Middle School English

Bud Collins can't win at anything. His daughter calls him a loser, his ex is taking him to the cleaners, and he can't beat his bookie. Getting lucky with women is also a lost cause until a strange package from his eccentric uncle arrives in the mail and offers him the opportunity of a lifetime. Bud suddenly sees a way to make a fortune and turn his miserable life around, if he doesn’t destroy it first, because there are people like the greedy loan shark, the deranged hit man, and a wicked cast of others who don’t want him to succeed at all costs.

When Zack’s younger sister dies in a tragic accident, his family moves to a small town in the Northwest to try and heal from all the pain. Eleven-year-old Zack blames himself for his sister’s death, and he struggles to find any comfort in his new surroundings. Zack, at first, feels lost in Vista Point. Until he meets Ann, a girl who lives in the area and shows Zack all the special places to be discovered. But there’s something that seems a bit strange about Ann - and perhaps a secret she is keeping from him.

Thirteen-year-old Coral Robertson is a popular eighth-grader at Bay Vista Middle School. Her classmate, Shay O'Brien, is a loner who lives in the shadows. The two girls have nothing in common until they become finalists in a speech contest. What begins as a friendly competition escalates into manipulation and bullying. As Coral struggles with pleasing people and Shay teeters on the edge, their worlds start to unravel. This story is about those moments in life that define who we are. Will Coral and Shay find the courage to face their fears? What is holding them back? Who wins the grand prize?

Via LaVie thinks she’s just an average fifth-grader. She has a mom and dad, an irritating older brother and a cat. She has friends (Molly Appleton is her bestie) and an enemy (bossy mean girl, Tailor Madison). And, she has plenty of worries about going to middle school in the near future. But Via also has a secret that makes her far from average: she’s an undercover genius who remembers just about everything she sees. It’s an ability that was encouraged by Via’s beloved grandmother while Via faced one of the biggest challenges in her life. And while her eidetic memory comes in handy...

Eula and Randi have noticed their next-door neighbor Abe engaged in some peculiar behaviors, such as hanging bells and eating grass. They’ve also noticed his proliferation of bushy white hair and unusual height. Their parents, Ian and Nina, reassure them he’s just an eccentric old man. However, they all learn the truth soon enough. Abe is a yeti, or member of the High Folk (as they prefer to be called). The yeti explains that he’s trying to get in contact with the Wander Folk or Sasquatch as humans more commonly know them. After learning his secret, the family includes him in their ...

(Formerly released as "Alone in the Dark". Only the title has changed.) Live the Magic Love the Adventure It's been a rough month for David. The water and electricity in his house is shut off, and his dad is missing. When Mrs. Huffity asks David to house sit, he jumps at the chance. Her only request is that David stay inside at night, which would be fine, except a boy is out there making strange sounds and staring into the window. David calls Carrie and Ivy for help, but not all is as it seems. What will happen in this next great adventure? This book will have a guest appearance with Sparky...

The countdown to extinction has begun! After Maia narrowly escapes from yet another execution attempt, she finds her life upended once again. As specters from her past reappear and friendships she had always counted on swiftly collapse around her, Maia is left struggling with her inner demons. All the while, the R’armimon Empire’s mighty Execution Fleet draws closer to Tansi, and everyone braces for annihilation. Maia races to find a way to stop the R’armimon and rediscover the true meaning of friendship, forgiveness, and courage. Will she be on time or is it already too late? Maia ...

What if you had the power to destroy the universe? An unimaginable power has awakened within Maia. As much as she wants to resume a regular life at ThulaSu, she realizes normalcy is an impossible quest. She has changed . . . forever. So has the world around her. As fifteen-year-old Maia battles a swiftly-strengthening storm of evil and struggles to regain her friends' trust, she understands the meaning of true strength. That real power is not about blasting everything that stands in her way just because she can, unless it serves the greater good. And sometimes, the greater good can demand ...

Some wishes should never come true. Back home from the Alliance Initiative, Maia is restless. She wants the Initiative to resume, she wishes to visit the energy summit poised to transform Tansi, she is desperate to break free of her stifling existence and join in the making of Tansi's future. When fate rips Maia's life apart in one cruel swoop and forces her to run for cover, Maia realizes her secret is out and her life is on the line. Thrust into her enemy's cross-hairs, there's no place left to hide. How long will Maia survive, if at all? Maia and the Regency Protocol is the third book of...

Secrets always find their way out. Thirteen-year-old Maia thinks she has seen it all. She has survived a soul-extraction attempt, been threatened with death, and faced off with saboteurs trying to bring down her nation. She lets nothing get to her anymore—not even the memories of her dead mother's terrifying communique. All Maia wants is for the Alliance Initiative to resume. She longs to visit the under-ocean civilization of the Jjord, ride the underwater transport lines, and to learn about the Jjordic energy farms that could save her ruined planet. Most of all, she wants to goof off ...

