Bullied by two mean girls in her sixth-grade class, a lonely, plump girl gains self-confidence and makes new friends after a mysterious fox gently bites her.

"When the family minivan needs replacing, Sam has the perfect plan to turn the new car into a monster minivan, complete with a dragon painted on it. But first, Sam has to convince his family why a monster minivan is the best choice--not to mention learn how to paint a dragon!"--

A ghost saved twelve-year-old Maddie's life when she was an infant, her Granny Lane claims, so Maddie must always remember that she is special. But it's hard to feel special when you've spent your life shuffled from one foster home to another. And now that she's at the East Tennessee Children's Home, Maddie feels even less special. She longs for a place to call home. She even has a "book of houses" in which she glues pictures of places she'd like...

The quilting novel Marianne Fons calls "a truly enjoyable read" about "the power of quilts to connect, heal, and restore the soul..." When Emma Byrd moves into the house of her dreams in the small mountain community of Sweet Anne's Gap, she knows that making friends may prove to be her biggest challenge. Her husband loves his new job and her kids are finding their way at school. But Emma - no natural when it comes to talking to strangers - will...

Frances O'Roark Dowell is acclaimed for the rich characterizations in her poignant coming-of-age novels. Drawing on her experience as a colonel's daughter, Dowell delivers an evocative portrait of a 12-year-old girl whose view of life, war, and her dad- Fort Hood's base commander-changes as her corpsman brother sends home haunting images from Vietnam. An eloquent narration captures the emotional intensity of the novel's gripping prose.

New York Times best-selling author Frances O'Roark Dowell has garnered the Edgar Award and the Christopher Medal for her keen-eyed, humorous fiction. Embarrassed by her family's offbeat lifestyle, Janie Gorman lives with her modern-hippy parents on a rustic goat farm. Smart, creative, and a bit quirky, Janie longs to be seen as normal. But having to milk goats every day is not helping her reach that goal.

Having spent her youth travelling the world, Edgar Award winner Frances O'Roark Dowell is the author of the critically acclaimed Shooting the Moon. A compelling coming-of-age story, The Kind of Friends We Used to Be will resonate in the minds of listeners of all ages long after its conclusion.

In the old days, when Kate had no interest in romance, she never cared what other people thought. Now, it appeared, love was turning her into a rotten human being.

Eleven-year-old Kate Faber wishes she could talk to her best friend Marylin about this. But Marylin is no longer her best friend. Or is she? Kate and Marylin had always been the kind of best friend who lived on the same block for their entire lives and who could agree on the kind...