Struggling at home and at school, Duncan decides to try out for a local rock band. He plays the bass in the school orchestra, but it is a long way from band camp to rock star. Joining a heavy-metal band, he tries to fit in, dumping his old friends and trying to walk the walk. When his dad's new girlfriend starts to teach him about real rock music and introduces him to her musician brother, Duncan discovers that there is more to being a guitar hero than playing in a heavy-metal band.

Danny McBride is not the coolest kid in school, not in his wildest dreams.And if the other kids knew he spent his Saturday nights playing Parcheesi with his mom and working on a city made of Lego, he'd be even less cool. Danny wants more than anything to be popular. He creates a fictional British rocker named James and befriends him publicly online, hoping his make-believe friend's cool will rub off. It works. Danny starts making friends and feeling like part of th...

Kissing movie star Grant West may be every teenage girl’s dream, but when it happens to Sydney Kane, it’s nothing but a nightmare. Sure he’s cute, but having her face plastered all over celebrity gossip blogs is not something she’s interested in. Now cheerleaders are trying to befriend her, reporters won’t stop calling, and her mother keeps chasing her with a curling iron so she won’t be caught by the paparazzi with flat hair ever again.Forgetting Grant is all Sydney wants and Coli...

If you had one chance to change your future, would you? Now in paperback!Seventeen-year-old RJ always gets what she wants. So when her soul is accidentally collected by a distracted Grim Reaper, somebody in the afterlife better figure out a way to send her back from the dead or heads will roll.But in her quest for mortality, she becomes a pawn in a power struggle between an overzealous archangel and Death Himself. The tribunal presents her with two options:...

Patricia Polacco takes on cliques and online bullyingLyla finds a great friend in Jamie on her first day of school, but when Lyla makes the cheerleading squad and a clique of popular girls invites her to join them, Jamie is left behind. Lyla knows bullying when she sees it, though, and when she sees the girls viciously teasing classmates on Facebook, including Jamie, she is smart enough to get out. But no one dumps these girls, and now they're out for revenge.Patricia Polac...

Perfect for fans of The Babysitters Club and anyone interested in computer science, this book by New York Times bestselling author Stacia Deustch is published in partnership with the organization Girls Who Code!Sophia and her coding club BFFs have the best time together. Sure, they work on coding projects, but mostly they gossip about crushes, eat cookies, and do totally silly impersonations. Now they’re about to participate in their first hackathon--a ful...

A companion to the beloved classic From Anna!Just as Anna is about to enter a new school, she hears news on Papa's radio — Canada is at war with Germany. What will that mean for the Soldens, who immigrated from Germany just a few years ago?She soon finds out. Customers stop shopping at Papa's store, a teacher in her school bullies any students with German surnames, and Rudi is threatening to enlist, even though he is torn about fighting against the...

Jack Klements lives in Seattle, Washington, with his parents and is doing just fine. But when his swaggering Irish cousin Finn turns up, Jack can tell this is not going to be a good summer. Finn is obsessed with a violent computer game, and when he meets a Latino gang in the inner city, he thinks he can have a slice of the action. How can Jack reconcile the demands of his straight-laced parents, the pressure to be loyal to his wayward cousin, and his growing attraction to Carina, who hangs...

Luna Begay is as studious and serious about her Aboriginal heritage as her sister, Issy, is outgoing and fun. When Issy convinces Luna to go with her to a party full of rich kids, Luna is surprised to end up talking with Jon, who is charming, sophisticated, and very good-looking. But the night turns bad when Jon drugs and rapes Luna.Feeling guilty and ashamed that she will be perceived as an "Indian slut," Luna doesn't tell anyone and remains in denial until Issy figures out that L...

Twelve-year-old June Farrell is sure of one thing—she’s great at making pies—and she plans to prove it by winning a blue ribbon in the Champlain Valley Fair pie competition. But a backlash against Vermont’s civil union law threatens her family’s security and their business. Even when faced with bullying, June won’t give up on winning the blue ribbon; more importantly, she won’t give up on her family.It’s one thing to perfect a pie crust. But what does it take to stand up for your f...

Seven tightly interwoven narratives. Three harrowing hours. One fateful day that changes everything.Delaware, the morning of April 19. Senior Skip Day, and April Donovan’s eighteenth birthday. Four days after the Boston Marathon bombing, the country is still reeling, and April’s rare memory condition has her recounting all the tragedies that have cursed her birth month. And just what was that mysterious gathering under the bleachers about? Meanwhile, in Nebraska, L...

Are you having hard times at school? Are your friends not cutting you any slack at all? Then come and join Ethan and his goofy friend Billy on an adventure into the wilderness of school - more dangerous than a venture into a live volcano! In order to survive you must adapt or otherwise...KABOOM!Age group 7-12