Otto is an otter who can do many things. But there’s one thing he can’t do: swim. Little by little, and with a some help from his big sister, Otto gets the courage–and the practice– to splash and tumble in the water with his friends.
The story and illustrations will encourage kids, showing them that if they take it step-by-step, any new skill is within their reach!
Quiet, brilliant Portia has just moved to a new neighborhood with her mom. Adjusting to life without a father is hard enough, but school is boring and her classmates are standoffish — and even Portia’s mom is strangely distant. But things start looking up when Portia mounts a late-night excursion into the woods behind her house and discovers a shy, sweet-natured purple monster. Life with Jellaby is a lot more exciting, but Portia’s purple friend has secrets of his own; secrets that may even lead to the mystery of Portia’s father’s disappearance!
No sooner is their first date over than Jules and Gen find themselves back at work after a JumpMan comes looking for them to tell them of their friend’s involvement with Quincy Carter One and their plans to change the history of the world.
One brave little boat is on a journey to discover the seven seas. Setting off into the big, wide world, Little Boat runs into treacherous waters, turbulent tides, and seafaring friends. After all his nautical adventures, our hero finds out that he’s no longer such a little boat.
Cameron Wolfe is a loser. He knows it. He’s the quiet one, not a soccer star like his brother Steve or a charming fighter with a new girl every week like his brother Rube. Cam would give anything to be near one of those girls, to love her and treat her right. He especially likes Rube’s latest, Octavia, with her brilliant ideas and bright green eyes. But what woman like that would want a loser like him? Maybe Octavia would, Cam discovers. Maybe he’d even have something to say. And those maybes change everything: winning, loving, losing, the Wolfe brothers, and Cameron himself.
Nothing’s simple for Lockie Leonard. He’s only lived in town for a year and his dad’s the local police sergeant, two facts that don’t win Lockie any popularity contests. Dumped by his popular girlfriend, he’s back to being the loneliest kid in town until he makes friends with Geoff Eggleston, or Egg, the weirdest human being Lockie’s ever known. Egg is a dark-haired, pimply-faced, very bright “Metal Head” who can’t even swim, though their town is right on the Australian coast. By contrast, Lockie is a trim, blond, expert surfer. Lockie and Egg decide to somehow clean up the town’s harbor, partly covered with scum from industrial waste. In the middle of all their planning, Lockie falls in love again, with a girl who turns out to be only eleven. To make it worse, she surfs better than he does, though he’s the best in his school. Can a thirteen-year-old surfrat have a headbanger for a best friend, stay in love with an eleven-year-old gremmie, and still save his town from industrial pollution? Tim Winton is a prize-winning Australion novelist whose The Riders was short-listed for the 1996 Booker Prize. He himself is an, expert surfer. With rich characterization, strong narrative drive, and much humor, Winton has written a contemporary story that reflects the concerns of all teenagers and will reach a wide audience.
Shuffling back and forth between her parents’ new homes, Andy struggles to fit in with stepparents and five stepsiblings while wishing she could have her old family back.”
After Charlie convinces Lola to recycle her old toys instead of throwing them away, Lola discovers a recycling competition. If she can recycle one hundred plastic, metal, and paper items, she can get her very own real live tree to plant. But she only has two weeks, so Lola decides to ask her classmates to help. They turn out to be extremely very good recyclers indeed. This adventure is printed on FSC-approved paper and includes recycling tips as well as a tree poster just like Lola’s, so kids can keep track of their recycling projects and help to save the planet all on their own.
When he asks for a typical pet–a dog, a cat–his parents say no, so Sam wonders, “How about a Snagglegrollop?” A what?! The next day Sam comes home from school with a strange-looking creature indeed! The Snagglegrollop eats an awful lot of food–and entire tubes of toothpaste, too. But it tells silly jokes and takes the family for wonderful weekend romps. They become very fond of it. Some nights, though, the Snagglegrollop just sits on the roof, staring at the stars. “It seems quite sad,” Sam thinks. Could it be that all it needs is the companionship of his classmate Emily’s Quibblesnuff?
Early in the twentieth century, ten-year-old Ben and his family live in the poorest part of their city with other Jewish immigrants. There is never enough money to make ends meet, so Ben, determined to do his part, lands a job delivering hat linings to a hat factory after school. He sets out on his boss’s bicycle feeling strong and free, and has a grand time until, on his way up Hill Street, he gets a harsh comeuppance, one that hurts his body and threatens to destroy his dreams as well. Based on the experiences of the author’s father and illustrated in Emily Arnold McCully’s signature style, this book celebrates a boy who nearly loses hope, but then learns that the future shines bright and full of second chances.