Book

Jack Semple and E.D. Applewhite are back, in this middle-grade sequel to Stephanie S. Tolan’s Newbery Honor Book Surviving the Applewhites.

Teenager E.D., the not so artistic, not at all eccentric member of the unconventional Applewhite clan, can't believe the plan her father has hatched to save the family from financial disaster. He’s decided to transform their rural North Carolina farm into a summer camp for creative children.

When seventh grader Georges (the S is silent) moves into a Brooklyn apartment building he meets Safer, a twelve-year-old coffee-drinking loner and self-appointed spy. Georges is happy to hang out with Safer's warm, eccentric family, because lately things haven't been so easy at home: his dad lost his job, and his mom has started working extra shifts at the hospital. Life is no better at school, where Georges is the new target of Dallas, who is always on the lookout for other kids' weak spots (so he knows exactly where to hit them).

Springtime is finally arriving on Gardam Street, and with it comes all the joyful chaos of the Penderwicks. The brood has grown to six with the addition of Lydia, the new youngest sibling, and there are surprises in store for all.

Twelve-year-old Ella Mae Higbee is a sensible girl. She eats her vegetables and wants to be just like Sergeant Friday, her favorite character on Dragnet. So when her auntie Mildred starts spouting nonsense about a scientist who can bring her cousin Robby back to life, Ella Mae doesn't believe her - until a boy steps out of the scientist's pod and drips slime on the floor right before her eyes.

School has started, and Binny can't believe how terrible it is. She has a horrid hand-me-down uniform, and the kids make fun of her "posh" city accent.

Then a storm destroys the roof of Binny's house. Binny; her mother; her sensible older sister, Clem; and her rambunctious brother, James (and his chickens) are forced to move across town to a rental home at the end of a forbidding, unlit lane. Things only get worse when she calls their new landlady a "bossy old witchy woman" at school...in front of the landlady's daughter, Clare, who starts bullying Binny mercilessly.