2018 Audie Award Finalist for Middle Grade
A YALSA 2018 Amazing Audiobooks for Young Adults Selection
ALSC 2018 Notable Children's Recordings List 

A newbie to the track team, Patina must learn to rely on her teammates as she tries to outrun her personal demons in this follow-up to the National Book Award finalist Ghost by New York Times best-selling author Jason Reynolds.

Ghost. Lu. Patina. Sunny. Four kids from wildly different backgrounds, with personalities that are explosive when they clash. But they are also four kids chosen for an elite middle school track team - a team that could qualify them for the Junior Olympics if they can get their acts together. They all have a lot to lose, but they also have a lot to prove, not only to each other but to themselves.

Patina, or Patty, runs like a flash. She runs for many reasons - to escape the taunts from the kids at the fancy-schmancy new school she's been sent to since she and her little sister had to stop living with their mom. She runs from the reason why she's not able to live with her "real" mom any more: Her mom has The Sugar, and Patty is terrified that the disease that took her mom's legs will one day take her away forever. So Patty's also running for her mom, who can't. But can you ever really run away from any of this? As the stress builds up, it's building up a pretty bad attitude as well. Coach won't tolerate bad attitude. No day, no way. And now he wants Patty to run relay...where you have to depend on other people. How's she going to do that?

Guns, violence, mob rule, or defending the cause? We all have choices. Or do we? Who would choose blood, sacrifice, and exile? At the height of the Troubles in Northern Ireland Ian's dad did. In this real-life thriller, 14-year-old Ian Moore walks a tightrope of fear as two strangers reveal the shocking truth about his father. His father thought he was fighting for a cause, for his people. But the price was too high--after the murder of his sister's husband and his own wife's death, he's paying for trying to get out. Somewhere along the line the cause got blurred by organized crime and revenge, and all it's left is a bitter taste. He's still a target, still a victim. Now he faces a lifetime of running with nowhere to go and constantly putting at rish the son he loves. This page turner tackes a controversial topic head-on and makes for powerful and memorable reading.

High school sophomore Annie Smith is just hoping to live a normal life after she moves from Arkansas to the quiet little town of Reston, Texas. But it does not take long for her new friends to figure out that Annie is anything but normal. Annie's goal is to fly under the radar drawing as little attention to herself as possible. But she soon discovers that being normal does not always bring happiness.

Melinda "Chip" Fullerton is a gifted athlete with two wishes-to be taller and to be on a good team for once. As she starts her junior year of high school, it looks like both her wishes will go unfulfilled-until Annie shows up. Immediately suspicious of Annie's baggy clothes and athletic abilities, Chip enlists Luke Slowinski, sports editor for the school newspaper, to do some undercover sleuth work that eventually reveals the truth: Annie is not who she appears to be.

This is a story that illustrates the importance of building character as well as talent, Annie soon learns that a new beginning is all she needs to finally embrace her true self.

Budi's plan is simple. He's going to be a star. Budi's going to play for the greatest team on earth, instead of sweating over each stitch he sews, each football boot he makes. But one unlucky kick brings Budi's world crashing down. Now he owes the Dragon, the most dangerous man in Jakarta. Soon it isn't only Budi's dreams at stake, but his life. A story about dreaming big, about hope and heroes, and never letting anything stand in your way.

From the critically acclaimed author of Amina's Voice comes the first book in an exciting new middle grade series about a fourth-grader with big dreams of basketball stardom. Fourth grader Zayd Saleem has some serious hoop dreams. He's not just going to be a professional basketball player. He's going to be a star. A legend. The first Pakistani-American kid to make it to the NBA. He knows this deep in his soul. It's his destiny. There are only a few small things in his way. For starters, Zayd's only on the D-team. (D stands for developmental, but to Zayd it's always felt like a bad grade or something.) Not to mention, he's a bit on the scrawny side, even for the fourth grade team. But his best friend Adam is on the Gold Team, and it's Zayd's dream for the two of them to play together. His mom and dad don't get it. They want him to practice his violin way more than his jump shot. When he gets caught blowing off his violin lessons to practice, Zayd's parents lay down the ultimate punishment: he has to hang up his high tops and isn't allowed to play basketball anymore. As tryouts for the Gold Team approach, Zayd has to find the courage to stand up for himself and chase his dream.

In this book from the critically acclaimed, multimillion-copy bestselling Little People, BIG DREAMS series, discover the true story of Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson. Born into a family of Samoan and Black wrestlers, little Dwayne travelled with his parents and watched his family fight in the ring, but he much preferred the football field to wrestling! He trained hard and worked to become a football player, signing with the Calgary Stampeders as a linebacker. But he was cut from the team after just two months. A natural athlete, Dwayne decided to follow in the footsteps of his father and grandfather and decided to pursue professional wrestling. Taking on the persona of 'The Rock' as a wrestler in the WWE, he won 16 championships and millions of fans. After a huge wrestling career, he tried his hand at acting... andtoday is one of the biggest film stars that Hollywood has ever seen! This inspiring book features stylish and quirky illustrations and extra facts at the back, including a biographical timeline with historical photos and a detailed profile of the athlete and actor's life. Little People, BIG DREAMS is a bestselling series of books and educational games that explore the lives of outstanding people, from designers and artists to scientists and activists. All of them achieved incredible things, yet each began life as a child with a dream. This empowering series offers inspiring messages to children of all ages, in a range of formats. The board books are told in simple sentences, perfect for reading aloud to babies and toddlers. The hardback versions present expanded stories for beginning readers. Boxed gift sets allow you to collect a selection of the books by theme. Paper dolls, learning cards, matching games and other fun learning tools provide even more ways to make the lives of these role models accessible to children. Inspire the next generation of outstanding people who will change the world with Little People, BIG DREAMS!