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It's 1965, Los Angeles. All 12-year-old Sophie wants to do is write her book, star in the community play, and hang out with her friend Jennifer. But she's the new black kid in a nearly all-white neighborhood; her beloved sister, Lily, is going away to college soon; and her parents' marriage is rocky. There's also her family's new, disapproving housekeeper to deal with. When riots erupt in nearby Watts and a friend is unfairly arrested, Sophie learns that life - and her own place in it - is even more complicated than she'd once thought.

Life will never be the same for Red Porter. He's a kid growing up around black car grease, white fence paint, and the backward attitudes of the folks who live in his hometown, Rocky Gap, Virginia. Red's daddy, his idol, has just died, leaving Red and Mama with some hard decisions and a whole lot of doubt. Should they sell the Porter family business, a gas station, repair shop, and convenience store rolled into one, where the slogan - "Porter's: We Fix it Right!" - has been shouting the family's pride for as long as anyone can remember?

When Mika starts fifth grade at the middle school, her neat life gets messy. Separated from old friends and starting new classes, Mika is far from her comfort zone. And math class is the most confusing of all, especially when her teacher Mr. Vann assigns math journals. Art in math? Who's ever heard of such a thing?

Carly Chambers leads an unusual life. She moves frequently and has to run mysterious packages to her father’s clients. Now living in Oceanside, New Jersey, Carly finds excitement by sneaking out at night to the town’s bustling boardwalk. More and more Carly finds herself hoping to spend time with Nick, one of the few kids who doesn’t outright ignore her. But then her life is thrown into further disarray when she realizes she’s being followed, and Carly suspects that the menacing stranger shadowing her has something to do with her father’s business....

Newbery Honor winner Janet Taylor Lisle's gorgeous and profound new novel about a pivotal summer in two girls' lives explores the convictions we form, the judgments we make, and the values we hold. The pond is called Quicksand Pond. It's a shadowy, hidden place full of chirping, shrieking, croaking life. It's where, legend has it, people disappear. It's where scrappy Terri Carr lives with her no-good family. And it's where 12-year-old Jessie Kettel is reluctantly spending her summer vacation. Jessie meets Terri right away, on a raft out in the water.

Author Elizabeth Atkinson’s debut novel for middleschoolers was included in the Bank Street College of Education’s Best Children’s Books of 2009. I, Emma Freke tells of one girl’s search for her identity. Smart and shy, Emma is as close to normal as her family gets. Still, she has a terrible time fitting in at school—and things only get worse when Emma attends her family reunion. Soon, she realizes that she’s better off being herself than someone else’s Freke.

All the troubles in sixth-grader Claudia Harper’s life seem to start with her fourth-grade friend Dunford Wylie Booth V.

Otto and Sheed are the local sleuths in their zany Virginia town, masters of unraveling mischief using their unmatched powers of deduction. And as the summer winds down and the first day of school looms, the boys are craving just a little bit more time for fun, even as they bicker over what kind of fun they want to have. That is, until a mysterious man appears with a camera that literally freezes time.

Aiden and Meg Falconer are on the hunt for the one man who might be able to free their parents from jail. The hitch? There are plenty of other people on the hunt for THEM, including the FBI and an eerie, hairless killer. After one close call too many, the Falconers find themselves stowed away on a ship -- but the chase doesn't end there. Instead, it moves to close quarters, where every step, every breath, could get them caught.

The first thing every listener will want to know is whether Anne Shirley appears in these stories of Avonlea and Spencervale. She certainly does. As a matter of fact, page one starts off in this manner: "Anne Shirley was curled up on the window seat of Theodora Dix's sitting room one Saturday evening, looking dreamily afar at some fair starland beyond the hills of sunset. Anne was visiting for a fortnight of her vacation."

During the reign of Richard I, Wilfred of Ivanhoe earns his father's disapproval by falling in love with Rowena, his father's ward. His father had planned to wed her himself, and reestablish the Saxon line.

Thirteen-year-old Simon Renier has no idea when he boards the M.S. Orion with his cousin Forsyth Phair that their journey to Venezuela will be a dangerous one. His original plan - to return a family heirloom, a portrait of Simon Bolivar, to its rightful place - is sidetracked when cousin Forsyth is found murdered. When the portrait is stolen, all passengers and crew are suspects. Simon's newfound friends, Poly and Charles O'Keefe, and their scientist father help Simon try to find his painting, and his cousin's murderer. But will they succeed before they land?

New kid Jake Garrett seems to have it all figured out. He's a star athlete, he hosts the best parties, and every girl in school wants to date him. But who is Jake Garrett, really? And why has he gone to all the trouble to reinvent himself?

Gordon Korman's brilliant and intense writing and cutting edge dialogue quickly draw listeners into the adolescent struggle of popularity and acceptance.

The Lockwood brothers are supposed to be able to survive anything. Their dad, a hardcore believer in self-reliance, has stockpiled enough food and water at their isolated Nevada home to last for months. But when they are robbed of all their supplies during a massive blackout while their dad is out of town, John and Stew must walk 96 miles in the stark desert sun to get help. Along the way, they’re forced to question their dad’s insistence on self-reliance and ask just what it is that we owe to our neighbors, our kin, and to ourselves.

Lily left a red notebook full of challenges on her favorite bookstore shelf, waiting for just the right guy to come along and accept its dares. Dash, in a bad mood during the holidays, happens to be the first guy to pick up the notebook and rise to its challenges. What follows is a whirlwind romance as Dash and Lily trade dares, dreams, and desires in the notebook they pass back and forth at locations all across New York City. But can their in-person selves possibly connect as well as their notebook versions?

In this 14th title in the popular series, Sammy is hoping for a fun Halloween for a change. But dressing up as zombies and cutting through the cemetery assures that the teenage sleuth and her pals are soon immersed in a satisfyingly suspenseful adventure full of secrets and surprises - not the least of which is a trick-or-treat bag with human skulls!

In this 13th mystery, Sammy is entering eighth grade with more than the usual angst - add to it being a bridesmaid in Officer Borsch's wedding, dealing with the break-up of her friend Marissa's parents, and her own mother dating the father of arch-enemy Heather. How will she be able to solve the mystery of who's making death threats against the history teacher that nobody likes (especially with her name at the top of the suspect list?) With wit, style, and spirit as usual!

Still recovering from an overly eventful vacation in Ireland, teenage wizard Nita Callahan is looking forward to some peace and quiet in her suburban New York home. Instead, her close friend Kit seems to be acting a little weird, and Nita keeps running into problems for which wizardry either isn’t the answer or else it’s the wrong one. How do you fix what can’t be fixed? Only the Transcendent Pig knows, and it’s not telling.

To give fifteen-year-old Nita a vacation from magic—and her partner Kit—her parents pack her off for a stay with her eccentric aunt in Ireland. But Nita soon finds herself with a host of Irish wizards battling mythical beings, wolves, and elves from a nightmare land.

Precocious Katy Thatcher comes to realize what a gentle, silent boy did for his family. He meant to help, not harm. It didn't turn out that way.