Frank Carlson Library

It rained the day we went to see Brandon Winterton's grave. Hope Smith can't stand rich people—the dictionary magnate family the Wintertons most of all. Not since she and her twin brother, Gordon, learned that their dad was one. So when Gordon enters the family into the Winterton's charity spelling bee, Hope wants nothing to do with it. But with their mom losing her job and the family facing eviction from the motel where they live, they desperately...

From #1 New York Times bestselling author Ernest Cline comes a mostly true tall tale about an unexpected friendship between a young girl and a music-loving colony of bats.

After losing her mother, thirteen-year-old Opal moves in with her uncle Roscoe on the family farm. There, Opal bonds with Uncle Roscoe over music and befriends a group of orphaned, music-loving bats. But just as the farm is starting to feel like home, the bats’

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Coretta Scott King Illustrator Honor Book

Robert F. Sibert Honor Book

An evocative picture book biography about the prolific life of Jackie Ormes, whose groundbreaking cartoons became some of the first empowering depictions of Black women in America!

Jackie Ormes made history. She was the first Black woman cartoonist to be nationally syndicated in the United States. She was also a journalist, fashionista, philanthropist,

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A heartwarming tale of a girl waiting for her beloved Papá to return when the monarchs fly south to their home in Mexico.
Lucía loves to watch the monarchs' migration from her home in Mexico with Papá. But this year, the monarchs' journey north holds extra weight; Papá is heading north, too, to look for work. He promises her that when "the weather turns cold and the monarcas return, our winged ancestors...

A girl discovers a connection between her home in the Philippines and her new home in the U.S. through a special garden in this middle grade novel that celebrates nourishment and growth.
Twelve-year-old Isabel is the new kid in her San Francisco middle school. It’s the first time in many years that she’ll be living with her mother again. Mama's job in the US allowed Isabel and her grandparents to live more comfortably in...

In this twisty middle grade mystery for fans of Knives Out, The Inheritance Game, and The Westing Game, thirteen-year-old twins Hope and Gordon enter a spelling bee in a last-ditch effort to save their family from financial ruin, only to find themselves in a cut-throat competition to uncover a fortune and dark secrets about the wealthy relations they’ve never known.
Hope Smith can’t stand rich people—the...

The Spanish-language edition of the beloved Newbery Honor–winning novel about three sisters who travel to Oakland, California, in 1968 to meet the mother who abandoned them, from award-winning author Rita Williams-Garcia!

Eleven-year-old Delphine is like a mother to her two younger sisters, Vonetta and Fern. She's had to be, ever since their mother, Cecile, left them seven years ago for a radical new life in California.

But

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Encanto meets Coraline in this "supremely successful, atmospheric" (Kirkus Reviews) middle grade story that deals with family ties, fear of change, and generational trauma as it follows a girl who must convince an old, haunted house to release its hold on her and her family.
Eleven-year-old Micah has no interest in moving out of her grandfather's house. She loves living with Poppop and their shared hobby of driving around...

"Take a lively look at the biology of plants on Earth and their vast importance to our planet, with this wide-ranging exploration from an award-winning team."--Publisher's description. "On land and in the seas, green plants make the oxygen and food that many living things--including us--need to survive. Covering the evolution of the first plants billions of years ago, the secret, microscopic workings of trees and leaves today, and the role of plants...

"Cece Bell loves music and collecting old record albums, her introduction explains, especially albums featuring animal artists. The bouncing harmonies of the Barbershop Beagles, the elegant crooning of the elephant Ella Fontaine, the hilarious rhymes of the Hip-Hop Hedgehogs--all are represented in this quirky ABC book that draws on the creator's personal collection of albums, memorabilia, and lyrics dating between 1944 and 1984, the heyday of album...