juvenile fiction

A girl in Puerto Rico copes with the aftermath of a hurricane, including her family's temporary blue tarp roof and her brother's refusal to speak. Includes notes about the author's life in Puerto Rico and the yearly ritual of preparing for hurricanes.

Eleven-year-old Bo is used to it being just her and her mom in their cozy New York apartment, but when her mom gets married, Bo must adjust to her new sisters and a music-minded blended family that is much larger, louder, and more complex than she ever imagined.

"It's Lunar New Year, a time when families come together for a wonderful feast, and a father longs to be with his daughter--but she lives in another country. As he imagines how his daughter is spending the festivities, he recalls fond memories of time spent with her, feeling a sense of loss and dislocation. While he misses her deeply, he also recognizes her need to move away, grow up, and become herself. New Year is a stunning portrait of leaving home, finding independence, and loving those who are many miles away. At a time when so many families are unable to gather together, readers will relate to the universal message of missing our loved ones and dreaming of being together again"--Provided by publisher.

Eleven-year-old Gina Sparks, aspiring journalist, and her fellow GEEKs, Edgar, Elena, and Kevin, live in Elmwood, New Hampshire, a small town in serious danger of vanishing completely--unless the four friends can find the Van Houten fortune, which was supposedly promised to the town by Maxine Van Houten, a famous toymaker who loved complicated puzzles.

For two years, twelve-year-old Hazel has coped with her Mum's accidental death by overprotecting her sister and Mama, but when Mama reconnects with her first love, roles begin to shift.

While staying with his rough-and-tumble cousins and older sister Brunhilde in Minnesota, Erik Sheepflattener, whose inner Viking motto is Avoid Stuff, must learn to speak up for himself when Brunhilde tries to conquer all of his fears.

"Magic is strictly forbidden in the McGill house, but Delpha McGill has found the family book of spells and plans to use it to make things a little easier for herself and her mother; Katybird Hearn comes from a rival family of witches, but her magic has been slow to emerge and she thinks a spell book is just what she needs to help things along--and when a quarrel between the two unleashes a graveyard full of angry zombies the two girls must work together to save Howler's Hollow, and themselves"--Provided by publisher.

"Razi, a local fisherboy, is watching turtle eggs hatch when he sees a boat bobbing into view. With a chill, he notices a small, still hand hanging over the side. Inside is Zheng, who's escaped a shipwreck and is full of tales of sea monsters and missing treasure. But the villains who are after Zheng are soon after Razi and his sister, Shifa, too! And so begins an exhilarating escapade in the shadow of the biggest sea monster of them all"--Provided by publisher.

"Relly can't wait for his beloved grandfather to finally see him on stage. Though his grandfather would prefer his grandson pursue something more 'practical, Relly just knows when he sees the show, he will change his mind. But right before their night show, a member of the Squad loses their phone down an open manhole. When the entire Squad goes down to help retrieve it, they find themselves in 1950s Manhattan. A big problem, considering the curtain goes up in about two hours--and over sixty years in the future"--Provided by publisher.

When a hurricane exposes Soleida's family's secret sculpture garden, the Cuban government arrests her artist parents, forcing her to escape alone to Central America where she meets Dariel, a Cuban American boy, and together they work to protect the environment and bring attention to the imprisoned artists in Cuba.