The Queen's Gambit meets The Hunger Games in this harrowing young adult thriller about a teen girl whose abusive father teaches her the finer points of chess and hunting for his own sinister ends.Didi tries her best to be a good girl, but it's hard to keep track of her father's rules. When she wins a chess tournament, he's angry she didn't win with a better move and makes her run laps around the house. When she runs laps the next day, she has to keep running until she's faster than the day before. When she's skilled enough to outshoot him with both a gun and bow and arrow, he grows furious when she won't then shoot a baby rabbit who crosses their path. And Didi can't do anything to escape being threatened with the Hurt Stick when she misbehaves. He's all she has, he reminds her. They have to be prepared. They have to be prepared to fight the rest of the world, when the world comes to an end. He's grooming her, to keep her safe. He loves Didi. He...

When the third-graders of Room 11 learn that they all must take part in a musicale, Smashie can't wait to sing something heartfelt and loud. But the others are not so eager. Luckily, Charlene's mom has agreed to donate her special gel that lengthens and sculpts hair into shapes (from a musical note to a roller skate), and soon, with the help of some retro sixties go-go dancing, all the kids are raring to go. That is, until their jars of goop go missing! Who would steal their beloved Herr Goop, and why? Time for Smashie and her best friend, Dontel, to get out their Investigation Notebooks! Discussions of motives and perps, hasty mis-accusations and apology brownies, a math lesson used to crack a mysterious code, and more than a few choice red herrings build up to a truly hilarious madcap finale. Starring a quirky and relatable heroine, a level-headed sidekick, and an appealing group of good kids, this entertaining and lighthearted mystery may well have readers donning their own...

Crippled with guilt after causing a horrific accident two years earlier, sixteen-year-old Bett's life is a series of pluses and minuses. But when the pluses become too much to outweigh the minuses, Bett is forced to confront her self-harming behavior in this stirring and powerful novel about self-forgiveness.Bett's life is a series of pluses and minuses: good moments she believes she doesn't deserve, and self-punishments that she believes she does. Two years ago Bett was athletic, fearless, and prone to daredevil behavior (fizzicle feats, she called them). But when a dare gone wrong leaves her best friend severely and permanently injured, everything changes. Now, Bett is extremely overweight, depressed, and forbids herself from enjoying anything in life, from her favorite sports to having friends—anything she determines to be a plus. But some pluses can't be avoided, and when that happens, Bett punishes herself through binge eating. As long as she...

Who stole the hamster from Room 11? A once-happy class is set on edge in this humorous, highly relatable mystery perfect for middle-grade readers. The day the hamster disappears from Smashie McPerter's class begins like any other. Well, except for the fact that the teacher is out sick and Smashie's class is stuck with Mr. Carper, the worst substitute in the world. And except for the mysterious business with the glue. And except for the fact that Smashie is wrestling with a terrible problem, which only partly stems from her extreme aversion to hamster feet. As the peaceable and productive days of Room 11 turn into paranoia-fueled chaos, as natural suspects produce natural alibis and motives remain unmotivated, Smashie and her best friend, Dontel, are forced to the limits of their parlor-room detecting to set things right.

What happens when everything you've got to give isn't enough to save someone you love?It's Maine. It's winter. And it's FREEZING STINKIN' COLD! Dinah is wildly worried about her best friend, Skint. He won't wear a coat. Refuses to wear a coat. It's twelve degrees out, and he won't wear a coat. So Dinah's going to figure out how to help. That's what Dinah does—she helps. But she's too busy trying to help to notice that sometimes, she's doing more harm than good. Seeing the trees instead of the forest? That's Dinah.And Skint isn't going to be the one to tell her. He's a helper guy too. He's worried about a little boy whose dad won't let him visit his mom. He's worried about an elderly couple in a too-cold house down the street.But the wedge between what drives Dinah and what concerns Skint is wide enough for a big old slab of ice. Because Skint's own father is in trouble. Because Skint's mother refuses to ask for help even though she's at he...