Growing Library

In the town of Placid, Wisconsin, in 1871, Georgie Burkhardt is known for two things: her uncanny aim with a rifle and her habit of speaking her mind plainly. But when Georgie blurts out something she shouldn't, her older sister Agatha flees, running off with a pack of "pigeoners" trailing the passenger pigeon migration. And when the sheriff returns to town with an unidentifiable body - wearing Agatha's blue-green ball gown - everyone assumes the worst.... Except Georgie.

One Friday morning, Annabel's wish comes true when she wakes up and realizes she's turned into her mother! But after a major washing-machine mishap, losing Ape Face, and a terrible teacher conference, Annabel starts to suspect that being an adult is not as much fun as it seems. One thing's for certain: this is one freaky Friday she'll never forget!

Olive Hudson desperately wants a dog. But that doesn't seem to be a possibility right now. Newly orphaned, she's moving in with the half sister she hardly knows, and their life is too chaotic to include a dog. But then something wonderful happens: Olive gets a chance to raise Lumie, a guide dog puppy. Discipline. Rules. Lots of hugs. Only the best of the best puppies continue on to become guide dogs, and of course Olive wants Lumie to be chosen. But if she is, that means that Olive will lose her.

Littlest One is a tiny creature slowly learning her job of giving dreams to humans. Each night she and her teacher, Thin Elderly, visit an old woman’s home where she softly touches beloved objects, gathering happy memories, and drops of old scents and sounds. Littlest One pieces these bits together and presents them to her sleeping human in the form of pleasant dreams. But the dreaded Sinisteeds, dark fearsome creatures that plague their victims with nightmares, are always at work against the dreamgivers.

Julia is very short for her age, but by the end of the summer run of The Wizard of Oz, she'll realize how big she is inside, where it counts. She hasn't ever thought of herself as a performer, but when the wonderful director of Oz casts her as a Munchkin, she begins to see herself in a new way. As Julia becomes friendly with the poised and wise Olive and with her deeply artistic neighbor, Mrs. Chang, Julia's own sense of self as an artist grows.

Jeremy Simms watches from the porch of the general store as the weekly bus from Jackson comes through his town. His neighbor, Stacey Logan, and Stacey's brothers and sister are there to see their grandmother off on a trip. Jeremy's friend, Josias Williams, is taking the bus to his new job. But Josias and the Logans are black, and in Mississippi in the 1930s, black people can't ride the bus if that means there won't be enough room for white people to ride. When several white passengers arrive at the last minute, the driver sends Josias and Stacey's grandmother off the bus.

Madeline Finn does not like to read. Not books. Not magazines. Not even the menu on the ice cream truck. But Madeline Finn does want a gold star from her teacher. Stars are for good readers. Stars are for understanding words. And saying them out loud. Fortunately, Madeline Finn meets Bonnie, a library dog. Reading out loud to Bonnie isn't so bad. When Madeline Finn gets stuck, Bonnie doesn't mind.

The Pain and the Great One are going places! In these new stories the kids are on the go - the Pain needs a trip to the emergency room; the family goes to the mall and not everyone stays together; the kids visit a county fair and want to ride the Super Slide; and a beach outing includes a boogie board. Lots more action and adventure for the dynamic duo who never stay still.

Twelve-year-old Ann Maria Weems works from sunup to sundown, wraps rags around her feet in the winter, and must do whatever her master or mistress orders—but she has something that many plantation slaves don't have. She has her wonderful family around her. To Ann, her teasing brothers, her older sister, and her protective and loving parents are everything. And then one day, they are gone. Separated from her family by her master and shipped off as a housemaid, Ann learns something about independence and about love before the opportunity for escape arrives.

Twelve-year-old Ariel Goldberg's life feels like the moment after the final guest leaves the party. Her family's Jewish bakery runs into financial trouble, and her older sister has eloped with a young man from India following the Supreme Court decision that strikes down laws banning interracial marriage. As change becomes Ariel's only constant, she's left to hone something that will be with her always—her own voice.

Matilda loves to have fun. She's not too worried that her unicorn, Pearl, hasn't found her magic yet. She also loves her friends at Unicorn Academy - even when they get annoyed at her for being disorganized. But there's a problem so big that even Matilda can't ignore it. On a camping trip, she and Pearl see someone hurting the oldest tree on Unicorn Island. Can Matilda and Pearl find out who it is, and save the tree?

Meg is excited when she hears the Centennial Strawberry Days Celebration is holding a competition for kids. The winner will be crowned the official Strawberry Days Ambassador and get a pair of electric bikes! Meg knows with Dad as her partner, there's no way she can lose. But Meg's strawberry dreams turn sour when Dad can't participate and, worse, he's already invited Grandma Sally to replace him. Without even asking Meg! Grandma likes to play by her own rules and Meg realizes her chances at winning are at an all-time low.

When a super-storm hits Addy's remote mountain town, knocking out the bridge and cutting her home off from the main road, she worries that she won’t be able to get to the survival camp she’s been looking forward to attending. The camp’s the place where her parents met, and where Addy plans to hone her skills and honor their legacy. But now there’s no power and it’s also like a light has been switched off in her mom, who’s been triggered by the raging river and memories of Addy’s dad dying in a similar storm.

Ten-year-old Katy Gordon loves baseball, and she's good at it, too. She tries out for the 1958 Little League season in the disguise of a boy, and she gets in easily. But when the coach finds out she's a girl, he forbids her from playing. "Since the beginning of baseball as an organized sport, it has always been the sole province of male athletes, and will remain so", says the Little League director. It's not fair, and Katy, who's also learning about the Civil Rights Movement in school, recognizes this as another societal injustice.

Halloween is just around the corner, and with it comes the dreaded overnight class trip at a smelly farm. Fonda has ideas for a way cooler trip, but before she can say Catalina Island, other kids (including her best friend’s crush’s best friend!) come forward with class trip proposals of their own. There's only one solution: a petition competition, and whoever gets the most signatures wins. Fonda enlists her besties, Drew and Ruthie, to help, but are they ready to do whatever it takes to win?

Twelve-year-old Davis lives in an old brownstone with his mother and grandmother in Brooklyn. He loves people-watching in Prospect Park, visiting his mom in the bakery she owns, and listening to the biggest operas he can find as he walks everywhere. But Davis is having a difficult summer. As questions of sexuality begin to enter his mind, he worries people don't see him as anything other than "husky".

Imani knows exactly what she wants as her big bat mitzvah gift: to find her birth parents. She loves her family and her Jewish community in Baltimore, but she has always wondered where she came from, especially since she's Black and almost everyone she knows is White. Then her mom's grandmother - Imani's great-grandma Anna - passes away, and Imani discovers an old journal among her books. It's Anna's diary from 1941, the year she was 12 and fled Nazi-occupied Luxembourg alone.

Nightmares! The Sleepwalker Tonic is the sequel to the hilariously scary New York Times bestselling novel Nightmares! by multitalented actor Jason Segel and bestselling author Kirsten Miller. You thought the nightmares were over? You better keep the lights on!

Seen through the eyes of 13-year-old Lafayette, this is the story of three brothers, each locked in their own grief and guilt after the sudden death of their mother. Deep feelings and family secrets are revealed as, despite the odds against them, the brothers learn to pull together.

Kaya’s beloved horse, Steps High, has been captured by enemy raiders. Kaya fears she’ll never see Steps High again, until she hears of a herd of spotted horses running wild in the mountains. As she travels with a hunting party into the mountains, Kaya is troubled by the smoke she smells on the wind—smoke from mountain fires. While searching desperately for Steps High, Kaya has to face a fear greater than any she’s ever known.