Library Girl

Virginia Euwer Wolff takes on the biggest questions about life and love, certainly, but also about girls and women, sacrifice and compassion and has something quite revelatory to say about them in this full house.

Orphaned Matilda is not at all pleased when she arrives at Blood and Bone Alley to become an assistant to Red Peg the Bonesetter. She is a religious, well-educated girl who can't picture herself doing dirty chores or helping sickly patients. Each day is very different from her former quiet life. Matilda's not used to being around so many people who are coming and going, laughing and eating. Not one of them seems interested in prayer or study.

As a bogler's apprentice, 10-year-old Birdie has faced down plenty of monsters lurking in the chimneys, wells, and other dark places of Victorian London. She serves as bait, singing sweetly to lure the bogles out so her master, the well-seasoned Go-Devil Man Alfred Bunce, can kill them with his trusty spear. Enter the wealthy folklorist Miss Eames, who is determined to find more scientific ways of drawing out the monsters, and Birdie fears that her livelihood may be threatened by the well-meaning lady.

Payal Mehta has had a crush on popular, athletic, all-around perfect Jonathan Slate ever since he smiled at her in freshman-year Spanish class. At a party during spring break of her junior year, Payal finally works up the courage to ask Jon to hang out. However, her romantic plans are derailed when he vomits on her Keds. Twice. But when Jon offers to take her out to lunch as an apology, Payal is convinced this is the start of their love story.

Isabel's sister Elena Maria is turning 15, and the Martinez family is planning her quinceañera - at at Uncle Hector's ranch in San Antonio! Everything about San Antonio is awesome (except for my annoying cousin Ricardo)! The Southwestern art is giving me all sorts of ideas for new drawings. But Elena has turned into Quincezilla - you'd think no one has ever turned 15 before - and it's like I'm invisible. It's a good thing there's so much to see and do around here. And you won't believe what I discovered when my cousin and I got stranded in a cave during a thunder and lightning storm!

Katani's favorite magazine, T-Biz!, is running a contest for young entrepreneurs, and she can't wait to surprise her family and the BSG with a prize-winning entry. With the deadline just a week away, major school projects due, and a promise to knit 20 scarves for a Think Pink! fund-raiser, Katani is running out of time.

Meet the Beacon Street Girls...They're real, they're fun-they're just like you!It’s bad enough that Marty, the Beacon Street Girls’ beloved pooch, has gone missing, but somehow the “little dude’s” disappearance is creating tensions among the best friends. Was one of them to blame for Marty slipping out of his collar and running off? But when an opportunity to save High Hopes Riding Stable, where Katani’s bonded with a special horse, conflicts with the chance to get Marty back from a surprising celebrity, the BSG might not all want the same thing.

Avery here, comin' at you live from Colorado, home of my dad-and the first-ever Telluride Snurfer Snowboarding Competition! With mascot dog Marty at my side, I'm totally psyched to compete. But this trip is getting CRAAAZY. As in Crazie Kazie, the all-star boarder who wants to win as much as I do. The only thing crazier is her cat, Farkle...aka Franken-cat!

Meet the Beacon Street Girls...They're real, they're fun - they're just like you! Charlotte, Nick, and Chelsea's travel and adventure club has its first outing - a scavenger hunt on Cape Cod.

The halls of Abigail Adams Junior High are abuzz with excitement. Julie Faber passes out invitations to her Hawaiian-themed birthday bash, but not everyone makes the cut. The BSG must decide what to do when one of their own is labeled "too immature" to be invited to the party of the year.

Meet the Beacon Street Girls...They're real, they're fun-they're just like you! Katani is off to New York City to take part in a real live fashion show! There’s just one little problem - she can only take one friend and all of the BSG want to go. How can she possibly choose? When the trip is almost canceled, Maeve figures out how to make it happen, and everyone agrees that she should get to go. But as the disasters keep coming - from the highway to the runway - Katani wonders if her dream trip to the Big Apple is nothing but trouble.

Jamaican breezes are calling, and one hardworking BSG definitely deserves a getaway! But Katani's Caribbean dream trip may not be all soft sand and warm surf. When Grandma Ruby learns that the family's famous banana bread bakery is in serious danger, Katani's business savvy is put to the ultimate test. Spooky stories, dolphins, horseback rides on the beach, a mysterious old lady, and a lost heirloom add up to plenty of colorful island adventure for Katani and her family.

The BSG are on an all-expenses-paid cruise to Hawaii, thanks to Dad's assignment! It's an amazing trip, complete with volcanoes, horseback riding, and snorkeling, but it hasn't all been smooth sailing. The BSG have always been such a great team, and we need all of us together now to help Isabel and me take care of our new secret friend. Here's a hint: He talks a lot and loves pineapple!

Isabel can't believe what's happening to her... the IM gossip chain has gotten way out of control, and she's the target. Mean messages and whispering classmates are popping up in the strangest places -- including a certain Queen of Mean's away message. How did things get so out of control? Everybody says they're "just kidding," but it's not funny at all. Someone is poisoning Spirit Week with her twisted lies. Drama overload!

Can the Beacon Street Girls' magic act bring the house down at Abigail Adams Junior High's talent show? Maeve, Avery, Katani, Isabel, and Charlotte face their toughest challenges yet - keeping the Movie House from going out of business and helping Isabel deal with too many demands from the Queens of Mean. Plus, Maeve's relationship with Dillon is shaky, and Marty has a crush on a pink poodle owned by the fascinating Ms. Razzberry Pink. The BSG feel like they're dealing with a juggling act, not a magic act. Can they pull everything off and save the theater?

Great Rapscott School for the Daughters of Busy Parents is not your typical boarding school. Students arrive in boxes, birthday cake is served for breakfast, and two very talented corgis assist the rather quirky headmistress. This semester the girls will learn how to get to The Top, but the semester is not off to a good start. One of the girls doesn't make it back to school, and when her friends try to rescue her, they wind up at the Bottom of the Barrel. Luckily Ms. Rapscott knows that learning to fail is the secret to Going Far in life.

Opal Lee grew up as a Black girl in Texas at a time when Black and white people were kept separate and Black people had fewer opportunities than white people did. She knew that this wasn’t right, and she grew up to be a teacher and a community leader, determined to help create a better future for all people. A big part of her work and life was making Juneteenth a national holiday to mark the end of enslavement for Black Americans. She loved this day as both a celebration and as a way of teaching about the past.

The BSG can't believe their luck. . . . Mr. Ramsey has to travel out West for research, and he's taking all the BSG on a trip to a real Montana dude ranch. Skiing, snowboarding, cowboys, wild animals, celebrities. . . it s the recipe for an amazing adventure! During a raging snowstorm, some of the BSG get stranded in a ghost town, where they unfold a mystery about the town's sole resident. Will the girls reunite before everyone gets totally creeped out?

Big time adventure awaits the Beacon Street Girls and the rest of the seventh grade. The class is heading to Lake Rescue in New Hampshire for outdoor adventure. Will Nick's attention to Isabel make Charlotte wonder about her own feelings? And will the physical challenges of this outdoor adventure prove too much for one overweight seventh-grade girl?

Meet the Beacon Street Girls...They're real, they're fun-they're just like you! Who will be the next seventh grade class president at Abigail Adams Junior High? Mr. Popular, Dillon Johnson, is running, and making a lot of promises that are sure to get votes. The Yurtmeister’s in the race, too, but his campaign is a joke, right? Class president seems like a good place for Avery to start her political career. The trouble is, Katani’s in the race, too. Can the Beacon Street Girls survive the growing tension between these two super competitive friends?