perseverance and courage shows everyone's favorite troublemaker, Rafe Khatchadorian, the star of the Middle School series, learning to become a leader at long last. After a rough summer, Rafe is heading back to the dreaded Hills Village Middle School, the site of the very worst years of his life. And as if that's not bad enough, he's learned that he's going to be held back a year unless he can prove himself on an outdoor survival excursion.

Some people are better at singing than others. Why is that? A researcher explains why some people love doing karaoke, and others simply can't do it.

Jo Jo Makoons Azure is a spirited seven-year-old who moves through the world a little differently than anyone else on her Ojibwe reservation. It always seems like her mom, her kokum (grandma), and her teacher have a lot to learn - about how good Jo Jo is at cleaning up, what makes a good rhyme, and what it means to be friendly. Even though Jo Jo loves her number one best friend, Mimi, (who is a cat), she’s worried that she needs to figure out how to make more friends. Because Fern, her best friend at school, may not want to be friends anymore.

Therapist Chloe Brotheridge has used the latest scientific research and her own personal experience to create a programme that has already helped thousands of her clients to overcome anxiety. The Anxiety Solution will provide you with simple yet powerful practical tools to help you manage your symptoms and start feeling better every day. Chloe will help you to understand why we feel anxious in the first place and equips you with techniques to help manage the symptoms and start living a happier, more confident life.

Sneaking out of prison isn't easy, unless you are a thief, or a wizard. Luckily, Conn is both! Trouble is, once he's out, where does he go? His home is a pile of rubble since he blew it up doing magic. His master, the wizard Nevery, is not happy with him. Worst of all, Conn's been exiled, and staying in the city will mean his death.

After a traumatic run-in with the fortune teller from a visiting funfair - thanks to an unfortunately timed sneeze - Riley finds himself cursed. Life as he knows it quickly becomes a catalogue of disasters - from wetting himself onstage during the school show, accidentally supergluing himself to his classmates and ruining the school football team’s sponsorship deal, to flooding his house and losing class four’s pet rabbit - Riley knows the bad luck is out to get him. Enter new kid: Brad Chicago. He’s super-cool, well-groomed and stylish, with an excellent stationery collection.

I was 13 when my dad caught me with Tommy Webber in the back of Tommy’s Buick, parked next to the old Chart House down in Montara at 11 o’clock on a Tuesday night. Tommy was 17 and the supposed friend of my brother, Darren. I didn’t love him. I’m not sure I even liked him. In a moment, Deanna Lambert’s teenage life is changed forever. Struggling to overcome the lasting repercussions and the stifling role of “school slut”, Deanna longs to escape a life defined by her past.

It's the holidays and Marc and his friends are ready to celebrate! But more importantly, they’ve decided to give back to those in need. While searching through his house for things he can donate to the local Holiday donation drive, Marc comes across his treasured collection of letters from his Navy SEAL Uncle Jake. Each letter contains a story from Uncle Jake’s childhood that teaches a valuable lesson, shows how to overcome life’s challenges, face one’s fears—or all of the above!

From Boston Globe-Horn Book Award winner Katherine Rundell comes an exciting new novel about a group of kids who must survive in the Amazon after their plane crashes. Fred, Con, Lila, and Max are on their way back to England from Manaus when the plane they're on crashes and the pilot dies upon landing. For days they survive alone, until Fred finds a map that leads them to a ruined city, and to a secret.

Nina is used to feeling like the odd one out, both at school and in her large family. But while trying to fit in at summer camp, she discovers something even more peculiar: two majestic birds have built a nest in the marsh behind an abandoned infirmary. They appear to be whooping cranes, but that’s impossible—Nina is an amateur bird-watcher, and all her resources tell her that those rare birds haven’t nested in Texas for over a hundred years. When Nina reports the sighting to wildlife officials, more questions arise.

Marc shouldn’t have a single complaint as he finishes seventh grade. He’s done really well in his classes, his friends Kenny and Nathan have joined him at jiu-jitsu, and most important, he’s been staying on the Warrior Kid path. There’s just one problem and that problem is named Danny Rhinehart. It seems like every thing Marc does, Danny does better. Danny runs faster, can do more pull-ups, has jiu-jitsu moves that Marc can’t solve, and is even awesome in school. On top of all that, Danny is too nice—he smiles at everything and it drives Marc up a wall. Marc doesn’t know what to do.

A great cold has seized the Beyond. The warmth of summer, the smell of sweet grass, and the great caribou migrations are distant memories. Now the wolves know only ice, dark, snow, and endless cold. The order that kept the wolf clans strong for thousands of years has broken down completely. The wolves have only one chance for survival. They must find their way to a new land, a land of warmth and summer. But the journey will take them over a frozen sea and through thousands of miles of perilous territory. Will the wolves trust young Faolan to lead them?

Jimmy loves reading so much that he's inspired to start a book company for kids -- run by kids. It's a big dream for a twelve-year-old boy. Some would even say it's laugh-out-loud ridiculous!

Growing up without parents and without schooling, 14-year-old Cloyd is trouble - trouble to himself and everyone else. Sent by his tribe to a home for Indian boys, he is alone and half-wild in remote Utah canyons. As his feeling of isolation turns to desperation, he runs away to find even more trouble. When Cloyd is found and taken to live with an old rancher, he begins to explore the countryside.

Our confidence is what gets us through life. It’s our helmets, life jackets, seatbelts, and mouthguards. Seeing your child battle with low self-esteem and self-doubt is not easy, and your first inclination might be to lock them in a bubble and shield them from the harsh realities of life. But taking that approach will undoubtedly do them more harm than good.

The eighth book in the New York Times bestselling Emmie & Friends series, told from the alternating POVs of popular Anthony and timid Leah as they grapple with a bullying incident at school.