Difficult Parents

Twelve-year-old Dani is running away from home - or what’s left of home anyway. Her older brother, who had muscular dystrophy, died a few months ago. Then her father left and her parents got divorced. Now home is just Dani and her sad, silent mother, and Dani’s got to get away. She plans to do something amazing, and go where her parents will never find her: She’s going to hike the whole Appalachian Trail, from Georgia to Maine. The trail is a legend in her family, the place where her parents met, fell in love, and got married 14 years before.

On the night Malcolm and Maud Angel are murdered, Tandy Angel knows just three things: she was the last person to see her parents alive; the police have no suspects besides Tandy and her three siblings; she can't trust anyone - maybe not even herself.

The monster showed up after midnight. As they do. But it isn't the monster Conor's been expecting. He's been expecting the one from his nightmare, the one he's had nearly every night since his mother started her treatments, the one with the darkness and the wind and the screaming.... This monster is something different, though. Something ancient, something wild. And it wants the most dangerous thing of all from Conor. It wants the truth.

There are zero reasons for Theo Ripley to look forward to his family vacation. Not only are he, sister Laura, and nature-obsessed Dad going to Big Bend, the least popular National Park, but once there, the family will be camping. And Theo is an indoor animal. It doesn’t help that this will be the first vacation they’re taking since Mom passed away. Then, Theo’s dad hits him with a whopper of a surprise: the whole trip is just a trick to introduce his secret new girlfriend.

In contemporary India, 12-year-old Asha will journey across the dangerous Himalayas to find her missing father and save her family's home. Guided by a mythical bird and a green-eyed tiger who she believes to be the spirits of her ancestors, this is an incredibly unique debut about loss, family, buried treasure, and hope.

Marcy's life is a mess. Her parents don't understand her, she feels like a fat blimp with no friends, and her favorite teacher just got fired. Ms. Finney wasn't like the other teachers, and she was helping Marcy feel good about being herself. Now that she's gone, Marcy doesn't know what to do. She's always thought things would be better if she could just lose weight, but the loss of Ms. Finney sparks something inside her.

Born in the picturesque town of Taxco, Mexico, Julissa Arce was left behind for months at a time with her two sisters, a nanny, and her grandma while her parents worked tirelessly in America in hopes of building a home and providing a better life for their children. That is, until her parents brought Julissa to Texas to live with them. From then on, Julissa secretly lived as an undocumented immigrant, went on to become a scholarship winner and an honors college graduate, and climbed the ladder to become a vice president at Goldman Sachs.

While on a whale-watching excursion with her dad, Willa is alone on one side of the boat when she sees a humpback whale. Her awe and wonderment about this massive and beautiful creature turns to shock when the whale communicates with her, introducing herself as Meg. As their friendship develops, Willa comes to view Meg as a trusted confidant - who offers her advice about difficult issues in Willa’s life.

Everybody gets angry sometimes. And for children, anger can be very upsetting. In this Caldecott-honor book, children will see what Sophie does when she gets angry. People do lots of different things when they get angry. What do you do?

Emilia Torres has a wandering mind. It's hard for her to follow along at school, and sometimes she forgets to do what her mom or abuela asks. But she remembers what matters: a time when her family was whole and home made sense. When Dad returns from deployment, Emilia expects that her life will get back to normal. Instead, it unravels. Dad shuts himself in the back stall of their family's auto shop to work on an old car. Emilia peeks in on him daily, mesmerized by his welder. One day, Dad calls Emilia over.

When Iggy Corso gets kicked out of high school, there's no one for him to tell. His mother has gone off, his father is stoned on the couch, and because the phone's been disconnected, even the social worker can't get through. So he leaves a note and goes out to make something of his life, but that's not so easy when you're 16, living in public housing, have no skills, and your only friend is a law-school dropout who's thinking about joining the Hare Krishnas.

This insightful middle grade novel is an honest portrayal of a child struggling to survive life in an alcoholic family, but it also offers realistic hope as the child makes important discoveries

Ever since his mother was killed in the line of duty in Iraq, Derrick has been absolutely certain that the apocalypse is coming. And he's prepared: he's got plenty of canned goods, he's fully outfitted with HAZMAT suits, and he's building himself a sturdy fallout shelter. When his neighbor Misty insists on helping with the shelter, Derrick doesn't think it's such a good idea. Misty's just had a kidney transplant, and her reaction to her brush with death is the opposite of Derrick's. When Derrick's promised apocalypse day begins, Derrick and Misty have to figure out a way to survive.

Where is Early's father? He's not the kind of father who you think would disappear. But he's gone. And he's left a whole lot of trouble behind. As danger closes in, Early, her mom, and her brother have to flee their apartment. With nowhere else to go, they are forced to move into Chicago's shelter system. Once there, Early starts asking questions and looking for answers. There are patterns and rhythms to what's happened, and Early might be the only one who can use them to track him down and make her way out of a very tough place.

Right before Wavie's mother died, she gave Wavie a list of instructions to help her find her way in life, including this one: Be brave, Wavie B! You got as much right to a good life as anybody, so find it! But little did Wavie's mom know that events would conspire to bring Wavie back to Conley Hollow, the Appalachian hometown her mother tried to leave behind.

Most people will find themselves going through a difficult time after a breakup. With the addition of shared custody, everything can swiftly become overwhelming. They may find themselves unable to move on positively as a result of their difficult ex, or they may be fulfilling their role as a parent while combating their ex on the side. This eventually leads to an inability to react constructively and block out one’s instincts after enduring years of gaslighting or abuse.

Pram Bellamy is special - she can talk to ghosts. She doesn't have too many friends among the living, but that's all right. She has her books, she has her aunts, and she has her best friend, the ghostly Felix. Then Pram meets Clarence, a boy from school who has also lost a parent and is looking for answers. Together they arrive at the door of the mysterious Lady Savant, who promises to help. But this spiritualist knows the true nature of Pram's power, and what she has planned is more terrifying than any ghost.

Elise carries a notebook full of tallies. Each page marks a day spent at her new public school. Each stroke of her pencil marks a word spoken - a word that can't be taken back. Five tally marks isn't so bad. Two is pretty good. But zero? Zero is perfect. Zero means no wrong answers called out in class, no secrets accidentally spilled, and no conversations to agonize over at night when sleep is far away. But now months have passed, and Elise isn't sure she could speak even if she wanted to

Sixteen-year-old Iris itches constantly for the strike of a match. But when she's caught setting one too many fires, she's dragged away to London before she can get arrested. At least, that's the story her mother tells. Soon Iris finds herself in the English countryside, where her millionaire father - a man she's never met - lives. Though not for very much longer. Iris's father is dying, and her self-interested mother is determined to claim his life's fortune, including his priceless art collection.

Trapped by the limitations of her middle school adjective and the realities of her mother's alcohol addiction, Sophie's perspective on what being pretty really means changes drastically in the second adjective-busting novel by the author of Husky, Justin Sayre. Set three months after Husky's conclusion and narrated by Sophie, Davis' best friend, Sayre details the private and public life of someone saddled with the adjective of pretty.