Elana K Arnold

Alder has always lived in his cozy little house in Southern California. An old, reliable, comforting walnut tree has stood between his house and the one next door. When a new family--with a particularly annoying girl his age named Oak--moves into the neighboring house, they cut the tree down. As Oak and Alder start school together, they can't imagine ever becoming friends. But they soon discover a series of mysterious, possibly magical, connections...

From Michael L. Printz honoree & National Book Award finalist Elana K. Arnold comes the harrowing story of a young girl's struggle to survive the Holocaust in Romania. Frederieke Teitler and her older sister, Astra, live in a house, in a city, in a world divided. Their father ran out on them when Rieke was only six, leaving their mother a wreck and their grandfather as their only stable family. He's done his best to provide for them and shield them...

"Gender-creative Riley knows just what to wear for every occasion during a busy week with family and friends"--

Bixby Alexander Tam (nicknamed Bat) has been the caretaker for Thor, the best skunk kit in the world...but the last day of third grade is quickly approaching, and Thor is almost ready to be released into the wild. The end of school also means that Bat has to say good-bye to his favorite teacher, and he worries about the summer care of Babycakes, their adorable class pet. Not only that, but his best friend is leaving for a long vacation in Canada....

Since her grandmother became her caretaker when she was four years old, Bisou Martel has lived a quiet life in a little house in Seattle. She's kept mostly to herself. She's been good. But then comes the night of homecoming, when she finds herself running for her life over roots and between trees, a fury of claws and teeth behind her. A wolf attacks. Bisou fights back. A new moon rises. And with it, questions. About the blood in Bisou's past, and...

Introducing Starla Jean! She's full of moxie, clever as a fox, and obsessed with catching a chicken she finds at the park. When Starla first sees the scrawny bird wandering around, she just knows they're destined for one another. Her dad says, "If you can catch it, you can keep it," and Starla Jean is not one to back down from a challenge. --from Amazon.

For Bixby Alexander Tam (nicknamed Bat), life is pretty great. He's the caretaker of the best baby skunk in the world-even Janie, his older sister, is warming up to Thor. When Janie gets a part in the school play and can't watch Bat after school, it means some pretty big changes. Someone else has to take care of the skunk kit in the afternoons, Janie is having sleepovers with her new friends, and Bat wants everything to go back to normal. He just...

"Have you ever walked a chicken on a leash? Well, chicken expert Starla Jean will let you know first hand, it's not easy. But that doesn't stop Starla from taking her pet chicken, Opal Egg, and her baby sister, Willa, out on a stroll through the neighborhood. On their walk, they stumble upon a mysterious bead. And then another! Before they know it, there's a conundrum on their hands, and it's up to Starla and her friends to figure out just who exactly...

Since her older brother died Scarlett has felt emotionally cut off from everyone on Catalina Island except for her horse, and she has become anorexic--but when she meets a strange boy named Will Cohen she begins to rediscover herself.

"Harriet Wermer investigates more mysteries during her stay on Marble Island"--