Mary had a little plan that sprouted on the spot. It all began the day she passed a drab, abandoned lot. Fashion-forward Mary is known for adding flair everywhere she goes. When she spots an abandoned lot in her neighborhood, Mary knows she can use her stylish talent to spruce it up. Soon she's rallying neighborhood shops and calling on her friends to help. With Mary leading the way, this group carries out her little plan that has a big impact on her community! "Pinkalicious + Fancy Nancy + Eloise = Mary, the diminutive, precocious, brown-skinned queen of glam."--Kirkus Reviews (starred) on Mary Had a Little Glam

Fans of Inside Out and Back Again will love this novel-in-verse about a Chinese-American girl who contends with school bullies, worries about her sister's mysterious illness, and finds strength at the local tennis court. Frances Chin is an 11-year-old Chinese-American girl who lives in the suburbs of Detroit with her immigrant parents and older sister, Clara. At school Frances contends with bullies and the related loneliness that comes with not quite fitting in. She also feels a different kind of aloneness at home. Her parents are preoccupied with work and worry about Clara, whose hair is inexplicably falling out. While Frances struggles to speak up, she finds strength in her growing tennis skills, and her powerful inner voice is captured through gorgeous imagery and evocative free verse.

A dark sleek bird flew down to a tree, a What a splendid tree this is for me!a He bounced from a twig, to a leaf, to a branch, From the ground below, it was a beautiful dance. Jack the Jackdaw is searching for love. He finds the perfect tree for mistletoe to grow on but a Robin eats all his berries! Will Jack ever find his true love and share a mistletoe kiss?

Gerald, a shy, introverted boy, had become separated from the rest of his family in Potterton Grange Enchanted Woodland. Wracked with worry that he might never see his family again and he might die in the wood all alone, his fears were dissolved after meeting a series of very magical trees and receiving a special gift from each of them.

Expanding your child s reading horizons is easy with fiction books from Teacher Created Materials! In Bess by Pamela Brunskill, girls aren t allowed to act in Shakespeare s London, so Bess pretends to be a boy to get a role. When it s show time, can she let her parents and the Globe know it s her? Find out more in this historical fiction book your child will love. Includes Book Club literacy and comprehension questions.

Jamie Lee wants to be normal. But his ADHD makes him feel like his brain is full of butterflies. Elin Watts wants to be perfect. If she can be, surely her dad will come home. When Jamie and Elin's families blend, the polar opposites of chaotic Jamie and ordered Elin collide. As their lives spiral out of control, Jamie and Elin discover that they're actually more alike than they'd admit. Maybe there's no such thing as normal, or perfect. And perhaps, just like families, happy-ever-afters come in all shapes and sizes. Uplifting and moving, The Boy with the Butterfly Mind is an inspiring story of acceptance, blended families, and discovering that in the end, being yourself is more than enough.

Meet Clementine Florentine - a talented poet with a strong passion for Custard Creams! In an ingenious reverse 'Parent Trap', Clementine and her school nemesis Callum, have to work together to break Clem's dad and Callum's mum up, before they fall 'in lurrrvee' and the two poetry rivals end up step brother and sister! However, an unlikely friendship with ageing punk icon Lyn Ferno and her chatty pet parrot Viv, helps Clem to start seeing things differently. But by then, is it too late to undo the damage she's caused? Imagine a female Tom Gates with a touch of a young Adrian Mole and the warmth of Jacqueline Wilson, and you've got Clementine Florentine rolled up in one.

Every two minutes, evil strips innocence from a child and sells her into slavery for sex. Not in a third-world country, but in the United States of America. Before you take another breath, the next victim will be tricked or taken from her family by a profit-hungry criminal.
She could be a neighbor. A friend.Your sister. Your daughter. You.
At fourteen, Hope Ellis is the all-American girl with a good life--until the day she tries to help her mom with their cross-town move by supervising the movers. When they finish, one of the men returns to the house and rapes her. Held silent by his threats, darkness begins to engulf her. But the rape proves to be the least of Hope's troubles. In a gasping attempt at normalcy, she succumbs to the attention of a smooth-talking man on the subway. He promises acceptance. He declares his love. He lures her out from under the shelter of her suburban life.
Hope's disappearance sets a community in motion. She's one of their own. They determine to find Hope, whatever the cost, before she's lost forever.
Will you?

Three children go to the shop to buy ice-cream and never return home. The year is 1977. Nine-year-old Adrian lives with his gran and his uncle Rory. He loves to draw and he wants a dog. He's afraid of quicksand, shopping centers and self-combustion. But as closely as he watches his suburban world, there is much he cannot understand. He does not, for instance, know why three neighbourhood children might set out to buy ice-cream one summer's day and never be seen again... In this suburb that is no longer safe and innocent, in a broken family of self-absorbed souls, Sonya Hartnett sets the story of a lone little boy - unwanted, unloved and intensely curious - a story as achingly beautiful as it is shattering. As her quiet tale ominously unfolds, we are reminded of how fragile are the threads that hold us secure - and how brave, how precious, is the heart of each child who soldiers on.

Mnr. Vos steel kos by die gemene boere Ben, Bart en Boon – een vet, een kort, een net vel en been. Hierdie drie skurke maak ’n plan om mnr. Vos by sy huis uit te grawe, maar hulle besef nie hoe fantasties mnr. Vos is en wat hy alles sal doen om sy gesin te red nie . . . Hierdie klassieke verhaal is nou vir die eerste keer in Afrikaans beskikbaar, met briljante vertaling deur Kobus Geldenhuys.

This title is suitable for ages 5 to 7 years. While other children's religious titles focus on Saint Francis of Assisi as an adult, few, if any, have concentrated on the early life of the patron saint of animals and the environment. Stunning illustrations punctuate this beautifully told story of Saint Francis as a boy as he communes with nature and treats even the fiercest of animals - a hungry wolf - with the same compassion he would show his grandmother. In a fearless display of courage, tolerance, and understanding, the young Francis makes peace with the wolf, foreshadowing his teachings of harmony with the world around us and man's duty to protect nature.