New Children's Fiction

"Red's inexplicable power over the wind comes from her mother. Whenever Ruby "Red" Byrd is scared or angry, the wind picks up. And being placed in foster care, moving from family to family, tends to keep her skies stormy. Red knows she has to learn to control it, but can't figure out how. This time, the wind blows Red into the home of the Grooves, a quirky couple who run a petting zoo, complete with a dancing donkey and a giant tortoise. With their own curious gifts, Celine and Jackson Groove seem to fit like a puzzle piece into Red's heart. But just when Red starts to settle into her new life, a fresh storm rolls in, one she knows all too well : her mother. For so long, Red has longed to have her mom back in her life, and she's quickly swept up in the vortex of her mother's chaos. Now Red must discover the possible in the impossible if she wants to overcome her own tornadoes and find the family she needs."--Amazon.com.

Crazy Dave's brainy niece Patrice, neighborhood daredevil Nathan Timely, and a batch of bold plants discover a secret plan for a zombie uprising so the rare Boom Boom Mushroom must be found in order to save the humans above ground.

When Patrice and Nate discover Zomboss's plan to raise an underground zombie army, they must race to find the rare Boom Boom Mushroom before Zomboss puts his plan in motion. ---Provided by publisher.

With the gargantuars on the run from the Boom Boom Mushroom and Zomboss distracted by a cart of lost socks, the kids and their crazy ensemble must race to stop Zomboss's evil plan before he swallows the city.---Provided by publisher.

"A sixth-grade class comes together to support a classmate in need, each of them giving their own perspective on the goings on"-- Provided by publisher.

Patrick has been desperate for a dog of his own for as long as he can remember, and this summer, with his father away, he longs for a canine friend more than ever. Meanwhile, in his short doggy life, Oz has suffered at the hands of bad people. Somewhere out there, he believes, is an awesome boy - his boy. And maybe, when they find each other, Oz will learn to bark again.

The dog who thinks of himself as 'Bailey' knows one thing for sure: all dogs go to heaven after they have fulfilled their purpose on earth. But Bailey's work on earth is far from finished, there are still so many more humans that need a dog's talent for unconditional love. There is one family in particular that needs Bailey's help, a family that is on the verge of breaking apart. But if Bailey helps this family he won't remember his previous lives, the connections he's made, and the humans he's met and loved. Bailey must decide whether to sacrifice everything to heal this one, desperate family.

As Cruz and his friends continue to search for the third piece of the cipher, a mysterious message arrives suggesting that someone close to him is working for Nebula, leaving Cruz unsure of who he can trust.

Twelve-year-old Jade Society member Faryn Liu may be destined to command the Jade Emperor's army of demon-fighting dragons, but first she must complete a daring quest across San Francisco's Chinatown before the Lunar New Year.

When Sanity and Tallulah are separated from their classmates during a disastrous field trip to a mining planet, they must rely on their creativity and problem-solving skills to save the day.

When eleven-year-old Maggie's parents become temporary foster parents for a new baby, her tendency to hoard spirals out of control.

In 1920s New York City, a young girl with a deformed foot recruits her new friends, a female pickpocket and two circus performers, to help recover an emerald from her grandfather's mansion in upstate New York after he loses his home to an unscrupulous tycoon.

Eleven-year-old Suzy Smith and the crew of the impossible Postal Express must race through the Uncanny Valley and the Cloud Forge to save the Union--and Trollville--from a new threat.

The McNeil family has always been professional hoaxers -- tricking bystanders into believing they're seeing legendary creatures like Bigfoot and the Loch Ness Monster. Unlike the rest of his family, twelve-year-old Grayson hates hoaxing and wants nothing to do with the business -- even when the McNeils land a huge job and must pull off four sea monster hoaxes in a week. But when things go disastrously wrong and Dad and Gramps go missing, Grayson and his brother, Curtis, are the only people who can finish the job and save their family.

When a mysterious old man gives James some magical, tiny green things, he certainly never imagines that they will grow into an enormous peach.

"Juana's life is just about perfect. She lives in beautiful Bogotá, Colombia, where the air smells like eucalyptus and fresh fruit. She has a mami who is pretty fantastic and abuelos who are about the most wonderful people that have every existed (and they have existed for a very long time). Best of all, she has the most perfect perro in the whole entire world: Lucas. But lately, life has been not so perfect. Mami has been doing her hair differently, wearing more perfume, and singing canciones. Mami also has a new friend named Luis. Lately, Mami has been spending a lot of time with Luis. A LOT. Juana's cousin thinks that maybe Mami will marry Luis and Juana will get to be a flower girl. But Juana doesn't want to be a flower girl. And why would mami need to get married, anyway? Mami is just Mami. Juana should have known the moment she saw Mani's new hairdo that they were in big problemas. BIG"--Dust jacket cover.

