Publisher Annotation: Rydr is on a train heading east, leaving California, where her gramma can?t take care of her anymore, and traveling to Chicago, to live with an unknown relative. She brings with her a backpack, memories both happy and sad, and a box, containing something very important. As Rydr meets her fellow passengers and learns their stories, her own story begins to emerge. It?s one of sadness and heartache, and one Rydr would sometimes...

"Herc Beal knows who he's named after - a mythical hero - but he's no superhero. He's the smallest kid in his class. So when his homeroom teacher at his new middle school gives him the assignment of duplicating the mythical Hercules's amazing feats in real life, he's skeptical. After all, there are no Nemean Lions on Cape Cod, and not a single Hydra in sight. Missing his parents terribly and wishing his older brother wasn't working all the time, Herc...

"Each member of Erik Sheepflattener's modern-day Viking-heritage family has a motto to live by. Erik is developing a motto he can truly believe in : AVOID STUFF. But when he and his older sister Brunhilde spend the summer with their rough-and-tumble cousins in Minnesota, axe-wielding Bru gets the idea to name and conquer all of Erik's fears."

"Marisol Rainey's two least-favorite things are radishes and gym class. She avoids radishes with very little trouble, but gym is another story--especially when Coach Decker announces that they will be learning to play kickball. There are so many things that can go wrong in kickball. What if Marisol tries to kick the ball ... but falls down? What if she tries to catch the ball and gets smacked in the nose? What if she's the worst kickballer in the...

"Boo is new--and it can be scary being new, especially for a shy ghost who can't play any of the other kids' games. Can Boo find a way to fit in and make friends with the rest of the group?"--

The importance of a healthy environment and sound psychology is effectively revealed through the story of how a nervous, overprotected young girl becomes a stable, self-reliant person after she is suddenly transplanted to the simple life on a Vermont farm.

When a third grade classmate gets her picture in the paper for winning a spelling bee, Judy is determined to find a way to become famous herself.

"Pete the Cat wakes up feeling grumpy--nothing seems to be going his way. But with the help of some magic sunglasses, Pete learns that a good mood has been inside him all along"--

Don't miss the first and bestselling book in the beloved Pete the Cat series!

Pete the Cat goes walking down the street wearing his brand-new white shoes. Along the way, his shoes change from white to red to blue to brown to WET as he steps in piles of strawberries, blueberries, and other big messes!

But no matter what color his shoes are, Pete keeps movin' and groovin' and singing his song...because it's all good.

...

In Wisconsin, fourth-grader Ida B spends happy hours being home-schooled and playing in her family's apple orchard, until her mother begins treatment for breast cancer and her parents must sell part of the orchard and send her to public school.