Synopsis: Farley Drexel Hatcher, otherwise known as Fudge, plans to be a bird when he grows up. As far as his older brother, Peter, is concerned, Fudge will grow up to be a big pain! Dealing with Fudge has been hard enough, but now Peter has a whole new set of problems. His parents have decided to move to New Jersey for a whole year! What's more, Peter's mom is going to have a new baby. How Will Peter survive if the new baby becomes a carbon copy of…

Synopsis: The classic novel of a quest for knowledge that has delighted, inspired, and influenced generations of readers, writers, and thinkers—a perennial favorite for graduation gifts.Nominated as one of America’s best-loved novels by PBS’s The Great American ReadThough set in a place and time far removed from the Germany of 1922, the year of the book’s debut, the novel is infused with the sensibilities of Hermann Hesse’s time, synthesizing disparate…

Synopsis: An unexpected friendship leads to a life-changing story in this timeless classic by Newbery Honor author Rodman Philbrick."I never had a brain until Freak came along . . . "That's what Max thought. All his life he'd been called stupid. Dumb. Slow. It didn't help that his body seemed to be growing faster than his mind. It didn't help that people were afraid of him. So Max learned how to be alone. At least until Freak came along.Freak was weird,…

Synopsis: This story about a Muslim girl bound by traditional Islamic customs but who yearns for something more explores women’s rights, freedom, religion, and identity. In the Libyan city of Ghadames, Malika watches her merchant father depart on one of his caravan expeditions. She too yearns to travel to distant cities, and longs to learn to read like her younger brother. But nearly 12 years old, and soon to be of marriagable age, Malika knows that—like…

Synopsis: On October 12, 1972, a plane carrying a team of young rugby players crashed into the remote, snow-peaked Andes. Out of the forty-five original passengers and crew, only sixteen made it off the mountain alive. For ten excruciating weeks they suffered deprivations beyond imagining, confronting nature head-on at its most furious and inhospitable. And to survive, they were forced to do what would have once been unthinkable ... This is their story…

Synopsis: Oct. 11th, 1943—A British spy plane crashes in Nazi-occupied France. Its pilot and passenger are best friends. One of the girls has a chance at survival. The other has lost the game before it's barely begun.When “Verity” is arrested by the Gestapo, she's sure she doesn’t stand a chance. As a secret agent captured in enemy territory, she’s living a spy’s worst nightmare. Her Nazi interrogators give her a simple choice: reveal her mission or face…

Synopsis: George Orwell's timeless and timely allegorical novel—a scathing satire on a downtrodden society’s blind march towards totalitarianism.SOON TO BE A NETFLIX FILM!“All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.”A farm is taken over by its overworked, mistreated animals. With flaming idealism and stirring slogans, they set out to create a paradise of progress, justice, and equality. Thus the stage is set for one of the most…

Synopsis: B95 can feel it: a stirring in his bones and feathers. It's time. Today is the day he will once again cast himself into the air, spiral upward into the clouds, and bank into the wind.He wears a black band on his lower right leg and an orange flag on his upper left, bearing the laser inscription B95. Scientists call him the Moonbird because, in the course of his astoundingly long lifetime, this gritty, four-ounce marathoner has flown the distance…

Synopsis: Guess what -- Gary Paulsen was being kind to Brian. In Guts, Gary tells the real stories behind the Brian books, the stories of the adventures that inspired him to write Brian Robeson's story: working as an emergency volunteer; the death that inspired the pilot's death in Hatchet; plane crashes he has seen and near-misses of his own. He describes how he made his own bows and arrows, and takes readers on his first hunting trips, showing the…

Synopsis: NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A BOOKLIST BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR • A KIRKUS REVIEWS BEST YOUNG ADULT BOOK OF THE CENTURYCelebrate all the ways love makes us who we are with the romance that Entertainment Weekly calls "wise, wildly unique"--from the bestselling co-author of Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist--about a teen who wakes up every morning in a different body, living a different life. Now a major motion picture!Every day a different body.…

Synopsis: When a hard ball is coming at you fast, and when it's dancing, too, every single nerve in your body is alert and ready. Your eyes are wide open, and the adrenaline is pumping. It's not a feeling you want to give up, any more than you want to get off a roller coaster.In his senior year of high school, late-bloomer Ryan Ward has just begun to feel the magic of baseball: the magic of catching a wicked slider, of throwing a runner out, of training…

Synopsis: First time I saw Bix was at a baseball game. He was a shortstop, supreme. I didn't want to start liking this flashy cracker with a momma in a high-style black dress. But Bix got me, baby. Next thing I knew, there I was, Jerome Foxworthy, doing hoops privately in the woods and getting my moves down, when Bix showed up. I taught him all I knew-- even though he wanted to play everything straight, not fake it. Because he had one game coming up where…

Synopsis: Chris Serbo loves to play football. "I've played football so many years, it's instinct to me. . . . I know the rules and I know the chaos. . . . There is nothing more satisfying than hitting someone with all your force. . . . When all else fails, Iknowhow to play football." But Chris Serbo has some problems--and one of them is that he drinks to hide from the other problems. In this powerful story of a high school senior trying to find some hope…

Synopsis: National Bestseller The true story of one family, caught between America’s two biggest policy disasters: the war on terror and the response to Hurricane Katrina. Abdulrahman and Kathy Zeitoun run a house-painting business in New Orleans. In August of 2005, as Hurricane Katrina approaches, Kathy evacuates with their four young children, leaving Zeitoun to watch over the business. In the days following the storm he travels the city by canoe,…

Synopsis: Food is in sixteen-year-old Hope's blood. With her Aunt Addie, diner cook extraordinaire, she travels the States and hones her waitressing skills, impressing hungry people everywhere. But following the tides of comfort food dining means Hope never gets to stay in one place very long, and that's tough. This latest move threatens to be the hardest yet, leaving the excitement of New York City to run a diner in rural Wisconsin. Hope doesn't expect…

Synopsis: On a snowy winter's night in Vermont, eleven-year-old Adam Fifield and his family awaited the arrival of his new foster brother, Soeuth, a fourteen-year-old refugee from the killing fields of Cambodia.  Scrawny and terrified, Soeuth was mute for days, warily retreating into his room despite the Fifields' numerous attempts to make him feel welcome.  But for Soeuth, whose young life had been plagued with fear and violence, it would be months…

Synopsis: Leslie Hiller is a bright, attractive, talented teenager who leads a privileged life in New York City. She is also a perfectionist. When Leslie starts to diet, she finds herself becoming obsessed, getting thinner and thinner, until she is forced to realize that her quest for perfection is killing her.First published in 1981, this groundbreaking novel has been lauded by countless librarians, educators, and teenaged readers. This new edition…

Synopsis: Called by literary critic Mark Van Doren "the most original and passionate American poet, " Walt Whitman (1819-1892) created a body of verse uniquely his known--unconventional, lacking rhyme or meter, employing chanted lists of names and objects--but also powerful, sensual, oratorical and inspiring.