Ratty Barclay wasn’t supposed to be born a four-foot-tall, walking, talking rodent, but thanks to the Barclay family curse, he’s had to live in hiding from the rest of the world. All he wants for his thirteenth birthday is to return to his family’s abandoned estate on Fairweather Island to somehow break the curse. Then […]

Wizard West was dead for nearly an entire day before he noticed. And it is up to Faye, the daughter of West’s groundskeeper, to inform the wizard that he is a ghost who has lost all of his magical powers. (But not before the wizard tries transforming her into a cat!) To make matters worse, […]

Sally Ride was the first American female astronaut on the Space Shuttle Challenger. She explored the universe of possibilities.   Sally Ride is the second astronaut to be featured in this series. The first was Neil Armstrong.   Sally Ride was a wild child. She would have been friends with Amelia Earhart, who also had […]

Yash is the best athlete at Robinette Middle School. He’s so good, in fact, that he’s already been playing on the high school’s JV sports teams. Imagine his shock when he learns that his JV practices have kept him from earning a state-mandated credit for eighth-grade PE. To graduate, he has to take Physical Education […]

Ever since her dad died, eleven-year-old Jerry Blum and her mom have bounced around dead-end towns, staying in a series of rundown motels where her mother picks up housekeeping work and Jerry can get around in her wheelchair.  But the Slumbering Giant motel is different. Lights blink on and off in the surrounding trees, and people […]

Elsie dreams of becoming a brave warrior like her father, an archer fighting in England’s war against France. But life isn’t fair in 1348 Europe. Peasant girls like Elsie can’t be archers, knights, or anything exciting. Then, one day, in the forest, Elsie and her best friend discover a chest filled with stolen treasures and […]

Joe is ‘amazing.’ He knows this because wherever he goes, people always tell him he’s amazing. Amazing for sliding down the slide, for kicking a ball, even walking to get an ice cream, or even just eating an ice cream. Of course, being Amazing Joe is better than being Poor Joe. But why can’t he […]

Stephen Hawking was a groundbreaking scientist and a disability advocate. He defied boundaries.   I was thrilled when I found out Brad Meltzer was going to write about Stephen Hawking. I love this guy! He played himself in multiple episodes of The Big Bang Theory, and I like to believe he is as funny in […]

WARNING: This story contains the use of the ‘r’ word, guns, and sexual innuendos   Colin Fischer cannot stand to be touched. He does not like the color blue. He needs index cards to recognize facial expressions. But when a gun is found in the school cafeteria, interrupting a female classmate’s birthday celebration, Colin is […]

Isabel Beane is a shy girl who lives in a home full of havoc, hubbub, and hullabaloo. With five siblings, there is too much too much-ness. At the same time, there’s a new girl at school, Monica, who is immediately popular, but she’s also not very nice to Isabel. Isabel has never felt more invisible. […]