National Network for Equitable Library Service

Crash Coogan is a big jock. As long as he can remember, he has crashed through life, running over anyone or anything that stands in his way. So when the geeky pacifist kid Penn Webb moves onto his block, Crash immediately ridicules everything about him-including his friendship. Now a burly seventh grader, Crash scores spectacular touchdowns in each football game while Penn becomes a cheerleader. Crash saves money to buy the coolest pair of sneakers in the mall while Penn pickets a construction site to protest all shopping malls.

In Audrey Shafer's compelling debut novel, Gabe Pace remains trapped in Virginia's foster care system until a social worker finds his Uncle Vernon. As this crusty old Vietnam veteran connects with his nine-year-old nephew, Gabe grows to love his cantankerous but caring uncle. On his first day of sixth grade, however, Gabe discovers his uncle's dead body. Fearing a return to foster care, Gabe keeps Vernon's death a secret. But when he arrives home the next day, Gabe is shocked to find his uncle's body missing and a cryptic note in his mailbox: "I have a secret."

Baby Ruva lives with her giraffe family in a beautiful jungle. One sad day she is kidnapped and taken across the ocean to a horrible zoo. Thanks to four wise and magical friends she has met along the way, the baby giraffe is managing to survive, but time is running out. The zookeepers are going to kill her so they can use her cage for a new shipment of hyenas. Now she and her friends must outwit their evil captors and find their way back to "the warm place", which is their home in Africa.

Eleven-year-old Nhamo is running for her life. When the village witch finder decrees that she must marry a cruel stranger to propitiate an evil spirit, her only recourse is to steal a fishing boat and go looking for a father she has never met. Alone on the Musengezi River, Nhamo has meager resources to help her survive loneliness, hunger, wild animals, and even land mines. During the grueling months in her leaking boat and on a deserted island, she has only visions of her dead mother and other spirit ancestors to sustain her.

Darek is envious when his older brother, Clep, returns from a quest wearing dragon claws for a necklace. His brother has killed a Great Blue, the largest and most feared of all dragons. The next day the village will hold a great celebration, and Clep will be the guest of honor. Unable to sleep that night, Darek sneaks outside. He hears something whimpering and realizes that the slain dragon has left behind a newborn dragonling that nobody noticed. Calling on all his courage, Darek decides to return the dragonling to its home--a terrifying valley filled with dozens of deadly beasts.

When the village Elder tries to buy Darek's blue dragon for his daughter, Darek refuses to sell. The angry Elder makes Darek's father hunt down another dragon, but knowing that dragons are peaceful and love their children, Darek sets off with his best friend Pola to stop the hunt. Can Darek find a way to save the baby dragons without putting his father's life in danger?

Darek and his family and friends are returning from their dragonquest with something different: Zantor, a live baby dragon. The villagers are surprised that it is nothing like the fierce creatures the Zorians have grown up believing dragons to be.

Dave's carefree life of pranks and stickball in his Lower East Side New York neighborhood ends the day his papa dies. No one wants the 11-year-old 'rascal,' so Dave is shuffled off to the Hebrew Home for Boys, a.k.a. the Hell Hole for Brats. There he must contend with a brutal headmaster, bullies, freezing rooms, and institutional slop to ea- all on top of his personal losses. But at least Dave is not alone. The boys in his class are 'buddies' who look out for each other, and soon Dave meets some friends on the outside. Still a rascal at heart, Dave sneaks out of the orphanage at night.

Life is hard for 12-year-old Lucas. First Uncle Asa dies of consumption, then Lizy and Pa. Now Mama is sick. And Lucas is the only one left to take care of her and their Connecticut farm. By the time his neighbor tells him of a strange, new cure, it is too late-Mama has just died. Reeling with sorrow, Lucas wanders until he sees a "help wanted" sign for a doctor's apprentice. He feels better while he is helping to pull teeth, visit the sick, and bury the dead. When he discovers townspeople are dying of consumption here, too, he wants to help them.

The Barkers are going to adopt a child, and twins Morgie and Moffie couldn't be more excited. They can't wait to tell him all about dinosaurs, teach him to play baseball and show him how to have tea parties. But their new brother, Marcos, only speaks Spanish. It won't be easy, but the twins know that with a little effort, they can all learn the Spanish word for "family."