Coming Soon: June 23

Septimus Heap: The Magykal Papers by Angie Sage

Enter the world of Septimus Heap with this collection of previously unpublished papers. This rich compendium includes:

 

·      The private journals of Septimus, Jenna, and Marcia Overstrand.


·      The best—and worst—places to eat as described in The Egg-on-Toast Restaurant Guide.


·      Sirius Weazal's Speedy Guides to the Palace, the Wizard Tower, and Wizard Way.


·      Excerpts from the Pigeon Post Biography series and the Heaps of History series.


·      Alther Mella's Guide to Being Dead: Ten Handy Rules for New Ghosts.


·      Beautiful maps, quirky flyers, funny letters, and much more!

 

Have you Seen My Cat?  By Eric Carle

A little boy's cat is missing and he is worried. Beautiful illustrations and a brief, easy-to-read text lead small readers on a round-the-world quest for the lost cat, and to an ending that is a wonderful surprise. Along the way, the little boy meets a wide variety of people, all trying to be helpful, and sees many beautiful members of the cat family strikingly pictured in Eric Carle's distinctive collage technique.

This popular book, first published more than a decade ago, has now been completely re-illustrated by Eric Carle and is more appealing than ever. We are proud to re-introduce it now for the delight of a new generation of readers.

 

A Taste for Red by Lewis Harris

A sixth-grade Goth girl who thinks she’s a vampire encounters her greatest nemesis when she enrolls at Sunny Hill Middle School in this hilarious and entirely original take on the vampire genre for middle graders. 

Svetlana Grimm has recently discovered she’s a vampire. The clues are all there: she can eat only red foods, has to sleep under the bed because of her heightened sensitivity to light and noise, and can read others’ thoughts. But this new discovery is making her transition from home-schooling to attending sixth grade at Sunny Hill Middle School that much more difficult. After all, what can she possibly have in common with those jellybean-eaters in her class? She prefers to watch them from afar in her hidden lair atop the Oak of Doom in her backyard. 

But things get more interesting when Svetlana’s cruel yet beautiful science teacher, Ms. Larch, reads her thoughts. Svetlana is excited to have found another of her kind—until her new neighbor, The Bone Lady, fills her in on Ms. Larch's true identity and her own. What happens when your sixth-grade science teacher might also be your immortal enemy?

 

The Hair of Zoe Fleefenbacher Goes to School by Laurie Halse Anderson

Mom and Dad Fleefenbacher think their daughter Zoe's hair is wild and beautiful. And for her kindergarten teacher, Zoe's vivacious tresses were a comfort. But Zoe's about to start first grade, and her new teacher doesn't fool around....

"School has rules," she says. "No wild hair in my class!"

So what are Zoe and her free-spirited hair going to do now?

 

Alibi Junior High by Greg Logsted

Thirteen-year-old Cody Saron has never lived in one place longer than a few weeks, and has never attended a regular school. Growing up on the run with his father, an undercover agent for the CIA, Cody has traveled the entire globe; he speaks five languages, and he has two black belts. What Cody isn't prepared for is...junior high.

When the danger surrounding Cody's dad heats up, Cody is sent to stay with the aunt he's never known, Jenny, in her small Connecticut suburb. Cody has no idea how to fit in with other kids, how to handle his first crush, or how to make it through a day of classes.As Cody struggles to adapt to the one thing he's never experienced -- a normal life -- he starts to fear that his father's world has followed him and no one he loves is safe. Greg Logsted weaves together action, humor, and heart, building to a surprising revelation about what Cody has always believed to be true. 

 

Wicked Will: A Mystery of Young Shakespeare by Bailey McDonald

Thirteen-year-old Viola, disguised as a boy, joins her uncle’s troupe of traveling players and arrives in Stratford, where she meets a lively 12-year-old named Will Shakespeare. When a local man is murdered and her uncle is imprisoned as a suspect, Viola and Will join forces. Hoping to startle a confession from the supposed murderer, Will hatches a dramatic trap in which Viola, disguised as a “ghastly ghost,” delivers lines written by Will in iambic pentameter.

 

Stormy Weather: The Life of Lena Horne by James Gavin

At long last, the first serious biography of entertainment legend Lena Horne -- the celebrated star of film, stage, and music who became one of the first African-American icons.At the 74th annual Academy Awards in 2002, Halle Berry thanked Lena Horne for paving the way for her to become the first black recipient of a Best Actress Oscar. Though limited, mostly to guest singing appearances in splashy Hollywood musicals, "the beautiful Lena Horne," as she was often called, became a pioneering star for African Americans in the 1940s and fifties.

 

Extra Credit by Andrew Clements

It isn't that Abby Carson can't do her schoolwork, it's just that she doesn't like doing it. And that means she's pretty much failing sixth grade. When a warning letter is sent home, Abby realizes that all her slacking off could cause her to be held back -- for real! Unless she wants to repeat the sixth grade, she'll have to meet some specific conditions, including taking on an extra-credit project: find a pen pal in a foreign country. Simple enough (even for a girl who hates homework). Abby's first letter arrives at a small school in Afghanistan, and Sadeed Bayat is chosen to be her pen pal.... Well, kind of. He is the best writer, but he is also a boy, and in his village it is not appropriate for a boy to correspond with a girl. So his younger sister dictates and signs the letter. Until Sadeed decides what his sister is telling Abby isn't what he'd like Abby to know. As letters flow back and forth between Illinois and Afghanistan, Abby and Sadeed discover that their letters are crossing more than an ocean. They are crossing a huge cultural divide and a minefield of different lifestyles and traditions. Their growing friendship is also becoming a growing problem for both communities, and some people are not happy. Suddenly things are not so simple