From Sharon Creech, Newbery Medal winner and New York Times bestselling author, comes a powerful coming-of-age story of a girl who discovers the endless possibilities her future may hold, with help from a brilliant teacher and a boy with a generous smile.
ONE TIME
by Sharon Creech
HarperCollins, September 2020
Gina Filomena has been told she has an overactive imagination. With her bright clothing and artistic spirit, she’s always felt different from the other kids in her class. That is, until she meets her new neighbor, a mysterious boy named Antonio with a wide, welcoming smile. Add in a creative new teacher, Miss Lightstone, and a world of possibilities opens up for Gina, Antonio, and their classmates. With the help of Antonio and Miss Lightstone, will Gina find the answers to the questions Who am I? and Who do I want to be?
Sharon Creech has written twenty-one books for young people and is published in over twenty languages. Her books have received awards in both the U.S. and abroad, including the Newbery Medal for Walk Two Moons, the Newbery Honor for The Wanderer, and Great Britain’s Carnegie Medal for Ruby Holler. Before beginning her writing career, Sharon Creech taught English for fifteen years in England and Switzerland. She and her husband now live in Maine, “lured there by our grandchildren,” Creech says.
Embracing the ambition of Marlon James’ and the vivid storytelling of Bernadine Evaristo, TWELVE skillfully interweaves the lives of a group of people, all linked through friendships and family, before, during and after the catastrophic Haitian earthquake. Chancy reveals the inner lives of each of her characters, drawing the reader into their hopes, dreams and regrets, and recounts how each of them do — or do not — survive. TWELVE is a masterful literary portrait of a group of citizens in Port au Prince as they struggle in the face of disaster.
There’s nothing worse than peaking in high school. Nobody knows that better than Josie Pie. She was kind of a big deal ― she dropped out of high school to be a star! But the bigger you are, the harder you fall. And Josie fell. Hard. Ouch. Broadway dream: dead. Meanwhile, her life keeps imploding. Best friend: distant. Boyfriend: busy. Mom: not playing with a full deck? Desperate to escape, Josie gets into reading. Literally. She reads a book and suddenly she’s inside them. And with each book, she’s a different character: a post-apocalyptic heroine, the lead in a YA rom-com, a 17th century wench in a corset. It’s alarming. But also. . . kind of amazing? It’s the perfect way to live out her fantasies. Book after book, Josie the failed star finds a new way to shine. But the longer she stays in a story, the harder it becomes to escape. Will Josie find a story so good that she just stays forever?
It is a truth universally acknowledged that a young woman who desires a law career must be in want of a case. So when a scandalous murder shocks London high society, sixteen-year-old Lizzie Bennet sees the perfect opportunity to prove herself as a formidable solicitor—despite the fact that women are only allowed in court as witnesses.
Ever since twelve-year-old Igor’s dad witnessed and reported a terrible crime, his family has been on the run from the Lizard Man, a foreboding figure bent on retribution. They’ve lived in so many places, with so many identities, ready to bug-out at a moment’s notice, Igor can’t even remember his real name. He’s been homeschooled since they’ve been on the run, but now that he’s twelve, he longs to go to school and make friends. When the witness protection program finds his family yet another new place to live, Igor rebels and his father reluctantly lets him go to school, admonishing him to always come straight home. But as Igor finds a place for himself and makes friends, it gets harder and harder to keep secrets from them. Chafing under his father’s rules, Igor rebels and looks for answers. But when the Lizard Man comes knocking, he’s after Igor, not his dad, and he also ensnares Igor’s new friends. In Deadman’s Castle, nothing is quite what it seems, and danger is lurking around every corner. How they escape and end the cycle of fear and flight makes for a page-turner sure to grab young readers with a taste for mystery and adventure.