Tweens & Young Adult

Cantankerous old King Chisel is a ruler without an heir. He is persuaded to create a competition called the Crown Duels, inviting the best kids from the six counties of his country to vie with one another to become king or queen one day. This gruesome gang of children will compete in a multi-discipline game of knock-out to determine the winner. Chaos swiftly follows, with pushy parents, wild sabotaging, morally questionable tactics, tantrums and the ultimate shock result: it is unassuming hero Harry Sponge who will be the triumphant tortoise to their hot-air hares

In this madcap new Willoughbys adventure, Mr. and Mrs. Willoughby, who have been frozen on a mountaintop in Switzerland for thirty years, have thawed out because of global warming! Disheveled, disoriented, and still as grouchy as they always were, they’re heading home. But will their son, now grown up and heir to a candy fortune, even know who they are? Will they be shocked to find they’ve become grandparents? And what’s an Uber>

With this back-to-the-future tale, beloved author Lois Lowry once again spins a hilarious story of the nefarious Willoughbys.

Seventh grader Tristan Strong feels anything but strong ever since he failed to save his best friend when they were in a bus accident together. All he has left of Eddie is the journal his friend wrote stories in. Tristan is dreading the month he’s going to spend on his grandparents’ farm in Alabama, where he’s being sent to heal from the tragedy.

But on his first night there, a sticky creature shows up in his bedroom and steals Eddie’s notebook. Tristan chases after it–is that a doll?–and a tug-of-war ensues between them underneath a Bottle Tree. In a last attempt to wrestle the journal out of the creature’s hands, Tristan punches the tree, accidentally ripping open a chasm into the MidPass, a volatile place with a burning sea, haunted bone ships, and iron monsters that are hunting the inhabitants of this world.

Tristan finds himself in the middle of a battle that has left Black American folk heroes John Henry and Brer Rabbit exhausted. In order to get back home, Tristan and these new allies will need to entice the god Anansi, the Weaver, to come out of hiding and seal the hole in the sky. But bartering with the trickster Anansi always comes at a price. Can Tristan save this world before he loses more of the things he loves?

Ryan Hart has a lot on her mind–school, self-image, and especially family. Her dad finally has a new job, but money is tight. That means some changes, like selling their second car and moving into a new (old) house. But Ryan is a girl who knows how to make sunshine out of setbacks. As her brother says when he raps about her, she’s got the talent that matters most: it’s a talent that can’t be seen, she’s nice, not mean!

Ryan is all about trying to see the best in people, to be a good daughter, a good sister, a good friend. But even if her life isn’t everything she would wish for, when her big brother is infuriating, her parents don’t quite understand, and the unexpected happens, she always finds a way forward, with grace and wit. And plenty of sunshine.