Leaving the security of home and family to attend school can be a daunting event in the life of a five-year-old. ​That's not the case for this kid.

The King of Kindergarten features a youngster who is capable and confident. He awakes early for his first day of school, washing up and dressing himself.  Well, almost. Shirt, overalls, socks. No problem. However tying shoelaces has yet to be mastered. Anyone who has worked with five-somethings will appreciate this visual detail.

With preparation and encouragement from his parents, this guy is ready for the day's challenge!  He's got a bright smile, has practiced saying his name, is ready to give a friendly wave, and even brought a chocolate pudding cup to share.

Barnes gives immediacy to the narrative, writing in second person future tense. Parents describe to their son not only what will happen when he goes to school, but offer suggestions on how he can respond in each new situation. 

Brantley-Newton's illustrations are bursting with exuberance. Each page is a joyous celebration of color.  Sunshine motifs sparkle across the pages. The morning rays are trumpets, heralding the beginning of a new adventure.

Jingwen, his younger brother Yanghao, and mother venture into the unknown, immigrating to Australia,  Mom works the night shift at a local bakery and Jingwen cares for his outgoing, impulsive younger sibling while she is away.
​It's hard. School is strange. He doesn’t understand what people are saying. Kids at school ignore him.  It’s like moving to Mars.

Relocation is exponentially difficult because his father is not with the family. Dad was killed in a car accident fourteen days before Jingwen’s birthday. This ten-year-old carries a heavy pocketful of resentment, guilt, and loneliness.

Just South of Home begins as the story of mismatched cousins who must spend a summer together. Then the narrative takes an unexpected turn.

​Sarah and her brother Ellis live in a small Georgia community. Everyone knows everyone and everyone's business. Sarah’s grandmother, always referred to as Mrs. Greene, is a Church Deaconess Board member. She strictly enforces “the rules” and bakes the best red velvet cake.

This summer Ellis and Sarah won’t need to spend their days living under Mrs. Greene’s rigid rules. Mama trusts the two to be on their own while their parents are at work. Then a complication arises. Cousin Jamie comes to stay with them and she's not happy about living in a provincial southern town. Sarah is worried and with good reason. Jamie has "sticky fingers" and a knack for getting into trouble. 

Mae and Hugo create a documentary, interviewing the train’s passengers and recording each individual’s perspectives on love.
A charming romance filled with humor, heartbreak, and transcontinental travel.

Norris Kaplan, a black French-Canadian leaves all that is familiar and heads to the weird world of high school in Austin, Texas. The school’s counselor offers him a blank notebook. He decides to create a field guide, documenting high school life. He catalogs cheerleaders, athletes, and loners with biting insight, Kaplan carries the diary with him everywhere, skewering his classmates with his wit. Then he makes the mistake of showing his diary to a student. Mistake. Bad mistake.

Norris realizes that several of his initial assessments are not only inaccurate, but cruel. The cheerleader is more than a “laboratory engineered little bag of evil.”
The tall rich kid who wants to play ice hockey has a pain-filled history.
​Norris has misjudged his classmates. It may be too late to repair the damage that his notebook has caused.

​Lucy Everhart lives in a small town on the Massachusetts Coast. Her father is a member of the Salem Police dive team. Her mother, a marine biologist with a special interest in sharks died five years ago of a brain aneurysm. Lucy and her next-door neighbor Fred are inseparable companions. Recently they undertook a monumental summer project: creating a field guide to document Rockport animals. Fred, the detail-oriented science nerd writes the copy. Lucy illustrates.
A shark is caught off the coast and brought ashore. Lucy is baffled and intrigued. She wants to learn more about sharks in order to precisely enter the fish into the field guide.
 Without warning, Fred dies in a tragic drowning accident.
Lucy’s narrative is raw, painful, and honest.  Her struggles to make sense of the deaths of her friend and her mother are revealed in simple details. Her voice is one of wonder, hope and small moments of joy.