What if everything you believe is a lie? Maia has spent most of her life trying to run away from her past. When a chance encounter lands Maia in a dubious peace initiative, she has to walk down a road she had hoped never to tread. Little does she know that the real truth about her long-deceased mother is somewhere down this path. But before she gets to that, Maia will discover true friendship, face an unimaginable evil, and fight her deepest fears to save the world she loves. A planet on the brink of extinction. An enemy from the dark side of the universe. Only one girl and her secret stand...

As Violet Sidhu and her friends prepare to sell hats at the Halloway Hills Middle School Christmas fair, they discover their hats have gone missing! In book two of the Halloway Hills Middle School Mysteries, after a box of crocheted hats goes missing, Violet and her friends must come up with an alternative plan to raise money at the annual Christmas fair. When Violet discovers what’s happened to her hats, thanks to the new guy at school, getting them back turns out to be harder than she thought. Will Violet get her hats back in time for the school’s Christmas fair?

When Orange County, Florida, began its Literacy Project in 1994, Kyle Gonzalez set out to instill the lifelong joy of reading into her at-risk middle school students. She and Janet Allen delved into research and studied classroom approaches. As they reflected on the results, they discovered effective strategies that turn nonreaders into the most avid bookworms.

~~Live the Magic.~~ ~~ Love the Adventure.~~ While playing her flute at a football game, Ivy is drawn into a bet between a strange older student and some of the sophomore boys. Ivy knows that April is different, but she has no idea that April is one of the tree folk. Now she must spend the night in the haunted woods by the old apple orchard with April. Strange things happen in the forest at night, and soon Ivy is fighting for her life. Fans of The Chronicles of Narnia will love Dusky Hollows.

Twelve-year-old thieves Arthur and Wally are determined to steal their way up the ranks of the notorious Black Feathers gang. With loan sharks chasing after Arthur’s father and Wally’s brother’s hospital bill due, they’re in need of serious cash. Fast. When Arthur spots some wealthy strangers exiting a seemingly deserted mansion, he smells an opportunity for a big score. Little do the boys realize, they’ve stumbled upon Weirdwood Manor, the headquarters of a magical order who protect the Balance between the Real and Imaginary worlds.

Luke is the coolest sixth grader at Benjamin Wright Middle School. But when his dad dies unexpectedly—leaving the family penniless—his world is turned upside down. Forced to move with his family to Grandma’s house on Blackbeard Creek in the marsh, Luke must adjust to a strange, new life on the Georgia coast. In addition to the stress of being the new kid in school, Luke finds himself constantly teased and bullied by his mean cousin Buck. Just when he thinks life can’t get much worse, Luke almost drowns on a cold, moonless night while mullet jumping. Then, after Luke and Buck get ...

Nine-year-old Florence Williams’ parents are sitting behind bars for a crime they do not remember committing. When they are sentenced to prison, she is left with nowhere to belong. For four years after their arrest, Florence moves from house to house, getting shelter but missing a loving home. Her grandparents don’t want her. She even runs away to find her aunt, but she is found and returned to the Children’s Protective system. Finally, her Aunt Audrey is old enough to take her in and Florence, now thirteen, joins a special group of kids who call themselves The Wesley Club; full of ...

There’s something strange going on at school. The Breakfast Club Investigators haven't managed to solve a mystery in months – and, even worse, Marcus is worried that the group is going to break up! So when Gbenga, the captain of the school basketball team, comes to ask for their help Marcus knows this might just be the Investigator's last chance to prove themselves. The basketball team have had a streak of bad luck, and Marcus and his mates are sure there's more going on than meets the eye.

Jed's not your typical middle school geek. He is, to use the politically correct term, cardiovascularly challenged. And while his parents have attempted to shield him from the implications of being different for as long as they could (Jed was eight and at a friend's sister's birthday party when he blew his lips off onto the cake in front of everyone, finally prompting the "big talk" from his parents and an emergency superglue repair by his dad), seventh grade at Pine Hollow Middle School as a target of Robbie the supreme school bully and his pack of moronic toadies is rapidly becoming unbearable.

A fifteen-year experience of day-by-day, year-by-year, learning how to create an authentic Montessori education at home through elementary, middle, and high school. The main guide or teacher during these years had taken AMI teacher training courses for 0-3, 3-6, and 6-12 and had taught for many years. Even though this is not to be thought of as an instruction manual for Montessori homeschooling it is hoped that the book will be helpful for parents and teachers wanting to understand the value of a unique educational path, rather than thinking that all children should be educated exactly the ...