Synopses & Reviews
From the author of Models Dont Eat Chocolate Cookies comes a middle grade novel hailed by Linda Urban as A perfect blend of laugh out loud funny and real-world heart.”
Elsie Wyatt wants to be an orchestra superstar, like her dad and grandfather. The first step? Get into a super-selective summer music camp. In order to qualify, Elsie must expand her musical horizons” by joining her high schools marching band. Not only does this mean wearing a plumed hat and polyester pants, but it also means she cant play her own instrument, cant sit down, and cant seem to say the right thing to anyone
let alone Jake, the cute trumpet player she meets on the first day. Plus, everything she does seems to cause a disaster. Surviving marching band is going to be way harder than Elsie thought.
For fans of funny, realistic, every-girl novels like Wendy Masss 13 Gifts and Lisa Greenwalds My Life in Pink and Green.
It has humor, heart, and a touch of romance that will provide ample fodder for booktalks.”School Library Journal
Marching-band kids everywhere will enjoy this believable celebration of a life-changing, musical rite of passage.”Kirkus
Review
“It has humor, heart, and a touch of romance that will provide ample fodder for booktalks.”
Review
“Marching-band kids everywhere will enjoy this believable celebration of a life-changing, musical rite of passage.”
Review
A supersharp mystery. . . . Confoundingly clever, and very funny. (Booklist, starred review)
Review
Praise for
Ollie and the Science of Treasure Hunting:
"A well-choreographed romp starring an engaging protagonist who richly deserves his turn in the spotlight." --Kirkus
"A cast of likable campers, each with his or her own quirks, drive this fast-paced adventure." --Booklist
"Humor, suspense, and even a little orienteering make this an absorbing read for tweens and young teens."--VOYA
Synopsis
For twenty-five years, Ellen Raskin's Newbery Medal-winning
The Westing Game has been an enduring favorite and is now being reissued with a brand-new jacket by Kevin Hawkes and an introduction by Ann Durell.
This highly inventive mystery involves sixteen people who are invited to the reading of Samuel W. Westing's will. They could become millionaires, depending on how they play the tricky and dangerous Westing game, which involves blizzards, burglaries, and bombings. Ellen Raskin has entangled a remarkable cast of characters in a puzzle-knotted, word-twisting plot filled with humor, intrigue, and suspense.
Synopsis
When an eccentric millionaire dies mysteriously, sixteen very unlikely people are gathered together for the reading of the will...and what a will it is!
Synopsis
For over twenty-five years, Ellen Raskin's Newbery Medal-winning
The Westing Game has been an enduring favorite. It has sold over one and a half million copies. This highly inventive mystery involves sixteen people who are invited to the reading of Samuel W. Westing's will. They could become millionaires-it all depends on how they play the tricky and dangerous Westing game, a game involving blizzards, burglaries, and bombings! Ellen Raskin has created a remarkable cast of characters in a puzzle-knotted, word-twisting plot filled with humor, intrigue, and suspense.
Synopsis
Hamlet Kennedy just wants to be your average, happy, vanilla eighth grader. But with Shakespearean scholar parents who dress in Elizabethan regalia and generally go about in public as if it were the sixteenth century, that’s not terribly easy. It gets worse when they decide that Hamlet’s genius seven year-old sister will attend middle school with her— and even worse when the Shakespeare project is announced and her sister is named the new math tutor. By the time an in-class recitation reveals that our heroine is an extraordinary Shakespearean actress, Hamlet can no longer hide from the fact that she—like her family—is anything
but average.
In a novel every bit as funny as her debut, Erin Dionne has created another eighth grader whose situation is utterly unique—but whose foibles and farces will resound with every girl currently suffering through middle school.
Synopsis
This companion to the Edgar Award nominee MOXIE AND THE ART OF RULE BREAKING, which SLJ called a breathless thrill ride,” features hidden pirate treasure and a high-stakes game of tag just what youd expect from summer camp!
While at Wilderness camp on the Boston Harbor Islands, Ollie must navigate new friends, new enemies, and a high-stakes game of tag, so the last thing he needs is a mystery. But then Ollie meets Grey, an elusive girl with knowledge of the islands secrets, including the legend of a lost pirate treasure, which may not be a legend after all.
The sidekick steps into the spotlight as Ollie uses his wits and geocaching skills to keep long-lost treasure out of the wrong hands in this exciting adventure-mystery from fan-favorite middle grade author Erin Dionne.
Synopsis
"A supersharp mystery...confoundingly clever, and very funny." Booklist, starred review A bizarre chain of events begins when sixteen unlikely people gather for the reading of Samuel W. Westings will. And though no one knows why the eccentric, game-loving millionaire has chosen a virtual strangerand a possible murdererto inherit his vast fortune, on things for sure: Sam Westing may be dead
but that wont stop him from playing one last game!
Winner of the Newbery Medal
Winner of the Boston Globe/Horn Book Award
An ALA Notable Book
"Great fun for those who enjoy illusion, word play, or sleight of hand." The New York Times Book Review
"A fascinating medley of word games, disguises, multiple aliases, and subterfugesa demanding but rewarding book." The Horn Book
About the Author
Ellen Raskin was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and grew up during the Great Depression. She was the author of several novels, including the Newbery Medal-winning The Westing Game, the Newbery Honor-winning Figgs and Phantoms, The Tattooed Potato and other clues, and The Mysterious Disappearance of Leon (I Mean Noel). She also wrote and illustrated many picture books and was an accomplished graphic artist. She designed dust jackets for dozens of books, including the first edition of Madeleine L'Engle's classic A Wrinkle in Time. Ms. Raskin died at the age of fifty-six on August 8, 1984, in New York City.