Young Readers Fiction

At the Nutcracker School of Ballet in Harlem, young dancers learn to chassé, plié, and jeté with their Sugar Plum Sisters--but things don't always go to plan! As the girls encounter challenges both on and off stage, they'll need the support of their classmates to carry them through with aplomb.

Eleven-year-old Ellis Johnson has the summertime blues. He dreamed of spending the summer of 1976 hanging out with friends, listening to music, and playing his harmonica. Instead, he'll be sleeping on a lumpy pullout in Dad's sad little post-divorce bungalow and helping bring Dad's latest far-fetched, sure-to-fail idea to life: opening the world's first chocolate chip cookie store. They have six weeks to perfect their recipe, get a ramshackle A-frame on Hollywood's Sunset Boulevard into tip-top shape, and bring in customers.

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.

Twelve-year-old Koby isn't like the other kids in her class. She lost her right foot in an accident four years ago, and she is keenly aware that her classmates don't know how to act around her. The only place she feels at home is in her small boat, where she can watch whales play in the ocean. When Koby discovers a stranded mother whale and her baby, she realizes that their survival depends on her ability to keep them breathing through the night. But she is alone, and help is nowhere in sight.

Everyone in the neighborhood was getting ready for the party. Everyone knew somebody on the guest list. . . . This was the day the dead returned. There’s a party tonight, but Cala doesn’t want to go. While her family prepares for the celebration, Cala grieves her grandfather and tries to pretend she’s not afraid. But when she is separated from her family at the cemetery, Cala encounters four mysterious riders who will show her she is actually quite brave after all.

Sixteen-year-old Maya Krishnan is fiercely protective of her friends, immigrant community, and single mother, but she knows better than to rock the boat in her conservative Florida suburb. Her classmate Juneau Zale is the polar opposite: she’s a wealthy white heartbreaker who won’t think twice before capsizing that boat. When Juneau invites Maya to join the Pugilists—a secret society of artists, vandals, and mischief-makers who fight for justice at their school—Maya descends into the world of change-making and resistance.

Sixteen-year-old Phoenix knows her parents have invested thousands of dollars to help her leave Hong Kong and get an elite Ivy League education. They think America means big status, big dreams, and big bank accounts. But Phoenix doesn’t want big; she just wants home. The trouble is, she doesn’t know where that is…until the Hong Kong protest movement unfolds, and she learns the city she’s come to love is in danger of disappearing.

Mr. and Mrs. Puddleduck have found the perfect place to nest: a cozy planter by a theater in a sunny seaside village. While Mrs. P is warming the eggs, Mr. P is drawn to the spellbinding songs, fabulous feathered costumes, and dazzling dances he’s secretly watching during rehearsals. He’s even showing off some fancy new footwork to Mrs. P! But it turns out he’s been learning much more than how to put on a show.

"Bang! A side door bursts open. Soldiers pour into the room. They're shouting and waving rifles. I shield my head with my arms. It was a lie! I think, my mind racing. Girls and boys alike are screaming. The soldiers prod and herd some of us together and push the rest apart as if we're cows or goats.Their leader, though, is a middle-aged man. He's moving slowly, intently, not dashing around like the others. 'Take the boys only, Win Min,' I overhear him telling a tall, gangly soldier...."

Rumors are the lifeblood of Idlewood, Indiana. The locals whisper that the De Lucas are witches, and that decades prior they cursed the wealthy Barrion family as revenge for a love gone tragically wrong: now, if a Barrion falls in love with you, you’ll die. If this isn’t reason enough for wallflower Penny Emberly to stay away from both families, she doesn’t know what is. But when Penny’s mom is in an accident that leaves her on the brink of death, Penny can’t ignore the rumors anymore—because the Barrion curse is real. And her mom is its latest victim.

Christy Huddleston's dream is to teach poor mountain children. Join Christy as she crosses from the familiar world of parties and pretty things to the different world of Cutter Gap, located in the heart of the Smoky Mountains. There she meets the doctor who needs her help to save a life and the handsome minister who helps her face the challenges of teaching and loving the mountain people.

Abby Wambach has always pushed the limits of what is possible. Named by Time magazine as one of the most influential people of 2015, the iconic soccer player captured the nation's heart when she led her team to its recent World Cup championship. Admired for her fearlessness and passion, Abby is a vocal advocate for women's rights and equal opportunity, pushing to translate the success of her team to the real world.

Olivia is a vegetarian. Ivy is a vampire. And they're twins?!? Ever since Olivia discovered that her long-lost twin sister, Ivy, is a vampire, she's been soaking up everything Ivy will tell her about Franklin Grove's vampire community. It's all top secret, and Olivia's sworn that she'll never tell another soul. But now, nosy tabloid reporter Serena Star is snooping around. As she gets closer and closer to the truth, it's up to Ivy and Olivia to throw her off track. This is one fangtastic news story that can't get out!

If it’s one of those days, never fear: Your new friend the Curious Why will show you that there’s always something new to discover about the world around you! Do you want to know where the dinosaurs went? How crayons are made? Or what makes a bee sting?

Take a peek inside Phoebe’s Diary into a bracingly honest account of the explosive turmoil and joy of adolescence, based on the author’s actual teenage journals.​ Meet Phoebe. She’s cool and insecure, talented and vulnerable, sexy and awkward, driven and confused, ecstatic and tragic. Like you. And here is her diary, packed full of invaluable friends and heartbreaking crushes, spectacular playlists and vintage outfits, drama nerds and art kids, old wounds and new love.

Stealing from her rich family was supposed to be a fun winter getaway for teen mastermind Olivia Owens, but when a rival thief, a love triangle, and a murder suspect interfere, she’ll have to decide how far she’s willing to go for the vault full of gold—and for the boy she loves.

After her first adventure in Tokyo, Tessa Miyata is having the best summer of her life with her best friend, Jin. Still, she wonders if she'll ever see Kit, the mythical Unlucky God that Tessa and Jin freed, or the last magical city again. Then, Tessa and Jin get magical, talking invitations informing them that they've been chosen to attend the Academy of Gods—to battle immortals on behalf of the Unlucky God! Win, and they'll be given the gift of immortality. Lose, and they'll forget everything they learned about the magical city and Kit will cease to exist.

Natalie and Imogen are inseparable, and wildly different—Imogen is infuriatingly humble and incredibly intelligent, while Natalie is brave, jumping into danger and new adventures. Still, one thing ties them together: their love of the supernatural. Every summer, they vacation with their parents at the famously haunted Harlow Hotel. Imogen is a true believer, while Natalie sees ghost stories as nothing but pure fun. Then, Imogen suddenly passes away from an undiagnosed heart condition that no one saw coming, and Natalie is left to take on the summer before senior year alone.

One of the worst acts of racial violence in American history took place in 1921, when a White mob numbering in the thousands decimated the thriving Black community of Greenwood in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The Burning recreates Greenwood at the height of its prosperity, explores the currents of hatred, racism, and mistrust between its Black residents and Tulsa's White population, narrates events leading up to and including Greenwood's devastation, and documents the subsequent silence that surrounded this tragedy.

Hunted, shot, and without her memory, 18-year-old Ann Baker wakes in shallow water on a deserted Pacific Northwest island. She is soon approached by two young men claiming to be her friends. Something isn't right, but when gunshots sound, Ann is left with little choice but to allow Devon and Archer to help her escape. Soon she finds herself in their North Bend mountain compound, where the higher evolved humans claim to be mind-readers.