Family Reader

In the hopes of receiving some mail of her own, Paula writes a letter to her grandparents.

It’s grocery shopping day, and Gabe’s father has made a shopping list. Gabe has a list of his own, and it’s nothing like Dad’s. What will they bring home?

Kelly keeps hearing the drip, drip, drip of the bathroom faucet. She soon discovers her brother Jack hasn’t been shutting the water off tight. It is up to her to teach him how to save water and about how the water cycle works.

A new term spells disaster for Mildred!After a disastrous first year, Mildred is determined to lose her embarrassing reputation as the worst witch the Academy has ever seen - but things rapidly get out of hand when her arch-enemy Ethel turns her into a frog ...

It's Future Job Day at Sam's school, and Sam knows exactly what he wants to be when he grows up-a zookeeper, just like Zookeeper Jake in his favorite picture book. His mother and big sister, Anastasia, help Sam create a memorable costume-so memorable that Sam insists on wearing it long after Future Job Day has passed and the rest of his classmates are back in their regular clothes.

David Lee is 12 years old and disappointed in his father Earl, a once-famous rodeo clown who has quit the circuit and moved David to a small town in Vermont to start a new life. David has a hard time adjusting to life as a “normal” boy and is hurt that his father never allowed him the chance to be his partner in the rodeo arena. When Earl tries to buy David a horse at auction, David pretends to have no interest in it, and the horse is sold, instead, to a 70-year-old woman named Sarah Tierney.

One day after school, on the couch in the basement, Tori's uncle did something bad. Afterward, Tori tells her mom. Even though telling was a brave thing to do, her mom still doesn't believe her at first. Her grandma still takes his side. And Tori doesn't want anyone else - even her best friend - to know what happened. Now Tori finds herself battling mixed emotions - anger, shame, and sadness - as she deals with the trauma. But with the help of her mom, her little sister, her best friend, and others, can Tori find a way to have the last word?

Valentine's Day is Abby's least favorite holiday. Mushy stuff like valentines, red hearts, and a school dance turn her into a Valentine's Scrooge. When Ross Brown, a perfectly nice guy in Abby's English class, invites her to the dance, Abby tries to set him up with her twin sister, Anna.

Naima is a talented painter of traditional alpana patterns, which Bangladeshi women and girls paint on their houses for special celebrations. But Naima is not satisfied just painting alpana. She wants to help earn money for her family, like her best friend, Saleem, does for his family. When Naima's rash effort to help puts her family deeper in debt, she draws on her resourceful nature and her talents to bravely save the day.

Sometimes, 12-year-old Donte wishes he were invisible. As one of the few black boys at Middlefield Prep, most of the students don't look like him. They don't like him either. Dubbing him "Black Brother", Donte's teachers and classmates make it clear they wish he were more like his lighter-skinned brother, Trey. When he's bullied and framed by the captain of the fencing team, "King" Alan, he's suspended from school and arrested for something he didn't do.

Eva and her identical twin sister, Miriam, had a mostly happy childhood. Theirs was the only Jewish family in their small village in the Transylvanian mountains, but they didn't think much of it until anti-Semitism reared its ugly head in their school. Then, in 1944, ten-year-old Eva and her family were deported to Auschwitz. At its gates, Eva and Miriam were separated from their parents and other siblings, selected as subjects for Dr. Mengele's infamous medical experiments.

When Stink Moody's second grade class goes on a field trip to the Gross-Me-Out exhibit at the science museum, he learns that his very own nose has amazing sniffing abilities - and that some people have real jobs sniffing stuff for NASA! Soon Stink is engrossed in toilet water, corpse flowers, and all things smelly. But is his fetid footwear foul enough to win a Golden Clothespin Award? Loyal fans will be holding their breath for Stink's latest outrageous solo adventure.

Chester’s mom teaches him a song about fireflies. Learn the song along with Chester. One, two, three.…

Nick Abbott and Trent Dawson have nothing in common but basketball. Or so it seems. But as the basketball season progresses, their lives become unexpectedly intertwined. In this story of an unlikely bond, award-winning author Carl Deuker explores that dark and confusing place between loneliness and friendship, between faithfulness and betrayal.

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?

Lulu has received the worst. News. Ever. She's getting a baby sister. No one ever asked her opinion on this debacle. She no how, no way, no thank you wants a sibling. Undeterred, to prepare Lulu for big sisterhood, her parents bribe - ahem, ask - Lulu to attend Camp Sisterhood, aka big-sister training camp. As a sister in training (SIT), Lulu is assigned a variety of temporary little "siblings". Well, no one ever said Camp Sisterhood was supposed to teach Lulu how to be a good big sister, so Lulu resolves to be a bad big sister.

Marie-Douce s'envole pour Paris. Là-bas, elle entre d'un coup dans le monde des célébrités! C'est qu'après une poussée de croissance spectaculaire et les soins d'un styliste, elle est méconnaissable. Que faire lorsque les garçons s'intéressent à elle? Elle a peut-être l'apparence d'une jeune femme, mais, dans sa tête, elle est toujours aussi timide et maladroite! Et puis il y a le mystérieux Lucien qui la trouble tant!

As part of her exciting film course, Stacey is making a documentary about teen life in Stoneybrook. The movie creates a conflict with friendships when Stacey pursues tell-all interviews with her friends and enemies.

Are Amelia Bedelia and her friends barking up the wrong tree? Recess just got super exciting. Amelia Bedelia and her friends are on the playground when they hear a strange noise coming from a nearby tree. It’s a tiny kitten stuck on a high branch! It’s up to Amelia Bedelia and her friends to figure out how to rescue the kitten and, once they do, to find the little cat a purr-fect new home!

This collection includes the following three Todd Parr titles: The Family Book, The Daddy Book, and The Mommy Book.