A fifth-grader starts a newspaper with an editorial that prompts her burnt-out classroom teacher to really begin teaching again, but he is later threatened with disciplinary action as a result.

A rescue dog to the rescue! Lily is the smallest puppy in her litter and the only girl. Her brothers are bigger and stronger and like to push her around. When Lily meets a girl named Maggie Rose at the animal shelter, Lily discovers things are not so bad. Lily's size means that she can help other animals who are in trouble. It's Lily to the rescue!

When his parents separate, Daniel very unhappily moves to a cottage on While-A-Way Lane, but neighbor Tilda Butter helps him discover he has a special gift like hers.

Marty loses his lucky baseball bat, and his confidence along with it, and wonders if he will recover both in time to help the Tigers win the championship.

"I knew the girl was mine. The one I had been waiting for. But this girl, the right girl, somehow didn't hear me. My barks were not loud enough to reach her. I was not big enough to jump the fence and race to her. She walked steadily on with the three dogs on the leashes, and Gail reached down into the pen. "My goodness, Max, what is all the racket about?" she asked, lifting me up. "Careful, now! You'll make me drop you!" I wiggled and whined in her hands, frustrated and unhappy. She needed to let me down! I had to chase after that girl!"-- Page [4] of cover.

New member Emily helps the Magic Misfits when a ventriloquist with a dastardly plan comes to town.

As features editor of her school newspaper, thirteen-year-old Jameela Mirza wants to impress her father by writing a spectacular story about the new student, but a misunderstanding and family illness complicate matters.

Liam and Phoebe, having barely escaped the exploding sun with their lives, travel to the rogue planet Delphi, where they hope to find help for their injured parents and pass along the truth they discovered about the destruction of Earth.

"A New Jersey squirrel named Phoenix teams up with a pack of rats in New York City to save their riverside home from being demolished and turned into a high-rise"-- Provided by publisher.

After an assignment from her teacher asks her to imagine what her life would be like if one big thing was different, Lola Harmon decides to find her father, who has never been part of her life -- adapted from cover description.

Twelve-year-old Cove Bernstein yearns for her best friend, Nina, who moved to New York City, but with unlikely new friends, discovers that life on Martha's Vineyard can be pretty good.

Crazy Dave challenges Dr. Zomboss to a race that will determine the future of Neighborville.

As the race for Neighborville gets underway, Dr. Zomboss and Crazy Dave find themselves neck and neck.

The race for Neighborville descends into chaos as the competitors approach the finish line.

When Zomboss sets his sights on destroying the yards in town, it is up to the daring duo, along with Crazy Dave and his band of plants, to thwart his plans and claim victory once again.

"Tells the story that leads up to "Garden Warfare 2." How did the 'Zombossification' of surburbia begin? Where did all the powerful new plants and zombies come from?"--Back cover collected graphic novel.

The kids meet their future selves and they have a dire warning. Zomboss is stealing technology from the future to build his zombie army and takeover Neighborville. Nate and Patrice are sent to the ice cream cruise as guards. Meanwhile, their future selves team up with Citron and Rose, and Crazy Dave builds a frog-belching machine.

Zomboss struggles to nab his future technology when Crazy Dave's frog-belching machine keeps closing his portals. Future Nate and Rose fight Super Brainz. Future Patrice tries to give Zomboss an E.M. Peach in one of his portals while Citron fights off zombies. Patrice keeps guard on the ice cream cruise, while Nate is distracted by a machine proclaiming it has the best ice cream. Aligned to Common Core standards and correlated to state standards.

"Young adventurers Patrice Blazing and Nate Timely fend off a 'fun-dead' neighborhood invasion in Plants vs. Zombies: Lawnmageddon!"--From publisher's web site.

"Dr. Zomboss erroneously believes that all humans hold a secret desire to run away and join the circus, so he aims to use his new 'Big Z's Adequately Amazing Flytrap Circus' to lure Neighborville's citizens to their doom! Once plant-friendly neighborhood defenders Nate and Patrice infiltrate his show, Ringmaster Zomboss is in for a garden-ful of trouble!"-- Provided by publisher.

Evil mastermind Zomboss wants to build a zombie factory and position his new army in the best location possible, but Crazy Dave, his helpers Nate and Patrice, and their batch of intelligent plants will try to get the factory for themselves.

A group of young plants move out of Crazy Dave's garage and into his huge family mansion in Neighborville, but Dr. Zomboss is spying on them and trying to find out secrets to convey to his zombie army.

When Crazy Dave challenges Zomboss to a series of challenges for the fate of Neighborville, the zombies and plants take to the road in a series of car-filled competitions.

