National Network for Equitable Library Service

Sixteen-year-old Jolene, named after the girl in the Dolly Parton song, is from a long line of lowlifes, but at least they're musical lowlifes. Her mother is a tanning-salon manager who believes she can channel her karaoke habit into a professional singing career. Jolene's dad, a failed bass player, has gone back to the family demolition business and lives by the company motto: "We do not build things; we only tear them down." But Jolene and her big brother, Matt, are true musicians, writing songs together that make everything Jo hates about their lives matter less.

Paramedic Ashley Grant is settling into her new life in the Caribbean, although sometimes she still feels like a fish out of water. The ambulance is called to a fire at a prestigious resort, and Ashley recognizes the victim as a hotel chef and the cousin of her friend Darlene. When a second death occurs, the police are quick to close the case. But Darlene isn't satisfied, and she drags the unwitting Ashley into the investigation. Does this idyllic beach resort have a dark side? Blue Water Hues is the second book in the Ashley Grant Mystery series.

Ten-year-old Caspar "Caz" Cadman loves baseball and has a great arm. He loves the sounds, the smells, the stats. When his family moves from Toronto to a suburb of Seattle, the first thing he does is try out for the local summer team, the Redburn Ravens. Even though Caz is thrilled when he makes the team, he worries because he has a big secret. No one knows that back in Toronto, Caz used to live life as a girl named Cassandra. And it's nobody's business. Caz will tell his new friends when he's ready.

This is an enhanced ebook with a read-along function. What is the true meaning of friendship? Follow along as a boy meets up with his friend-a dog who faithfully waits for him every day so they can ride out to the beach together to surf. The boy doesn't own the dog and he doesn't know who does, but their daily routine has created a special bond. Award-winning author Eric Walters navigates the waters of a unique friendship alongside the vibrant illustrations of Eugenie Fernandes, who brings the bumpy roads, rugged beach paths and rolling waves of the tropics to life.

This is an enhanced ebook with a read-along function. Inspired by a story told to the author while on safari in 2015, The Wild Beast describes the creation of one of Africa's most unusual animals, the wildebeest. According to oral tradition, the Creator built this unique beast out of leftover parts from other magnificent animals found on the continent. Horns from buffalos and stripes meant for zebras. Tails from giraffes and bumps meant for camels. This creative retelling will introduce little ones to a story rich in both imagery and in lesson: Take what you need to live.

Bridgewood is having one of the hottest summers on record. Despite the strict fire ban, fires keep breaking out, and it's starting to look like arson. Dylan O'Connor, as usual, is right in the thick of things, and his friend Eliot is questioned as a suspect. Dylan doesn't think Eliot is the culprit, but he does know Eliot has a secret. He has been providing shelter for a scruffy stranger named Jeb Wilder, aka Wildfire. Is Jeb responsible? Or could it be the guy Dylan caught smoking in the woods, local baseball legend Mason Bates?

The city of Terra Nova was founded on a lie: that the spirits who cross over from the spirit world are evil and must be captured for the safety of humanity. But Molly Stout and her family have learned that the spirits are thinking, feeling beings, enslaved to enrich the wealthy, especially the spirit-harvesting company Haviland Industries and its founder, Charles Arkwright. With the help of her family and the aetheric spirits Ariel and Legerdemain, Molly has been fighting to free the spirits.

Jake's friend Maria is the daughter of illegal immigrants who have been living and working in the country for a long time. But the new government has implemented a crackdown. Maria's parents are detained and quickly sent out of the country. Maria, who was born here, decides to hide out in Jake's basement rather than risk becoming a ward of the state. But when she returns to her old apartment to retrieve her hidden birth certificate, Maria is abducted by young men on the lookout for teenage girls who have lost their parents to deportation.

Meet Marcus O, a man who's feeling older but not much wiser as he sets jaded eyes on that last vigorous stretch before the dreaded sunset years. With the approach of the terminal semester of a long-winded career, he's wondering "What next?" and closing down leftover business. First, there's Judaea, a workplace nemesis inspiring Marcus' visions of reprisal. And there's L'Oréal Zhang, a style-conscious student and frequent visitor to Marcus' university office whose shallow interests seem calculated to aggravate him alone.

Jake has fallen hard for Genny, and now he's brought her home to meet the family. As he introduces her to Poplar Lake, he amuses her with innocent ­anecdotes about his childhood, and regales her with the story of the town's founding and the scoundrels, bootleggers, progressives and visionaries who shaped it-all the while dodging and deflecting questions about his own past. Genny knows he's hiding something. Does it involve his first love Tammy, or his enigmatic friend Clinton Sturgis, or his brother Victor, whom he hero-worships to this day?