Growing Library

The seven kids who bonded in Mr. Terupt's fifth-grade class are in eighth grade now and reunited with their beloved teacher. Listeners will once again be inspired by how the kids face their challenges and by the adults who help them along the way.

Malian loves spending time with her grandparents at their home on a Wabanaki reservation. She’s there for a visit when, suddenly, all travel shuts down. There’s a new virus making people sick, and Malian will have to stay with her grandparents for the duration. Everyone is worried about the pandemic, but Malian knows how to keep her family and community safe: She protects her grandparents, and they protect her. She doesn’t go outside to play with friends, she helps her grandparents use video chat, and she listens to and learns from their stories.

Cocky seventh-grade super-jock Crash Coogan got his nickname the day he used his first football helmet to knock his cousin Bridget flat on her backside. And he has been running over people ever since, especially Penn Webb, the dweeby, vegetarian Quaker kid who lives down the block. Through the eyes of Crash, listeners get a rare glimpse into the life of a bully in this unforgettable and beloved story about stereotypes and the surprises life can bring.

Grace and Ellie have been best friends since second grade. Ellie's always right in the center of everything - and Grace is usually happy to be Ellie's sidekick. But this time, it's Grace who suddenly has everyone's attention when she accidentally starts a new fad at school. It's a fad that has first her class, then her grade, and then the entire school collecting and trading and even fighting over...buttons? A fad that might also get her in major trouble and could even be the end of Grace and Ellie's friendship. Because Ellie's not used to being one-upped by anybody.

Meet Jack Reynolds. Making people laugh is his life's work. Jack's wacky MyTube channel is really starting to take off. The only problem is, for the truly epic posts, he needs a collaborator. And, well, he doesn't exactly have any friends. So Jack has to swallow his pride and join the new afterschool club, Speed Friendshipping. But who would make the best partner in comedy?

Anna lives with foster parents, a misfit with no friends, always on the outside of things. Then she is sent to Norfolk to stay with old Mr. and Mrs. Pegg, where she runs wild on the sand dunes and around the water. There is a house, the Marsh House, which she feels she recognizes - and she soon meets a strange little girl called Marnie, who becomes Anna's first ever friend. Then one day, Marnie vanishes. A new family, the Lindsays, move into the Marsh House.

When Theo's photography project is mysteriously vandalized at school, there are five suspected students who all say, "It wasn't me." Theo just wants to forget about the humiliating incident, but his favorite teacher is determined to get to the bottom of it and has the six of them come into school over vacation to talk. She calls it "Justice Circle". The six students - the Nerd, the Princess, the Jock, the Screw Up, the Weirdo, and the Nobody - think of it as detention. A.k.a. their worst nightmare. That is until they realize they might get along after all, despite their differences.

The girl doesn't remember a thing about her life, but the intricate tattoo on her arm is proof that she's from the Dragonfly Territories and that she's protected by the king. Which means a reward for Piper if she can get the girl home. The one sure way to the Territories is the 401, a great old beauty of a train. But a ticket costs more coin than Piper could make in a year. And stowing away is a difficult prospect - everyone knows that getting past the peculiar green-eyed boy who stands guard is nearly impossible.

On the brink of adulthood (not to mention a whole new century), Rosie makes her first trip to the big city, along with her wide-eyed siblings and their rascally old granddad. There, amidst the wonders of the fair, Rosie discovers the world and herself, while also coming face-to-face with some of the era's most famous people--including showgirl Lillian Russell and Colonel William F. Cody (a.k.a. Buffalo Bill

Wes' father always told him there was only one ball in basketball: that you had to know when to take it yourself and when to give it up, that finding the right balance was key. So at every practice and game, Wes tries his best to be a good basketball player and, above all, a good teammate. As the season kicks off, Wes finds that not everyone on his team has the same idea. All-star player and Hawks point guard Danilo "Dinero" Rey seems determined to hold the spotlight and the ball, even if it means costing his team the game.

When Sylvester Coddmyer III meets a mysterious character named George Baruth, he goes from being a terrible hitter to the boy who only hits homers! But how will he answer some of the difficult questions that people start asking about his amazing new talent?

For as long as ZJ can remember, his dad has been everyone's hero. As a charming, talented pro football star, he's as beloved to the neighborhood kids he plays with as he is to his millions of adoring sports fans. But lately life at ZJ's house is anything but charming. His dad is having trouble remembering things and seems to be angry all the time. ZJ's mom explains it's because of all the head injuries his dad sustained during his career.

Lila's going for Gold—the Gold level gymnastics team. She loves the new challenge, but her best friend and fellow gymnast, Katie, feels stressed by competition. For a dose of fun, the girls go to riding camp to see Lila's favorite horse. But Katie's reaction to riding isn't what Lila expected. It seems like the two of them can't agree on anything anymore. Back at the gym, Lila discovers that their favorite coach might be leaving! Can Lila make the Gold team without her? And will her friendship with Katie survive if she does?

It's 1935. Moose Flanagan lives on Alcatraz with his family, the other families of the guards, and a few hundred no-name hit men, con men, mad dog murderers and a handful of bank robbers too. And one of those cons has just done him a big favor. You see, Moose has never met Al Capone, but a few weeks ago Moose wrote a letter to him asking him to use his influence to get his sister, Natalie, into a school she desperately needs in San Francisco.

Covered by vines and hidden by trees, the old gatehouse on the edge of the woods has been abandoned for years. But when Trixie and her pal Honey explore it, they discover more than just dust and spiderwebs inside. The two girls find a huge diamond stuck in the dirt floor! Could a ring of jewel thieves be hiding out in Sleepyside?

When the Brighton Bears suit up on game day, 12-year-old Tommy Gallagher is the toughest kid on the football field. And the bravest. After all, his father Patrick is a Boston firefighter - one of Boston's bravest. Tommy's dad taught him everything he knows about football - and life. Yet even Tommy isn't strong enough for what happens when the sirens ring and, for the first time, they're racing away from the fire. "First man in; last man out" had always been his dad's motto, yet he never said anything about leaving in an ambulance.

In an unnamed Third World country, in the not-so-distant future, three “dumpsite boys” make a living picking through the mountains of garbage on the outskirts of a large city. One unlucky-lucky day, Raphael finds something very special and very mysterious. So mysterious that he decides to keep it, even when the city police offer a handsome reward for its return. That decision brings with it terrifying consequences.

The year is 1904, and Russell is 15. Though he dreams of leaving small-town Indiana to become part of a large farm crew in the Dakotas, he's forced to stay in school, where his sister Tansy has just become the new teacher.

Thirteen-year-old Nat Beacon loves a lot of things: her dog Warbucks, her best friend Chloe, and competing on her wheelchair racing team, the Zoomers, to name a few. But there's one thing she's absolutely obsessed with: musicals! From Hamilton to Les Mis, there's not a cast album she hasn't memorized and belted along to. She's never actually been in a musical though, or even seen an actor who uses a wheelchair for mobility on stage. Would someone like Nat ever get cast?

Thirteen-year-old Simon Renier has no idea when he boards the M.S. Orion with his cousin Forsyth Phair that their journey to Venezuela will be a dangerous one. His original plan - to return a family heirloom, a portrait of Simon Bolivar, to its rightful place - is sidetracked when cousin Forsyth is found murdered. When the portrait is stolen, all passengers and crew are suspects. Simon's newfound friends, Poly and Charles O'Keefe, and their scientist father help Simon try to find his painting, and his cousin's murderer. But will they succeed before they land?