"The battle for clean water begins! As soon as Dr. Zomboss discovers Lake Gumbo near Neighborville, Gargantuars start posing on Muscle Beach, volleyballs bounce off bungee zombies, and Zomboss revs up a giant underwater drill to pollute the lake! Nate, Patrice, and Crazy Dave spot trouble and do all they can to quell another zombie attack"-- Provided by publisher.

Dr. Zomboss creates an army of teeny zombies to try and sneak up on all the brains in Neighborville! To battle these miniscule menaces, the plants, Crazy Dave, Patrice, and Nate must shrink themselves to have any chance at defeating the zombies. But how will Neighborville's insects react to the invasion of their turf-of-the-tiny? And will this miniature zombie invasion mean the party for Crazy Dave's two-hundred-year-old pants gets cancelled?

"It's a beautiful day in the garden when Poppy and her friend Sam (a panda bear) hear a commotion nearby. Basil is crying, for someone has nibbled the leaves of his crown! But not to worry - Poppy is on the case. Putting their detective skills to work, Poppy and Sam try to catch the thief red-handed, but the friends fall asleep during the stakeout. They attempt to trap the culprit by spreading a moat of honey around Basil, but the thief tunnels below it. Finally Poppy gets the idea to cover Basil in soap. It works! The next morning, Poppy and Sam follow a trail of bubbles to the hiccupping thief-it's Earwig! Very sweetly, Basil forgives Earwig, plucking a leaf from her crown for him. Poppy and Sam introduces a pair of characters with wide kid appeal. Set in a beautiful farmer's field filled with charming details - such as Poppy's hollowed-out pumpkin house."-- Provided by publisher.

"When Poppy and Sam go to visit their friend, Miss Mole, they find she isn't having a very good day because she can't find her pink reading glasses! As Poppy and Sam retrace Ms Mole's steps, they find all manner of objects (a pink hat, an umbrella, a blue fan, and a yellow flute, for starters), but none of these belong to Ms Mole. At last, they climb a tree where Ms Mole had been picking apples (to make her delicious apple pies), when they find Madame Bat--wearing a pair of reading glasses that she had found in her tree! Left with an assortment of random objects, Poppy, Sam, Ms Mole and Mme Bat open a Lost and Found, where creatures from all around the neighbourhood are happily reunited with their treasured objects. Like the first book in the series, Poppy and Sam and the Mole Mystery is a picture book / graphic novel hybrid illustrated with charming details and lots of kid appeal and featuring appealing characters and a lightly suspenseful story line."-- Provided by publisher.

Max and her CMI friends attempt to use their smarts to find solutions to a water crisis, while a greedy corporation with an eye on capturing Max seems to know their every move.

Twelve-year-old Coyote and her father rush to Poplin Springs, Washington, in their old school bus to save a memory box buried in a park that will soon be demolished.

It is Earth year 2256—but the fate of the few who even remember Earth is perilously in doubt. Mina Saunders-Chang and many of the surviving humans are stranded in the Centauri system, having barely survived their confrontation with the Telphon refugees. Now everyone—human and Telphon alike—is caught in the blast zone of the Centauri supernova. And yet there’s only one question Mina is asking: Where are Liam and Phoebe? Having barely made it through the battle at the Centauri system with their lives, Liam and Phoebe awake on a mysterious ship in the middle of a dead universe. The ship bears the markings of a human starliner that disappeared decades ago—but even more disturbing than that is the massive alien machine floating in the starless space before them. A machine long abandoned but now showing signs of life. A machine that has begun speaking to Liam in a voice only he can hear.

"ThunderClan's leader, Bramblestar, has been behaving erratically after losing one of his nine lives, and suspicion is quickly spreading across Clan borders. And when a strange apparition sparks unrest in SkyClan and ShadowClan, each warrior must decide where their allegiances lie--with their Clan, or the warrior code itself"-- Provided by publisher.

On her first day at the ice skating rink, frail Harriet Johnson meets orphaned Lalla Moore whose wealthy aunt wants her to become a skating champion. The girls quickly become fast friends until they seem to be heading in two different directions: as Lalla's interest in skating starts to fade, Harriet's natural talents begin to emerge.

When a new school year starts, and thirteen-year-old basketball star Julian feels a lot of pressure as he realizes he is the only remaining player from last year's winning team, a friend's health crisis helps him regain perspective.

"Set during the Irish Land Wars (1879-1882) this novel in verse follows Anna Mallon through a series of tragedies as her mother dies, older sibling immigrate to America, and she and her father and sister with special needs are about to be evicted from their farm"-- Provided by publisher.

Amara visits her father's family in Harlem for her twelfth birthday, hoping to better understand her family and herself, but New York City is not what she expected.

