Kids Library

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.

Whether you're new to chess or a Grandmaster, there's something for everyone in chess phenom Oliver Boydell's new book of 64 chess tips, How a King Plays. At only 11-years-old, Boydell has already been both a National Chess Champion and a New York City Chess Champion who's competed at numerous major scholastic chess events since he started playing at the age of five. Now, Boydell is lending his talents to the book as he shares some of his best tips that helped him become a star.

Meet Hattie Harmony, Worry Detective. She’s always there to help her friends when they need her. And the first day of school can cause a lot of jitters—from speaking in front of the class to taking the bus. Hattie always finds the perfect tools to calm her friends’ bodies and minds. But when her own fears start to bubble up, can Hattie learn to overcome them herself? Actress Elizabeth Olsen and musician and writer Robbie Arnett have created an irresistible new character filled with warmth and humor to introduce the youngest listeners to the importance of self-care.

Travel back in time to the 1920s and 1930s to the sounds of jazz in nightclubs and the 24-hours-a-day bustle of the famous Black neighborhood of Harlem in uptown Manhattan. It was a dazzling time when there was an outpouring of the arts of African Americans - the poetry of Langston Hughes; the novels of Zora Neale Hurston; the sculptures of Augusta Savage; and that brand-new music called jazz as only Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong could play it.

One early April morning in 1906, the people of San Francisco were jolted awake by a mammoth earthquake - one that registered 7.8 on the Richter scale. Not only was there major damage from the quake itself but broken gas lines sparked a fire that ravaged the city for days. More than 500 city blocks were destroyed, and more than 200,000 people were left homeless. But the city quickly managed to rebuild, rising from the ashes to become the major tourist destination it is today. Here's an exciting recount of an incredible disaster.

This friendly, fun biography series focuses on the traits that made our heroes great - the traits that kids can aspire to in order to live heroically themselves. Each book tells the story of one of America's icons in a lively, conversational way that works well for the youngest nonfiction listeners and that always includes the hero's childhood influences. This volume features Billie Jean King, the world champion tennis player who fought successfully for women's rights.

Tonight is Brie’s chance to finally be accepted by the Ems—the most popular girls at school. If she can just keep one potentially reputation-ending secret under wraps, she’ll have the best night of her life, screaming on scary rides and running the Wildwoods amusement park with her new friends. But when the Ems take a game of truth or dare too far, Brie ends up alone in a creepy abandoned section of the park. There, she meets a group of cool older teens that invite her to join them.

Thirteen-year-old Jack knows it’s his fault his baby sister almost died, and he also knows what saved her—Dr. Kingsbury’s “Miraculous Tonic.” Guaranteed to relieve maladies for man or beast, Dr. Kingsbury’s potion can cure everything from pimples to hearing loss to a broken heart, and Jack himself is a witness to the miraculous results and the doctor’s kindness.

Long before they became famous writers, Truman Capote (In Cold Blood) and Harper Lee (To Kill a Mockingbird) were childhood friends in Monroeville, Alabama. This fictionalized account of their time together opens at the beginning of the Great Depression, when Tru is seven and Nelle is six. They love playing pirates, but they like playing Sherlock and Watson-style detectives even more. It’s their pursuit of a case of drugstore theft that lands the daring duo in real trouble. Humor and heartache intermingle in this lively look at two budding writers in the 1930s South.

Trouble knows two things: They are a shapeshifter, and they are running from something - but they don't know what. So when the StarLeague shows up, Trouble figures it's time to flee. Changing from blob of goo form, to adorable puppy form, to human boy form, Trouble stows away on the Hindsight, a ship crewed by the best navigators and engineers in the galaxy, led by the fearsome Captain Astra. When a young StarLeague cadet shows up to capture Trouble, things get complicated, especially when Trouble reveals a shape-shifter form that none of them could have expected.

Did you know that gorillas’ massive arms are strong enough to tear down trees and bend iron bars? How about that, even so, gorillas can be tender friends and gentle, loving parents? Or that gorillas are ticklish? Perfect for all animal lovers—and gorilla fans in particular—this book is filled with all the facts you need to know to become a gorilla expert!

This friendly, fun biography series focuses on the traits that made our heroes great - the traits that kids can aspire to in order to live heroically themselves. Jim Henson, for example, was always dreaming up something new, and always expressing his belief in the goodness of people. Henson was a born performer with a terrific sense of humor, and he used those talents to help create two of the most beloved programs in television history: The Muppet Show and Sesame Street. Through his Muppets, Jim showed the world that there’s nothing more beautiful than imagination.

It’s eighteen-year-old Gita Desai’s first year at Stanford, and the fact that she’s here and not already married off by her traditional Gujarati parents is a miracle. She’s determined to death-grip her good-girl, model student rep all the way to med school. Should be easy: If there’s one thing she’s learned from her family, it’s how to chup-re—to “shut up,” fade into the background. But when childhood memories of her aunt’s desertion and her then-uncle’s best friend resurface, Gita ends up ditching the books night after night in favor of partying and hooking up with strangers.

When Areli was just a baby, her mama and papa moved from Mexico to New York with her brother, Alex, to make a better life for the family - and when she was in kindergarten, they sent for her, too. Everything in New York was different. Gone were the Saturdays at Abuela's house, filled with cousins and sunshine. Instead, things were busy and fast and noisy. Areli's limited English came out wrong, and schoolmates accused her of being illegal. But with time, America became her home.

Some people think hats are fancy things you can buy at a dressy store, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg. In this audiobook, acorns and raspberries are snug hats for your fingers, and an empty pudding cup is a good hat for a stuffed bear. Pajama pants make dangly hats, books can be dramatic hats, and bubbles make very fine hats as well (if temporary). Listeners will be delighted to discover that anything can be a hat if you believe it is. Hats are everywhere you look!

Every year, a new generation of genetically engineered kids is shipped out to meet their parents. Every spring, the residents of this town take down the snow they've stuck to their windows and put up flowers. Every morning Martin's family gathers around their television and votes for whatever matter of national importance the president has on the table. Today, it is the color of his drapes. It's business as usual under the protective dome of suburb HM1, but it is all about to come crashing down.

Beginning in Italy, the Renaissance was a cultural movement that spread throughout Europe and affected art, science, technology, politics, and thought. From the 1300s to the beginning of the 1600s, scholars started to question what they knew and looked to literature and historical texts to develop new ideas for why things were the way they were. In just a short amount of time, the foundations for European life were uprooted and examined, leading people, including Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo, to explore new ways of thinking and being.

The octopus is happy in his undersea cave until one day, a diver captures him and takes him to live in an aquarium. The humans give him food and tests that look like toys. But every day is the same, and the octopus soon tires of captive life. And so, under the cover of darkness, he makes his daring escape.

Everything in 12-year-old Pilar Violeta “Purp” Ramirez’s world is changing, and Pilar doesn’t care for it one bit. Her Chicago neighborhood is gentrifying, and her chores have doubled since her sister, Lorena, left for college. The only constant is Abuela and Mami’s code of silence around her cousin, Natasha - who disappeared in the Dominican Republic 50 years ago during the Trujillo dictatorship. So when Pilar hears that one of Lorena's professor's studies disappearances under the Trujillato, she hops on the next train.

Annalise Oliver's family has owned and run lakeside cabins in Renn Lake, Wisconsin, for generations. This summer, she gets to help out while her younger sister focuses on being an actress and her best friend is babysitting rambunctious twin boys. It's the perfect opportunity for Annalise to work and spend more time by her beloved lake.