WHAT HAPPENED THIS AFTERNOON IS TOO TERRIBLE TO WRITE. . . . PLEASE, GOD, LET WILL LIVE. AND, PLEASE, GOD, FORGIVE ME. All Will Ames ever wanted to do was farm. But when he's injured in a farm accident, Will is left without a leg -- and without his future. There's no place on a farm for a cripple. And so, after a long winter of healing, Will and his sister Cassie, who blames herself for the acci ...

It's been a bad year for 13-year-old Joshua Harper. His father has died; his voice has changed, so he can't sing in the Boston Boys' Choir anymore; and he's quit school to work. When disaster strikes, Joshua finds the place--and the voice--he thought he'd lost. Illustrations. Map.

Sylvie has been a 12-year-old princess for more than 80 years, ever since the book she lives in was first printed. When a new reader gazes down into Chapter One, Sylvie breaks a rule--she looks at the Reader. Worse, she gets to know the Reader, and enters her dreams and subconscious, where she achieves many Good things, but the Greatest goes far beyond even her imaginings.

Thirteen-year-old Kyle thought spending a vacation on the Oregon coast with his family would be great. But a tsunami strikes while he is babysitting his little sister, BeeBee. Now they must outwit nature's fury to save themselves.

Twelve-year-old Natalie has written a story her best friend says is good enough to publish. But how can two sixth graders conquer the tough world of children's publishing? Illustrations.

Told in a young girl's simple, honest voice, this is the touching story aboutAlaska, the old ways and the new, and about a special teacher who touches thelives of everyone she meets.

Mr. Carillo, Dublin Elementary School's custodian, does everything to keep the school clean and functional, and he never lets the teachers and students down. Now his helpers, Gracie and Zach, want to do something to show Mr. Carillo how important he is to them. Full color.

As she starts middle school, Bess volunteers to work on the school musical in hopes of fitting in. But when she volunteers with her mother at a homeless shelter and gets to know an elderly homeless woman named Gracie, Bess changes her mind about what is really important.

An epidemic of fever sweeps through the streets of 1793 Philadelphia in this novel from Laurie Halse Anderson where "the plot rages like the epidemic itself" (The New York Times Book Review). During the summer of 1793, Mattie Cook lives above t

A young man makes a decision to flee seaward to freedom in this moving and dramatic story set in the American south. "Full of thought-provoking situations and well-drawn historical settings."--"School Library Journal."

Twelve-year-old Maggie's beloved Newfoundland dog, Sirius, must be kept a secret because of a village rule that only sheepdogs are allowed in her coastal community. When a steamer runs aground off the coast, Sirius finally has a chance to prove himself to the entire village.

For Hart Evans, being the most popular kid in sixth grade has its advantages. Kids look up to him, and all the teachers let him get away with anything -- all the teachers except the chorus director, Mr. Meinert. When Hart's errant rubber band hits Mr. Meinert on the neck during chorus practice, it's the last straw for the chorus director, who's just learned he's about to lose his job due to budget ...

By the winner of the Scott O'Dell Award for historical fiction, this middle-grade novel is the perfect curriculum tie-in for classroom discussions about disasters and 19th century America. Eleven-year-old Hallelujah is intrigued by the fires that are starting up all over Chicago in 1877--but what she doesn't realize is that it is the Great Fire and her life will be irrevocably changed.

As a third child in a society that allows only two children per family, Luke Garner discovers that living among the Grant family might be deadlier than he ever imagined.

Nina Idi has been arrested for falsely accusing some classmates of being illegal third children--a capital crime in their society. Now she is being asked to betray others--or risk being executed.

Luke Garner is an illegal third child. All his life has been spent in hiding. Now, for the first time, Luke is living among others. Then one day Luke discovers a door to the outside. He knows that beyond the walls of Hendricks lie the secrets he is desperate to uncover. What he doesn't know is whom he can trust--and where the answers to his questions may lead him.

Like other ex-slaves, Paschal and his brother, Gideon, have been promised 40 acres and maybe a mule. But the notorious night riders have plans to take it away, threatening to tear the beautiful freedom that the two boys are enjoying for the first time in their young lives.

Cara Landry has the worst teacher in the school, and tells everyone about Mr. Larson in her own fifth-grade classroom newspaper, "The Landry News". When the principal gets wind of the article and wants Mr. Larson fired, a town-wide debate on the First Amendment is sparked. B&W illustrations.