Book

Tomie can't believe that anything could be more exciting than moving to a new house. Then he finds out that a new baby is coming. Will it be a sister? That's what Tomie hopes. While he's waiting for her to arrive, there is plenty to keep him busy, including tap dancing lessons and tryouts for a play about Peter Rabbit. Once again, Tomie dePaola takes us back to his childhood and shares the funny personal memories that make us all wish we could grow up at 26 Fairmount Avenue too.

Tomie is overjoyed because his baby sister, Maureen, is finally strong enough to come home from the hospital. Over the next months, he is in a dance recital and he gets to go to the World's Fair. Soon, the school year is at an end. Summer is full of fun things to do, like going to the beach and celebrating the Fourth of July-but Tomie can't wait for school to start again. He hopes he'll get Miss Kiniry, the first-grade teacher he likes the best. In first grade he will finally-finally-learn to read. And maybe even get a library card of his own!

The year 1940 is a very big year for Tomie-it's the start of first grade, and it's his first birthday in the new house at 26 Fairmount Avenue. It's also the first year that Tomie gets to go trick-or-treating with his older brother, Buddy. Then the holidays arrive, and Tomie has a part in the Christmas play. This Christmas is going to be great! But disaster strikes when Tomie gets the chicken pox. Will he be cured in time for the Christmas pageant? Join Tomie dePaola once again as he takes us back to his childhood and allows us to share the holiday season with his family and friends.

Tomie has his own diary - it's his best Christmas present ever! All through the year exciting things happen and Tomie writes about them in his diary - sledding down the steep hill on his new Junior Flexible Flyer, being a pirate in the dance recital, and starting second grade with real art lessons at last! Then one Sunday morning Tomie's family hears news on the radio that changes everything. Master storyteller Tomie dePaola takes us back to 1941 and lets us experience what life was like growing up in the dePaola household.

Since the attack on Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1941, second grade has been hard on Tomie. Normal, everyday activities such as Tomie's first music lesson and Miss Leah's dance classes go on as usual. But now his class has to go to the spooky furnace room for air raid drills. And at home his family hangs thick black curtains on the windows so that the enemy won't see the house's light. Tomie's mother is there to comfort and explain the confusion, and Tomie feels better. He even goes Christmas shopping with Dad as usual. But the day-to-day effects of the war are always there.

We first met Tink when he came to live in Crow Cove as a young boy in Eidi. Now hard times have come to the little settlement, and their food supply is dwindling. Tink, with the help of a newcomer to Crow Cove, saves his friends from starvation by learning how to fish and also learns important lessons about the complexities of human nature, the importance of compassion, and his own valued place in his community. Tink is a strong new addition to the much-acclaimed Children of Crow series.

When Penny comes home from school, she is ready to sing her song. But the babies are sleeping, and Mama and Papa are worried that Penny will wake them up. Oh, but it is a good song, a really wonderful song...and Penny wants more than anything to sing it. What do you think will happen?

Cooper's grandfather gives him and his little sister, Carly, deeds to square inches of land in the Yukon. Carly uses them to invent her own imaginary kingdom of Inchland—far away from the silence of their home, where their single mother stays in bed all day. When their mom comes out of her season of sadness bursting with sometimes frightening energy, Carly retreats into Inchland, while sixth-grader Cooper tries to control the chaos. But can Cooper really keep Carly—and himself—safe?

Ever since the magnificent Miss Loucien gave up teaching to join the Bright Lights Theater Company, school days have lacked a certain . . . drama . . . especially for Cissy, who longs for a life in show business, and Kookie, who craves adventure. But when a diphtheria outbreak interrupts the dull routine, Cissy and Kookie are evacuated to the doubtful safety of the Bright Lights’ summer home—a shipwrecked paddle steamer on the flooded Missouri River.

At first glance, Duncan Dorfman, April Blunt, and Nate Saviano don't seem to have much in common. Duncan is trying to look after his single mom and adjust to life in a new town while managing his newfound Scrabble superpower - he can feel words and pictures beneath his fingers and tell what they are without looking. April is pining for a mystery boy she met years ago and striving to be seen as more than a nerd in her family of jocks. And homeschooled Nate is struggling to meet his father's high expectations for success.

Ella and Z have been friends forever, but Z has always been "the weird kid" in their class. This was okay back in third or fourth grade, but by now their other friends have ditched both Z and Ella. He doesn't care, but Ella longs to be part of a group where people won't make fun of her.

Elodie journeys to the town of Two Castles to become a mansioner - an actress - but the master of the troupe turns her away. Brilliant dragon Meenore takes her in, then sends her on a dangerous mission within an ogre's castle. There, disquised as a kitchen maid, she plays the role of a lifetime, pitted against a foe intent on murder.

Black-and-white cats, a handsome cat trainer, a greedy king, a giddy princess, a shape-shifting ogre, a brilliant dragon...Elodie must discover which of them is kind, which is cruel, and, most of all, which is the one who deserves her trust.

Greg Heffley has always been in a hurry to grow up. But is getting older really all it’s cracked up to be?

Greg suddenly finds himself dealing with the pressures of boy-girl parties, increased responsibilities, and even the awkward changes that come with getting older—all without his best friend, Rowley, at his side. Can Greg make it through on his own? Or will he have to face the “ugly truth”?

When a young man's body is found by the railroad tracks, the murder and its mysterious circumstances threaten the peace and security of a small Florida town. Zora believes she knows who killed Ivory, and she isn't afraid to tell anyone who'll listen.

Andi is short. And she has lots of wishes. She wishes she could play on the school basketball team, she wishes for her own bedroom, but most of all she wishes that her long-lost half-brother, Bernardo, could come and live in London where he belongs.