The Ghoul Of Windydown Vale

A thrilling middle-grade mystery, The Ghoul of Windydown Vale is from the author of Cleo Porter and the Body Electric. “Don't miss this book! It takes you to another world—and then terrifies you with surprise after surprise. Great ghoulish fun!” —R. L. Stine, author of Goosebumps and Fear Street In this action-packed mystery from award-winning author Jake Burt, Copper Inskeep holds Windydown Vale's deepest and darkest secret: he is the ghoul that haunts the Vale, donning a gruesome costume to scare travelers and townsfolk away from the dangers of the surrounding swamps. When a terrified girl claims she and her father were attacked by a creature - one that could not have been Copper - it threatens not just Copper's secret, but the fate of all Windydown.

Nicki Demere is an orphan and a pickpocket. She also happens to be the U.S. Marshals’ best bet to keep a family alive. . . . The marshals are looking for the perfect girl to join a mother, father, and son on the run from the nation’s most notorious criminals. After all, the bad guys are searching for a family with one kid, not two, and adding a streetwise girl who knows a little something about hiding things may be just what the marshals need. Nicki swears she can keep the Trevor family safe, but to do so she’ll have to dodge hitmen, cyberbullies, and the specter of standardized testing, all while maintaining her marshal-mandated B-minus average. As she barely balances the responsibilities of her new identity, Nicki learns that the biggest threats to her family’s security might not lurk on the road from New York to North Carolina, but rather in her own past. Jake Burt's debut middle-grade novel Greetings from Witness Protection! is as funny as it is poignant.

"One of the best stories about bullying for middle grades. Highly recommended."--School Library Journal, starred review Bell Kirby is an expert at systems, whether he’s designing the world’s most elaborate habitat for his pet chinchilla, re-creating Leonardo da Vinci’s greatest inventions in his garage, or avoiding Parker Hellickson, the most diabolical bully Village Green Elementary has ever seen. Since third grade, Parker has tormented Bell, who’s spent two long years devising a finely tuned system that keeps him out of Parker’s way. Sure, it means that Bell can’t get a drink when he wants to, can’t play with his best friend on the playground, and can’t tell his parents about his day, but at least he’s safe. Until Daelynn Gower touches down in his classroom like a tornado. Bell’s not sure why the new girl, with her rainbow hair, wild clothes, and strange habits, is drawn to him, but he knows one thing--she means trouble. It’s bad enough that she disrupts Bell’s secret system, but when Daelynn becomes the bully’s new target, Bell is forced to make an impossible decision: Finally stand up to Parker. . . Or join him.

From the author of Greetings from Witness Protection! comes another unforgettable middle-grade novel about friendship and family. Devin wants to hit it big on the internet by pulling a stunt at an NBA game—one the entire nation will be watching. Addison can’t turn Devin down, but he can barely manage talking to his teachers without freezing up. How’s he supposed to handle the possibility of being a viral sensation? Addi’s not sure why Devin is bent on pulling off this almost-impossible feat. Maybe it has something to do with Devin’s dad’s hospital bills. Maybe it all goes back to the Double-Barreled Monkey Bar Backflip of Doom. Or maybe it’s something else entirely. No matter what, though, it’s risky for both of them, and when the big day finally comes, Devin’s plan threatens more than just their friendship. With memorable protagonists and a wonderful supporting cast, The Right Hook of Devin Velma is a one-of-kind knockout in middle-grade fiction.

A clever young girl looking for adventure gets more than she bargained for when she stumbles into a nest of robbers in this tale baked with magic, fun, and friendship! Evie Baker is a great story-teller, an avid prankster, and a fantastic baker. And while she loves her parent’s bakery, she has no plans to stay in their small town and become stuffy or static. Evie wants to go on adventures and she knows just what she needs to do it! With her best friend, Cecily, by her side, Evie sets off into the Old Forest to find one of the Fel, a group of crow-like magical creatures who can’t lie. She is sure her family’s irresistible raspberry tart and a carefully crafted deal will get them to take her on a magical adventure—without getting her eaten or worse. But the forest hides many dangers and when they finally find their Fel, they also discover a nest of robbers! Having seen the Robber Lord’s face, Evie is whisked away into hiding for her own protection. But even in the queen’s own city, trouble has a way of finding her... YA novelist Caitlin Sangster makes her middle-grade debut in A Baker's Guide to Robber Pie, a fun fairytale filled with adventure, friendship, baking, and the power of a tale well-told.

Worm is thrilled when it's his turn to take care of the class pet, Nat the Gnat. But everything goes wrong when he leaves the lid of Nat's tank open. Can Worm make sure the class pet returns safe and sound before Mrs. Mulch finds out? This all-new, original I Can Read story captures the fun of the #1 New York Times bestselling Diary of a Worm picture book series by Doreen Cronin and Harry Bliss, and will leave beginning readers wiggling for more! This Level 1 I Can Read book is perfect for children learning to sound out words and sentences.

Set against the backdrop of Caribbean folklore, Lisa Stringfellow’s spellbinding middle grade debut tells of a grieving girl and a vengeful mermaid and will enchant readers who loved Kacen Callender’s Hurricane Child or Christian McKay Heidicker’s Scary Stories for Young Foxes. Ever since her mother’s death, Kela feels every bit as broken as the shards of glass, known as “mermaid’s tears,” that sparkle on the Caribbean beaches of St. Rita. So when Kela and her friend Lissy stumble across an ancient-looking comb in a coral cave, with all she’s already lost, Kela can’t help but bring home her very own found treasure. Far away, deep in the cold ocean, the mermaid Ophidia can feel that her comb has been taken. And despite her hatred of all humans, her magic requires that she make a bargain: the comb in exchange for a wish. But what Kela wants most is for her mother to be alive. And a wish that big will exact an even bigger price… Don’t miss the novel that Newbery-winning author Kelly Barnhill calls “one of the most promising works of fiction in a long time”!

Fans of Jerry Spinelli's Maniac Magee and Louis Sachar's Holes will enjoy this story about a boy and the ancient secrets that hide deep in the heart of the Florida everglades near a place called Muck City. When Charlie moves to the small town of Taper, Florida, he discovers a different world. Pinned between the everglades and the swampy banks of Lake Okeechobee, the small town produces sugar cane . . . and the fastest runners in the country. Kids chase muck rabbits in the fields while the cane is being burned and harvested. Dodging flames and blades and breathing smoke, they run down the rabbits for three dollars a skin. And when they can do that, running a football is easy. But there are things in the swamp, roaming the cane at night, that cannot be explained, and they seem connected to sprawling mounds older than the swamps. Together with his step-second cousin "Cotton" Mack, the fastest boy on the muck, Charlie hunts secrets in the glades and on the muck flats where the cane grows secrets as old as the soft earth, secrets that haunted, tripped, and trapped the original native tribes, ensnared conquistadors, and buried runaway slaves. Secrets only the muck knows.