Jeff's life would be so much better if he were the one directing itClose-up: Mary running toward him with tears in her eyes. "Oh, my darling, I couldn't wait to get back." Cut to long shot: Jeff puts his arms around her. They kiss. Fade out.Jeff already sees everything as a scene in a movie, planning the camera angles and imagining people reading the lines he'll write for them. As soon as he saves up enough money to move to California, he's going to quit his...

Can Marcus be friends with a girl without thinking about sex all the time?Marcus Rosenbloom wants to be a writer almost as much as he doesn't want to be a virgin anymore. At seventeen years old, Marcus thinks, shouldn't he have done it already? Crossed over to the other side, where everyone is different, more adult, more . . . experienced?His friend Alec is smooth and charming around girls; Marcus definitely can't talk to him about his doubts. The only perso...

Nobody said New York City was easy, but for Tolley Holtz, it's homeTolley Holtz would rather be exploring the city with his friends, talking about the Yankees, and discussing what President Roosevelt is going to do about the Depression than watching his little brother, Bubber. With his mother working all day in a garment factory and his father looking for work in Baltimore, Tolley's family depends on him.But suddenly, things go from hard to unthinkable. When...

When you're alone, all you have to think about is yourselfWillis Pierce knows she's out there somewhere. He doesn't know when she'll appear, but he knows that when he meets the girl of his dreams, they'll recognize each other from the look in their eyes. In the meantime, Willis eats frozen pizza in his empty apartment and runs at a nearby track late at night, training for an imaginary race.Sophie Browne can run a farm all by herself, but now she's headed to ...

George feels as if he's going through life with his eyes half closed—but sometimes that's how you bump into the best surprisesGeorge has been in love with Julie since they were twelve years old. For six years, they've barely taken a step without each other, and and every time George imagines his future, he sees Julie in it. She'll be a doctor and they'll stay in their small town and always be able to see the bright lights of New York City across the Hudson River. Th...

In 1944, as World War II is raging across Europe, fifteen-year-old Jack Raab dreams of being a hero. Leaving New York City, his family, and his boyhood behind, Jack uses a false I.D. and lies his way into the U.S. Air Force.From their base in England, he and his crew fly twenty-four treacherous bombing missions over occupied Europe. The war is almost over and Hitler near defeat when they fly their last mission -- a mission destined for disaster. Shot down far behind enemy lines, Ja...

At fifteen, Tony Laporte is what many people would call a throughly spoiled kid. He gets away with a lot because his parents want him to have all the things they never had. But when they surprise him by refusing to let him keep a stray dog he has found, Tony decides to teach them a lesson by running off in his mother's old Plymouth. Driving without a license in the middle of a severe snowstorm, he picks up a hitchhiker named Cindy Reichert, an aloof girl who has always had difficulty formi...

This short story was written thirty-eight years ago by the prize-winning novelist for young readers, Harry Mazer, and first published in 2008 by Worthy Shorts.

From renowned Newbery-winning author Jerry Spinelli comes a powerful story about how not fitting in just might lead to an incredible life. This classic book is perfect for fans of Gordon Korman and Carl Hiaasen.Just like other kids, Zinkoff rides his bike, hopes for snow days, and wants to be like his dad when he grows up. But Zinkoff also raises his hand with all the wrong answers, trips over his own feet, and falls down with laughter over a word like "Jabip."...

THE #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING SERIES WITH OVER 80 MILLION COPIES SOLD • Junie B. Jones learns that there are rules around finders keepers in the hit chapter book series that keeps kids laughing and “makes reading fun” (Dav Pilkey, author of Dog Man).“Junie B. is the darling of the young-reader set.”—USA TodayMeet the World’s Funniest Kindergartner—Junie B. Jones! A terrible thing happened to Junie B.! And it’s...

**NATIONAL BOOK AWARD WINNER • NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The acclaimed author of Red at the Bone tells the moving story of her childhood in mesmerizing poems.A NEWBERY HONOR BOOK • WINNER OF THE CORETTA SCOTT KING BOOK AWARD • A KIRKUS REVIEWS AND BOOK RIOT BEST MIDDLE GRADE BOOK OF THE CENTURY****“Moving and resonant . . . captivating.”—***The Wall Street JournalI am born in Ohio but*the stories of South Carolina alre...

This hilarious novel from award-winning author Wendy Mass is now available in paperback! It's Amanda's 11th birthday and she is super excited---after all, 11 is so different from 10. But from the start, everything goes wrong. The worst part of it all is that she and her best friend, Leo, with whom she's shared every birthday, are on the outs and this will be the first birthday they haven't shared together. When Amanda turns in for the night, glad to have her birthday behind her, she wakes ...