Library Girl

Makeda June Kirkland is eleven-years-old, adopted, and black. Her parents and big sister are white, and even though she loves her family very much, Makeda often feels left out. When Makeda's family moves from Maryland to New Mexico, she leaves behind her best friend, Lena - the only other adopted black girl she knows - for a new life. In New Mexico, everything is different. At home, Makeda's sister is too cool to hang out with her anymore and at school, she can't seem to find one real friend.

In this second book of her series, Kira teams up with a student at the animal sanctuary to track down the paradise parrot—a bird thought to be extinct—and prove that it still exists.

Samantha is a wealthy orphan growing up in 1904. Her grandmother is raising her as a proper young lady with the best of everything. Still, Samantha is lonely. When her Uncle Gard comes to visit with his friend, Miss Cornelia Pitt, and a special gift for Samantha, it doesn’t go well. Even worse, Samantha isn’t allowed to play with Nellie, the girl next door, because Nellie is a servant. So Samantha decides to help Nellie learn to read. Through her forbidden friendship with Nellie, Samantha learns some important things, too—about truth, friendship, and family.

Ruthie Bayer is stuck. Her mom is totally overprotective, her dad is nonexistent, and her best friends can't help her now, when she needs them most. Out of the blue, Ruthie has fallen in love with the boy next door, Perry. Perry has suddenly grown up and made her heart go thwang, and Ruthie has no idea what to do about it.

Beatrice Corwell has a crooked haircut, eight well-trained cats, and a plan: she’s turning herself into a Tin Man. Once her heart is made of metal, she’ll no longer miss her beloved dead grandma, her absent dad, or her recently moved-away best friend. While Beatrice awaits her transformation, she keeps vigil with a special doll and a handful of wishes she’s determined to make come true. With her encyclopedic knowledge, there must be a way to grant her heart’s deepest desires.

Alice is 11 years old, and it is wartime. She is on a train with no seats, no lights, and no sanitary facilities. Her parents and her grandmother are missing, and Alice doesn't know where she is going. Maybe she will get to play outside again, maybe she will see her parents. But as the train rolls on, Alice begins to realize that just when you think things can't possibly get any worse, they do.

Seventh-grader Willa is head-over-hooves when she finds a secret note inviting her to Juniper Ranch—a sleepaway camp that’s all about horses. The camp promises trail rides, horseback swims, and “ghorst” stories, plus tons of new horse-girl and (gasp!) horse-boy friends. Even better? Willa’s pals from Oakwood Riding Academy—including her sworn frenemy, Amara—are all coming along for the fun. But when Willa makes a dangerous mistake and a beloved steed goes missing, everyone at Juniper Ranch is suddenly a suspect.

A storm and flash flood hit the ranch hard, and many animals are lost. But Josefina and her sisters are determined to save the family business. Their aunt, Tía Dolores, wants to try some bold new ideas. Josefina likes learning to weave and play the piano, but she’s not so sure about learning to read and write. She’s afraid all these changes could make her forget Mamá. Unexpectedly, Mamá herself gives Josefina the answer. By facing the changes, can Josefina find her courage—and discover the truth about love?

When Josefina wants to rescue a newborn goat that needs help, Papá has doubts. But after a rattlesnake threatens the baby goat, Josefina discovers her healing skills—and her courage. She gets another chance to prove her bravery in a daring midnight journey to learn the truth about a man who may have stolen from her family. Then the worst happens: Josefina’s beloved aunt, Tía Dolores, announces she is leaving. How can Josefina get Papá to ask Tía Dolores the one question that might change her mind?

Kira and her mom are spending the summer at a wildlife sanctuary in Australia helping her aunt Mamie, a veterinarian, care for the animals. When Kira falls in love with an orphaned koala joey, her joy is complete—until a health emergency pulls Aunt Mamie away. Suddenly Kira can’t seem to do anything right. She’s put the wombats and her beloved koala joey in danger, and now her new friend Alexis won’t talk to her. Can Kira find a way to catch a roving predator—along with a few wayward wombats—and earn back everyone’s trust?

Maggie Fortini doesn't play baseball but is a dyed-in-the-wool fan of the Brooklyn Dodgers. Jim Maine is a Giants fan whom who teaches Maggie the fine art of scoring a baseball game. Jim is drafted into the army and sent to Korea, and although Maggie writes to him often, his silence is just one of a string of disappointments - being a Brooklyn Dodgers fan in the early 1950s meant season after season of near misses and dashed hopes.

In 1881, 12-year-old Rodzina Clara Jadwiga Anastazya Brodski wishes she didn't have to board the orphan train in Chicago. But she has no home, no family, and no choice. Rodzina doesn't believe the orphans are on their way out West to be adopted by good families. She's sure they will become slaves to strangers. Anyway, who would ever adopt a large, tough, stubborn girl of Polish origin? As the train heads west, all Rodzina has is a small suitcase and her family memories from the past.

Trapped by the limitations of her middle school adjective and the realities of her mother's alcohol addiction, Sophie's perspective on what being pretty really means changes drastically in the second adjective-busting novel by the author of Husky, Justin Sayre. Set three months after Husky's conclusion and narrated by Sophie, Davis' best friend, Sayre details the private and public life of someone saddled with the adjective of pretty.

What happens when you can't do the one thing that matters most? Twelve-year-old Hope Toriella lives in White Rock, a town of inventors struggling to recover from the green bombs of World War III. But Hope is terrible at inventing and would much rather sneak off to cliff dive into the Bomb's Breath - the deadly band of compressed air that covers the crater left by the bombs - than fail at yet another invention.

Meet the Beacon Street Girls...They're real, they're fun-they're just like you! Love is in the air at Abigail Adams Junior High. There’s a big dance coming up, and the BSG are having fun thinking up dream dates. But as the day of the dance approaches, things start to get complicated. Why is Dillon paying more attention to Avery than Maeve? And why is Nick spending so much time with Chelsea, when everyone knows he and Charlotte are made for each other? Who will the BSG share the last dance with?

Four girls. Four generations. One family. The second entry in the beautiful new series from Ann M. Martin. Dana is Abby's daughter - but she's always been much closer to her father, Zander. He's a celebrated New York author who encourages Dana's artistic talents...even if he sometimes drinks too much. Dana is on his side in any argument, regardless of whether he's wrong. And then her father dies. After years of moving, often with her mother and three siblings, Dana is angry at Abby, and wants nothing more than to leave her family and get back to New York City.

Charlotte returns in Paris to search for her long lost cat and to visit her best Parisian friend, Sophie. When a stolen Picasso sketch turns up in Charlotte's backpack, the BSG's bon voyage gifts become the detective tools for solving the mystery.

I'm Lucy Rose and here's the thing about me: I am eight and according to my grandfather I have the kind of life that is called eventful, which means NOT boring. According to my mom and my grandmother I'm what they call a handful. And according to my dad I am one smart cookie.

Everything in Echo's life changed in a blinding flash when she learned the startling truth: She is the firebird, the creature of light that is said to bring peace. The firebird has come into the world, but it has not come alone. Every action has an equal and opposite reaction, and Echo can feel a great and terrible darkness rising in the distance. Cosmic forces threaten to tear the world apart.

Barbara Cooney's story of Alice Rumphius, who longed to travel the world, live in a house by the sea, and do something to make the world more beautiful, has a timeless quality that resonates with each new generation. The countless lupines that bloom along the coast of Maine are the legacy of the real Miss Rumphius, the Lupine Lady, who scattered lupine seeds everywhere she went. Miss Rumphius received the American Book Award in the year of publication.