Child Friendship

For Titus and his friends, it started out like any ordinary trip to the moon - a chance to party during spring break and play with some stupid low-grav at the Ricochet Lounge. But that was before the crazy hacker caused all their feeds to malfunction, sending them to the hospital to lie around with nothing inside their heads for days. And it was before Titus met Violet, a beautiful, brainy teenage girl who has decided to fight the feed and its omnipresent ability to categorize human thoughts and desires.

The acclaimed author of seven ALA Best Books for Young Adults, Will Hobbs pens a spellbinding true-to-life adventure. With nothing but dogged determination, 15year-old Victor leaves his Mexican village to illegally enter the U.S. and help his starving family. Soon he must outwit gangs, drug-runners, and border agents as he endures shivering nights, blistering days, and gnawing hunger. But can his longing for the beckoning opportunity of El Norte carry him through such impossible obstacles?

The seven kids who bonded in Mr. Terupt's fifth-grade class are in eighth grade now and reunited with their beloved teacher. Listeners will once again be inspired by how the kids face their challenges and by the adults who help them along the way.

Claudia has always been the most outrageous girl in her class...until Ashley Wyeth comes along. Ashley's really different - she dresses in hippie clothes, wears six earrings and work boots, and is the most fantastic artist Claudia has ever met. Ashley says Claudia has artistic talent, too, but thinks Claudia should spend more time on her "calling" and stop wasting time on the Baby-Sitters Club. The baby-sitters are sick of Ashley Wyeth, and they feel like Claudia is a traitor. Claudia has to decide: either the BSC or the new girl - one of them's got to go!

It’s almost time for school to start again, and Nikki is a little worried—but, as always, she has her BFFS to help. Only, it turns out her friends need Nikki’s help. Nikki quickly gets overwhelmed and even starts feeling sick…which is when her little sister, Brianna, takes her chance to steal Nikki’s diary! How much damage can Brianna do before Nikki is back on her feet?

Lucy Callahan was struck by lightning. She doesn't remember it, but it changed her life forever. The zap gave her genius-level math skills, and ever since, Lucy has been homeschooled. Now, at 12 years old, she's technically ready for college. She just has to pass one more test: middle school! Lucy's grandma insists: Go to middle school for one year. Make one friend. Join one activity. And read one book (that's not a math textbook!). Lucy's not sure what a girl who does calculus homework for fun can possibly learn in seventh grade.

SpongeBob was out bubble blowing one morning when suddenly he tripped over some kelp, bumped his head, and blacked out! When he awoke, he couldn't remember his name or where he lived! While SpongeBob searches for his lost identity, Patrick and Sandy set out to find their best friend. Imagine their shock when they discover he's been elected mayor of New Kelp City!

Lewis "Shoe" Blake is used to the joys and difficulties of life on the Tuscarora Indian reservation in 1975: the joking, the Fireball games, the snow blowing through his roof. What he's not used to is white people being nice to him - people like George Haddonfield, whose family recently moved to town with the Air Force. As the boys connect through their mutual passion for music, especially the Beatles, Lewis has to lie more and more to hide the reality of his family's poverty from George.

The Virals are put to the ultimate test when they find a geocache containing an ornate puzzle box. Shelton decodes the cipher inside, only to find more tantalizing clues left by "The Gamemaster". A second, greater geocache is within reach - if the Virals are up to the challenge. But the hunt takes a dark turn when Tory locates the other box - a fake bomb, along with a sinister proposal from The Gamemaster. Now, the real game has begun: another bomb is out there - a real one - and the clock is ticking.

Stacey starts dating a jock basketball player and falls in with a super-cool crowd, including the cheerleaders who ask her to try out for the squad.

Taylor Edwards’ family might not be the closest-knit - everyone is a little too busy and overscheduled - but for the most part, they get along just fine. Then Taylor’s dad gets devastating news, and her parents decide that the family will spend one last summer all together at their old lake house in the Pocono Mountains. Crammed into a place much smaller and more rustic than they are used to, they begin to get to know each other again. And Taylor discovers that the people she thought she had left behind haven’t actually gone anywhere.

After a bump on the head in gym class on April Fool's Day, Nikki has a wild dream in which she, her BFFs Chloe and Zoey, her crush Brandon, and mean girl Mackenzie all end up playing the roles of some familiar classic fairy tale characters. Of course, the stories don’t go quite as expected - because they each have a very special Dork Diaries spin!

Homing pigeon Homer and his parrot friend Lulu learn something is afoul when they witness four-legged criminals stealing valuables from both the animal and human communities. Lulu and Homer track down the bandits, but need human help to stop them for good. Can they lead their human keepers to the culprits’ hideout and stop the thieves? Award-winning author-illustrator Henry Cole offers a fun, action-packed middle grade mystery that will keep listeners guessing if the crime-solving pigeon will get his guy

For most kids, catching fireflies is a fun summer activity. For twelve-year-old Serwa Boateng, it's a matter of life and death. That's because Serwa knows that some fireflies are really adze, shapeshifting vampires from the forests of Southeastern Ghana. Adze prey on the blood of innocents, possessing their minds and turning them into hulking monsters, and for generations, slayers like Serwa and her parents have protected an unknowing public from their threats.

When 12-year-old Cooper Vega moves for the third time in five years, he receives a state-of-the-art smartphone to help him stay in touch with old friends. He's had phones before, but this one is buggy and unpredictable. When a boy named Roderick Northrop communicates with him through the phone, Cooper realizes that his phone isn't buggy at all; the thing is haunted!

As Persephone's mom encourages her to do, she often "goes along to get along" instead of doing what she really wants. But when she meets Mount Olympus Academy bad-boy Hades, she finally feels she has found someone with whom she can be herself. He's the first person who actually listens to her, and she finds herself liking him, despite the fact the other goddessgirls think he's bad news. But if he makes her feel so special - and she's so comfortable hanging around him - can he really be all that bad?

Donald J. Sobol’s pint-sized amateur detective has been a hit with young readers for over three decades. For 25 cents a day—plus expenses—Encyclopedia Brown will solve any case, big or small for the kids in his neighborhood. He also secretly works with his police chief father to crack the toughest investigations and keep the streets of Idaville safe. Here are 10 more beguiling mysteries that will have listeners scratching their heads.

Albert and Scarlett are a formidable pair. With his ability to read minds and her way with a weapon, no bank can keep them out and no jail can keep them in. But their notoriety may have spread a bit too far. Now old enemies from Scarlett’s past and a sinister new threat from Albert’s world are boxing them in—and holding their friends hostage. To win their freedom, the outlaws Scarlett and Browne are charged with pulling off an impossible mission. And the clock is ticking . . .

Oh no! Stacey McGill is moving back to New York! That means no more Stoneybrook Middle School, no more Charlotte Johanssen, and worst of all...no more Baby-Sitters Club!

Nikki and her friends, Brandon, Chloe, and Zoey, are up for another adventure in the 11th book in the number-one New York Times best-selling Dork Diaries series.