Nikki wants to be a basketball star... but between school stress, friend drama and babysitting woes, will she be able to make it in the big leagues? Thirteen-year-old Nikki Doyle dreams of becoming a great basketball player like her WNBA idol, Mia McCall. Nikki has always been the best point guard in her county league and her dreams feel within reach when she's selected to play on an elite-level club team. But in a league with taller, stronger and faster girls, it turns out that Nikki is no longer the best point guard. In fact, she's no longer a point guard at all, which leaves her struggling to figure out who she is and how she fits in. The stress piles on as Nikki's best friend spends more and more time with another girl on the team and when her science teacher assigns a family tree project that will be impossible to complete unless Nikki reveals the most embarrassing secret on the entire planet: her biological father was a sperm donor. As if that's not enough to deal with, to cover the costs of her new team, Nikki has agreed to take care of her annoying younger brother after school to save money on childcare. As the stakes rise on the basketball court, at school and at home, Nikki's confidence plummets. Can she learn to compete at this new, higher level? And how hard is she willing to work to find out? With a brilliant voice, fast-paced action and characters who feel as if they live and breath, Nikki on the Line heralds the arrival of a brilliant new voice in contemporary middle grade fiction.

Thirteen-year-old Nikki Doyle dreams of becoming a great basketball player like her WNBA idol, Mia McCall. Nikki has always been the best point guard in her county league, and her dreams feel within reach when she's selected to play on an elite-level club team. But in a league with taller, stronger, and faster girls, it turns out that Nikki is no longer the best point guard. In fact, she's no longer a point guard at all, which leaves her struggling to figure out who she is and how she fits in. The stress piles on as Nikki's best friend spends more and more time with another girl on the team, and when her science teacher assigns a family tree project that will be impossible to complete unless Nikki reveals the most embarrassing secret on the entire planet--her biological father was a sperm donor. As if that's not enough to deal with, to cover the costs of her new team, Nikki has agreed to take care of her annoying younger brother after school to save money on childcare. As the stakes rise on the basketball court, at school, and at home, Nikki's confidence plummets. Can she learn to compete at this new, higher level? And how hard is she willing to work to find out? With a brilliant voice, fast-paced action, and characters who feel as if they live and breath, Nikki on the Line heralds the arrival of a brilliant new voice in contemporary middle grade fiction.

Beautifully illustrated by Bagram Ibatoulline, an inspirational biography of the Peace rose and its creator digs deep into world history, botany and the rewards of perseverance. From a young man's experiments in cross-pollination to the rose that became an international symbol of hope, this gentle picture book biography, beautifully illustrated by Bagram Ibatoulline, is a quiet epic of war and peace. Francis Meilland was passionate about roses. He loved their rich perfume, their buds unfurling in the summer sun, and their petals, soft as lambs' ears. Like his father and grandfather before him, Francis cultivated flowers on the family farm in France. In his teens, he set about grafting and experimenting, determined to create a rose no one had seen before, and as the world braced for World War II, he rushed cuttings to rose-growing friends around the globe. Ten patient years later, word reached him: his rose had not only flourished; people were calling it the Peace Rose. An ideal gift for science and history buffs and for gardeners of all ages, this life story of a special flower is also a love song to living a dream from beginning to end, through sun and through storm.