National Network for Equitable Library Service

When Cody and his friends accept a challenge from a local gang to steal a park bench, their main concern is keeping themselves on the gang’s good side. But Cody quickly learns that the theft is no harmless prank. Not only are he and his friends in deeper with the gang now than they ever imagined they’d be, but Cody may also lose out on a great opportunity for his future if they ever get found out.

Jake loves to hunt for treasure, so when the famous pirate Captain Kidd asks him to be his cabin boy, he can't refuse. But Jake soon learns that bringing home an invisible pirate can be a real disaster, particularly when the pirate is mortally terrified of his teenage sister. There are many rules of the sea, and Captain Kidd's own cabin boy, Richard Barleycorn, teaches Jake how to face his biggest fear, Boris Baxter, the meanest boy in the whole school.

Tara’s sister died a year ago, on the day that Tara didn’t answer her phone when Hannah called. Hannah stepped in front of a bus. Now Tara lives with the guilt of wondering if things would be different if she had been there when Hannah needed her most. Competing in slam poetry competitions is the only way Tara can keep her sister’s memory alive and deal with all the unanswered questions. But at the same point, Tara is going to have to let Hannah rest in peace, and she will need to find a way to move on.

Fifteen-year-old Henry Holloway isn't immoral, he's just hungry. His mother died when he was nine, leaving him to be raised by his Uncle Andy and his friends, all amiable small-time crooks. When Uncle Andy is sent to prison, Henry takes up residence in an abandoned tree house in order to escape the notice of Social Services. His mission? To survive on his own while preserving his cherished independence. Fortunately, Henry possesses all the skills it takes to be a successful house burglar.

Jackson knows how to get what he wants. Whether it's sweet-talking his friends into buying lunch or convincing teachers to give him extensions, he feels entitled to take whatever he wants—even a day off school or a new pair of shoes. Now he's set his sights on Abby, a troubled girl fresh out of juvie who only has eyes for Bryce, the go-to dealer of a dangerous new drug called kryptonite.

Amanda Moss is a young hairstylist with ambitions to become a musician and play in a band. She was adopted at age three after her parents were killed in a car crash. At least that's what her adoptive mother Shelley has always told her. Shelley is also a hairdresser. But beyond that, mother and daughter don't see eye to eye on much. Then one day Amanda's life changes dramatically when a stranger shows up and tells her a very different story about her parents. Her real mother has just died of cancer while serving a life sentence for the murder of Amanda's father.

Johnny Maverick and Tom Morgan are in a race for the league's goal-scoring trophy, but one or two other things are getting in the way. Like a joke on the coach. And, worse, the smelly socks of death...

Sam Stringbini, the youngest son in a family of circus performers, is living every kid's dream, except for the fact that he is no good on the high wire, trapezes freak him out and magic mystifies him. When the Triple Top Circus is threatened by repeated acts of sabotage, Sam is the number one suspect. To clear his name, Sam enlists the help of his cousin, Harriet, and discovers that, while he may never be a sword-swallower or a lion-tamer, he just might be able to save the circus.

At first Kaz intends to help the old lady who’s fallen in the park. But then he starts thinking about how he never gets what he wants. The next thing he knows, he’s running away with her purse. The purse contains only five dollars and a battered watch. When Kaz learns who the old woman is and where the watch came from, he begins to understand consequences in a new way.

Handyman Cedric O'Toole likes his simple life. He lives by himself on a hardscrabble farm, collecting sheds full of junk and dreaming of his next invention. Then one day a slick city lawyer drives down his lane and his nightmare begins. Lori-Anne Wilkins, the wife of a wealthy local businessman, has fallen to her death from a deck Cedric built, and the furious widower has slapped him with a lawsuit. When Cedric goes to check out the accident site, he discovers that someone has tampered with the railing around the deck. It appears he's been set up to take the blame. But who might want Mrs.