Ravi has just moved to the United States from India and has always been at the top of his class; Joe has lived in the same town his whole life and has learning problems--but when their lives intersect in the first week of fifth grade they are brought together by a common enemy (the biggest bully in their class) and the need to take control of their lives.

Eleven-year-old Verbena Polter gets through a difficult summer of turbulent emotions and the revelation of a disturbing family secret with an odd new friend who believes she is the ghost of a girl who drowned many years before.

All her life Aurora has heard stories about how wonderful and lucky Heidi is, and soon this paragon (now grown up and expecting a baby) will be visiting; but before she arrives part of their house is damaged in a fire, and worse, Aurora's beloved dog disappears--and while her parents have always believed in "soof" (Heidi's mom's word for love), Aurora, who has never really fit in with children her own age, will just have to find her own soof.

"Jane, a budding writer and Jane Austen fan, discovers the true secret to writing when a famous author and her cute, but annoying, son come to her small coastal town and play seemingly unwitting roles in affecting the custody battle between Jane's Hollywood mother and marine biologist father"--

Twelve-year-old Tia lives in a white slum in New Orleans with her mother, and her whole world revolves around singing in the gospel choir with her best friend, Keisha--but when practice is interrupted by a shooting outside the church, and a baby is killed, Tia finds that she cannot sing, and she is forced to confront her feelings about her incarcerated father who killed a girl in a failed robbery years before.

On an island off the coast of Scotland, a young hen must prove herself pure, wise, and brave in a quest to help her beloved owner, Mem Pocket, from losing her family's farm.

A collection of sixteen traditional tales told by the Iroquois Indians, some featuring talking animals and some presenting terrifying flesh-eating creatures such as the Naked Bear, the Stone Coat, and the Whirlwinds.