Family Reader

Judy is visiting Grandma Lou one day when she accidentally finds an uber-mysterious list of activities - a Bucket List! Which gives Judy an idea: How rare would it be if she made her own way-official bucket list of all the things she wants to do - before she starts fourth grade? Pretty soon Judy is off and running trying to cross off all her items: learn to do a cartwheel, invent something rad, go to Antarctica (the real one), ride a horse - the list goes on.

You could have a Harvard degree or a lifetime’s experience as a librarian, and you still wouldn’t have come across some of the facts found in Interesting Facts for Smart Kids. But after a few rounds of listening to some of the most bizarre things you’ll ever learn about the world, you’ll have a family of experts in, well, everything!

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 ...

Save the birds! Save the trees! That's what the cubs are saying around Bear Country. If Squire Grizzly gets his way and cuts down the trees in Birder's Woods, the yellow popinjays will have nowhere to rest. They could disappear forever. It's up to the cubs to save this important part of nature before it's too late!

Good moods, bad moods, can't-stand-Jessica-Finch moods. Judy Moody has a mood for every occasion, and this time she's in a jealous mood. Jealous of Jessica Finch, that is, who gets her picture on the front page of the newspaper. When Judy sets off in pursuit of her own fame and happiness, watch out! She's so determined, she just might find it, or she might merely become more infamous than ever!

Beware! There is pancake batter in the air! It's a battle for the better batter. Will Betty beat Baxter, or Baxter beat Betty?

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.

The Poky Little Puppy: A puppy loves to dig holes under the fence, despite what his mother, his brothers, and sisters say. But the poky little puppy digs one hole too many in this charming story and ends up missing dessert. (Also includes Scuffy the Tugboat, Tawny Scrawny Lion, and The Saggy Baggy Elephant.)

Welcome to the Rotten School, a new series set in a boarding school that's rotten to the core. The school motto is Growth, Learning, Pizza. Meet charming conniver Bernie Bridges, his arch-rival Sherman Oaks, housemother Mrs. Heinie, Coach Bunz, Headmaster I. Will Upchuck, and the rest of the students and faculty in two stories that prove that while good is good and bad is better, rotten is the best of all!

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.

Tensions are rising between the Quatrans and the Specters, and the Quatra Fleet is gearing up for an epic fight. With a galaxy on the brink of war and loyalties divided, the friendship of four cadets will be tested. Orelia has been arrested for espionage, and her future is looking bleak...until the Quatrans make her a surprising offer that could save her life - and the lives of everyone in the galaxy. Reeling from his breakup, Arran finds comfort in a sympathetic boy from Loos, someone who understands how hard it can be to fit in.

Elise carries a notebook full of tallies. Each page marks a day spent at her new public school. Each stroke of her pencil marks a word spoken - a word that can't be taken back. Five tally marks isn't so bad. Two is pretty good. But zero? Zero is perfect. Zero means no wrong answers called out in class, no secrets accidentally spilled, and no conversations to agonize over at night when sleep is far away. But now months have passed, and Elise isn't sure she could speak even if she wanted to

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?

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.

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.

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.

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!

Sarah came to the prairie from Maine to marry Papa. But that summer, a drought turned the land dry and brown. Fires swept across the fields and coyotes came to the well in search of water. So Sarah took Anna and Caleb back east, where they would be safe. Papa stayed behind. He would not leave his land.

Thirteen-year-old Nikki Doyle's dreams of becoming a basketball great feel within reach when she's selected to play on an elite-level club team. But in a league with taller, stronger, and faster girls, Nikki suddenly isn't the best point guard. In fact, she's no longer a point guard at all, which leaves her struggling to figure out who she is and how she fits in.