Klawde is not your basic cat. He's an emperor from another planet, exiled to Earth. He's cruel. He's cunning. He's brilliant... and he's also Raj Banerjee's best friend. Klawde faces a challenger he never imagined: a dog, who has arrived on Earth to settle the intergalactic score. He's hyper, he's loyal, he's an all-around-good boy, and he's here to bring Klawde to justice. Can our ferocious feline evade the long paw of the law? Raj, on the other hand, is faced with his own out-of-town visitor who, although from Earth, may prove to be even more formidable: his grandmother. When she plans a birthday party Raj doesn't want, will he survive the embarrassment?

Presents a retelling of the third Star Wars movie, featuring Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, and Princess Leia as they battle the Empire.

"Piper’s life is turned upside down when her family moves into a shelter in a whole new city. She misses her house, her friends, and her privacy—and she hates being labeled the homeless girl at her new school. But while Hope House offers her new challenges, it also brings new friendships, like the girls in Firefly Girls Troop 423 and a sweet street dog named Baby. So when Baby’s person goes missing, Piper knows she has to help. But helping means finding the courage to trust herself and her new friends, no matter what anyone says about them—before Baby gets taken away for good" - from the publisher.

"Siblings Stinkbomb and Ketchup-Face set out to save the library by thwarting the rascally international badgers intent on mining the pizza caves for cash"-- Provided by publisher.

"Stinkbomb and his sister, Ketchup-Face, fulfill a quest to find the Magic Porcupine in hopes of capturing the escaped rascally badgers"-- Provided by publisher.

Martha Tom knows better than to cross the Bok Chitto River to pick blackberries. The Bok Chitto is the only border between her town in the Choctaw Nation and the slave-owning plantation in Mississippi territory. The slave owners could catch her, too. What was she thinking? But crossing the river brings a surprise friendship with Lil Mo, a boy who is enslaved on the other side. When Lil Mo discovers that his mother is about to be sold and the rest of his family left behind. But Martha Tom has the answer: cross the Bok Chitto and become free. Crossing to freedom with his family seems impossible with slave catchers roaming, but then there is a miracle -- a magical night where things become unseen and souls walk on water. By morning, Lil Mo discovers he has entered a completely new world of tradition, community, and... a little magic. But as Lil Mo's family adjusts to their new life, danger waits just around the corner. In an expansion of his award-winning picture book Crossing Bok Chitto, acclaimed Choctaw storyteller Tim Tingle offers a story that reminds readers that the strongest bridge between cultures is friendship.

In Romania in 1989, when people who say or do the wrong thing disappear, ten-year-old aspiring writer Ileana copes with fear, hunger, and cruelty by writing new endings to stories, including her own.

"Sunny's just made it to middle school . . . and it's making her life very confusing. All her best friend Deb wants to talk about is fashion, boys, makeup, boys, and being cool. Sunny's not against any of these things, but she also doesn't understand why suddenly everything revolves around them. She's much more comfortable when she's in her basement, playing Dungeons & Dragons with a bunch of new friends. Because when you're swordfighting and spider-slaying, it's hard to worry about whether you look cool or not. Especially when it's your turn to roll the 20-sided die." -- Provided by publisher.

Twelve-year-old Ali is unsure about joining her brother and their reality-show celebrity father, Survivor Guy, on location and disappointed when she learns how much of the show is fake, but heroic when wildfire strikes.

"Rinn has grown up with the Tea Dragons that inhabit their village, but stumbling across a real dragon turns out to be a different matter entirely! Aedhan is a young dragon who was appointed to protect the village, but fell asleep in the forest eighty years ago. With the aid of Rinn's adventuring uncle Erik and his partner Hesekiel, they investigate the mystery of his enchanted sleep... but Rinn's real challenge is to help Aedhan come to terms with feeling that he cannot get back the time he has lost." -- cover.

Seventh-grader Tristan Strong tumbles into the MidPass and, with allies John Henry and Brer Rabbit, must entice the god Anansi to come out of hiding and seal the hole Tristan accidentally ripped in the sky.

Now in Paris with her parents who are filming their TV show about the world's haunted cities, Cassidy Blake (who can see ghosts) and her friend Jacob (who is a ghost) are alert for trouble, especially when the filming takes them into the underground Catacombs, the empire of the dead, where Cassidy accidentally awakens a powerful poltergeist spirit--one whose mystery she must solve before his power in unleashed on the whole city.

Upset that he has to give up the room he loves to his grandfather, Pete decides to declare war in an attempt to get it back.

Eleven-year-old Penny Rose has just moved to a new town, and so far the robots she builds herself are her only company. But with just a bit of magic, everything changes: she becomes best friends with Lark, has the chance to join a secret science club, and discovers that her robots are alive.