When a new boy comes to grade five and tells everyone his name is Queen, Evelyn, who is an only child with a strict upbringing, is both aghast and fascinated. Sara Cassidy's acclaimed novel, A Boy Named Queen, is now available in paperback!

Allie loves baseball. It's the one thing that has been consistent in her lately complicated life. Allie's father left recently, and now Allie has a new family -- her mother's new girlfriend, Phyllis, and son Miles have moved in. It's taking some adjustment, mostly because Miles seems determined to get under her skin. Things start looking up when Allie gets invited to join the boy's baseball team as their new pitcher. But then Miles announces he's quitting the boy's team and tries out for Allie's old team -- a girl's team! Allie is sure he's doing it just to annoy her, but Miles insists that he just likes the girl's style of play better. As Allie struggles to find her place on the boy's team, she starts to see that Miles is just trying to fit in as well, and that it may be even harder for him than it has been for her. [Fry reading level - 4.2

In this fantastical story, a flock of feathery friends show up for a feast! Lunch turns into bird food when a little girl starts feeding birds at the bus stop. First, a pigeon she names Serious comes pecking, and then Fancy and Sleepy gather to gobble up the offerings. But what happens when more and more birds want to join in on the feast? And what are all these fantastical birds doing in the city, anyway? This delightfully outlandish story by Sara Cassidy, beautifully illustrated by Geraldo Valério, creator of My Book of Birds and Busy, Busy Birds, explores a child's wonder, a parent's preoccupation and an ordinary afternoon that escalates into a surreal adventure. Key Text Features illustrations

Filip, the ten-year-old son of Croatian immigrants, lives in a boring suburb of the big city, where he passes his time either at school or in his cozy kitchen, googling everything from dinosaurs to the Hubble Space Telescope. When his favorite uncle gets sick, Filip turns to Google for answers. Instead he receives a visit from the Great Googlini, a tiny woman in Converse sneakers who swirls out of the computer vents. She's not really a genie, she explains: "I'm more of an archivist." Her visit is a little bit of magic that lets Filip see the magic all around him. Ultimately about the things we can know and the things we can't, this is a smart, touching, funny chapter book about growing up, braving tough times and looking for answers.

For as long as Saanvi can remember, she has been friends with her elderly neighbor Helen. They play cards and garden together and, especially, care for the wild birds that visit Helen's yard. When Helen dies suddenly, a "For Sale" sign goes up, and movers arrive, emptying the house of its furniture and stripping the yard of its birdfeeders. The sparrows and hummingbirds disappear. Soon a bulldozer tears down Helen's house. All winter, Saanvi walks numbly past the property as developers begin to build condos. Then one spring day, amid the dust and turmoil of construction, she finds a weathered playing card wedged between two rocks. She holds it to her chest, and finally sobs. After a tearful night, Saanvi wakes inspired. She slathers peanut butter on pinecones to hang from tree branches, hammers together a birdhouse from scrap wood and drags a kitchen stool outside to hold a bowl of water. Finally, she retrieves a nest that has been unraveling on Helen's old property and places it in a tree in her own yard. Saanvi's yard soon fills with Helen's birds. They have a home again. This beautifully illustrated, wordless graphic novel shows Saanvi's journey through close friendship, then hollowing loss and change, until she finally finds hope.

Resourceful fourteen-year-old Odette is on the move again, traveling as a stowaway on a cheese cart with her hapless mother, Anneline. They are in Burgundy, France, in 1799, fleeing yet another calamity caused by Anneline (who is prone to killing people accidentally). At dawn they find themselves in a town called Nevers, which is filled with eccentric characters, including a man who obsessively smells hands, another who dreams of becoming a chicken and a donkey that keeps the town awake at night, braying about his narrow life. As Odette establishes a home in an abandoned guardhouse, she makes a friend in the relaxed Nicois and finds work as a midwife's assistant. She and Nicois uncover a mystery that may lead to riches and, more important for Odette, a sense of belonging.

When ten-year-old Cyrus sees a For Sale sign plunged into his front lawn, it's a complete and utter disaster. Usually, his younger brother, Rudy, is the scaredy-cat, but for the first time in his life, Cyrus is terrified. He's lived at 637 Petunia Boulevard since he came to live with his adoptive mom and dad at two months old. Won't he go hurtling into outer space without these four familiar walls to hold him in? Luckily, Cyrus has a few sneaky tricks up his sleeve to stop this moving business before it even gets started.

A nameless boy finds treasure, courage, and clues to his past in this hilarious high-seas adventure. The Greasy Lobster, a pirate ship run by the notorious Captain Gallows, is no place for a kid. But when a young orphan arrives on board, the boy has no choice but to take the captain's orders and get to work gutting fish in the galley. Without family, freedom, or even a name to call his own, the boy's fate appears to be sealed, until fortune arrives in the least likely (and most disgusting) of places. Can he really turn his luck around in this ship full of thieving pirates, and does one of those pirates hold the key to this mysterious past?

Angie lives in an old car with her brother and mother. Homeless after their father left to find work, the family struggles to stay together and live as normally as possible. It is difficult though. Between avoiding the police and finding new places to park each night, it is a constant struggle. When Angie discovers slam poetry, she finds a new way to express herself and find meaning and comfort in a confusing world.

Abuse at the hands of his mother's boyfriend has left fifteen-year-old Tuck broken and untrusting. But then he falls hard for his childhood friend Grace and starts to imagine a life where he is happy. At the fast-food restaurant where he works, Tuck is asked to explore starting up a union. His new sense of purpose, combined with his growing love for Grace, helps Tuck come to terms with his pain and find the strength to begin the healing process.