Maggie Malone and the Mostly Magical Boots by Jenna McCarthy & Carolyn Evans

If you could be anyone—who would you choose?

Sixth grader Maggie Malone is having her worst birthday ever. She's the new girl at Pinkerton Middle School where she has zero friends. And her favorite gift-giving aunt sent her a pair of boring, brown, hand-me-down boots. (Yeah, those'll make her popular.) Maggie wishes her life could be more like tween pop sensation Becca Starr's.

BAM!

When Maggie looks around there's no ball gown or handsome prince—just a bright spotlight...and twenty thousand screaming fans. It turns out Maggie's boots are more than a little magical. And now she gets to spend a day in the life of anyone she chooses...

Be careful what you wish for...

Series: Maggie Malone (Book 1)
Paperback: 224 pages
Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky (May 6, 2014)

The Time of the Fireflies by Kimberley Griffiths Little

Critically acclaimed author Kimberley Griffiths Little spins a thrilling story of one girl's race to unravel the curse that has haunted her family for generations.

When Larissa Renaud starts receiving eerie phone calls on a disconnected old phone in her family's antique shop, she knows she's in for a strange summer. A series of clues leads her to the muddy river banks, where clouds of fireflies dance among the cypress knees and cattails each evening at twilight. The fireflies are beautiful and mysterious, and they take her on a magical journey through time, where Larissa learns secrets about her family's tragic past -- deadly, curse-ridden secrets that could harm the future of her family as she knows it. It soon becomes clear that it is up to Larissa to prevent history from repeating itself and a fatal tragedy from striking the people she loves.

With her signature lyricism, Kimberley Griffiths Little weaves a thrilling tale filled with family secrets, haunting mystery, and dangerous adventure.

Publication date: 7/29/2014
Pages: 368
Age range: 8 - 12 Years

The Actual & Truthful Adventures of Becky Thatcher by Jessica Lawson & Iacopo Bruno (Illustrator)

Becky Thatcher has her side of the story to tell—and it’s a whopper—in this creative spin on Mark Twain’s beloved The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, complete with illustrations.

Tom Sawyer’s and Huckleberry Finn’s adventures are legendary, but what about the story you haven’t heard? In 1860, eleven-year-old Becky Thatcher is the new girl in town, determined to have adventures like she promised her brother Jon before he died. With her Mama frozen in grief and her Daddy busy as town judge, Becky spends much of her time on her own, getting into mischief. Before long, she joins the boys at school in a bet to steal from the Widow Douglas, and Becky convinces her new best friend, Amy Lawrence, to join her.

But the theft doesn’t go as planned, and Widow Douglas ends up being unfairly accused of grave robbing as a result. So Becky concocts a plan to clear the Widow’s name. If she pulls it off, she might just get her Mama to notice her again, as well as fulfill her promise to Jon in a most unexpected way. That is, if that tattletale Tom Sawyer will quit following her around.

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers
Publication date: 7/1/2014
Pages: 224
Age range: 8 - 12 Years

So Not Okay by Nancy Rue

There is no such thing as neutral.

According to the Ambassadors 4 Kids Club, one out of every four students is bullied—and 85% of these situations never receive intervention. Parents, students, and teachers alike have amped up the discussion of how to solve the bullying problem for a networked generation of kids.

Written by bestselling author, Nancy Rue, each book in the Mean Girl Makeover trilogy focuses on a different character’s point of view: the bully, the victim, and the bystander. Each girl has a different personality so that every reader can find a character she relates to. The books, based on Scripture, show solid biblical solutions to the bullying problem set in a story for kids.

So Not Okaytells the story of Tori Taylor, a quiet sixth grader at Gold Country Middle School in Grass Valley, California. Tori knows to stay out of the way of Kylie, the queen bee of GCMS. When an awkward new student named Ginger becomes Kylie's new target, Tori whispers a prayer of thanks that it’s not her. But as Kylie’s bullying of Ginger continues to build, Tori feels guilty and tries to be kind to Ginger. Pretty soon, the bullying line of fire directed toward Ginger starts deflecting onto Tori, who must decide if she and her friends can befriend Ginger and withstand Kylie’s taunts, or do nothing and resume their status quo. Tori’s decision dramatically changes her trajectory for the rest of the school year.

Features & Benefits:

• Book #1 in a new middle grade fiction series for tween girls
• Bullying isthetopic of awareness in schools and the media
• Series will tell the story in three different perspectives: the bully, the victim, and the bystander
• So Not Okaytells the story of the bystander, a role in which many tweens find themselves

Publisher: Nelson, Thomas, Inc.
Publication date: 5/13/2014
Pages: 256
Age range: 8 - 12 Years