Middle Grade Reader

We're on an adventure with 1,001 ants! Come visit the ants in their home, meet their queen, and discover how they look after their colony. Then join them on a walk through the countryside, discovering plants, insects, mushrooms, and animals that live outside and in our yards. Spot the ant with red socks hidden on every double page, and enjoy a pleasant stroll through the undergrowth--seeing things that humans are usually too big to notice!

1,001 Ants is an engaging nonfiction storybook for children full of fascinating facts about nature. With lively and appealing illustrations, it's a must-have for children who are curious about bugs and the animal kingdom.

Andy and Terry live in a 26-story treehouse. (It used to be 13 stories, but they've expanded.) It has a bumper car rink, a skate ramp, an antigravity chamber, an ice cream parlor with 78 flavors, and the Maze of Doom--a maze so complicated that nobody who has gone in has ever come out again. Well, not yet, anyway.

This time, the two friends have a whole week to finish their next book, and Andy even knows what it should be about--the story of how he and Terry first met. But, life is NEVER boring in the treehouse, and emergency shark operations, giant storms, and wooden pirate heads are just the beginning....

This title has Common Core connections.

A New York Times bestseller!

A boy who accidentally bonds with a magical Beast must set off on an adventure in the mysterious Woods in this "wholesome, delightful" (Kirkus Reviews, starred review), and cheeky middle grade fantasy debut--perfect for fans of Nevermoor and How to Train Your Dragon.

The last thing Barclay Thorne ever wanted was an adventure.

Thankfully, as an apprentice to the town's mushroom farmer, Barclay need only work hard and follow the rules to one day become the head mushroom farmer himself. No danger required. But then Barclay accidentally breaks his town's most sacred rule: never ever EVER stray into the Woods, for within the Woods lurk vicious magical Beasts.

To Barclay's horror, he faces a fate far worse than being eaten: he unwittingly bonds with a Beast and is run out of town by an angry mob. Determined to break this bond and return home, Barclay journeys to find the mysterious town of Lore Keepers, people who have also bonded with Beasts and share their powers.

But after making new friends, entering a dangerous apprenticeship exam, and even facing the legendary Beast of the Woods, Barclay must make a difficult choice: return to the home and rules he's always known, or embrace the adventure awaiting him.

This paperback edition includes a brand new, highly-illustrated map of the Woods.

One girl sets out on a journey across the treacherous Arizona desert to rescue a young pilot stranded after a plane crash in this gripping story of survival, friendship, and rescue from a bestselling and award-winning author.
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Twelve-year-old Jolene spends every day she can at the library watching her favorite livestream: The Desert Aviator, where twelve-year-old "Addie Earhart" shares her adventures flying an ultralight plane over the desert. While watching this daring girl fly through the sky, Jolene can dream of what it would be like to fly with her, far away from her own troubled home life where her mother struggles with a narcotic addiction. And Addie, who is grieving the loss of her father, finds solace in her online conversations with Jolene, her biggest--and only--fan.

Then, one day, it all goes wrong: Addie's engine abruptly stops, and Jolene watches in helpless horror as the ultralight plummets to the ground and the video goes dark. Jolene knows that Addie won't survive long in the extreme summer desert heat. With no one to turn to for help and armed with only a hand-drawn map and a stolen cell phone, it's up to Jolene to find a way to save the Desert Aviator. Packed with adventure and heart, Across the Desert speaks to the resilience, hope, and strength within each of us.

"In African Icons, Baptiste engages in the hard work of unveiling the myths about the African continent to young readers . . . This is a great beginner's guide to pre-colonial Africa."
--Ibram X. Kendi, National Book Award-winning author of Stamped from the Beginning and How to Be an Antiracist

Meet ten real-life kings, queens, inventors, scholars, and visionaries who lived in Africa thousands of years ago and changed the world.

Black history began long ago with the many cultures and people of the African continent.

Through portraits of ten heroic figures, author Tracey Baptiste takes readers on a journey across Africa to meet some of the great leaders and thinkers whose vision built a continent and shaped the world.

Illustrator Hillary D. Wilson's brilliant portraits accompany each profile, along with vivid, information-filled landscapes, maps, and graphics for readers to pore over and return to again and again.

This brilliant memoir-in-verse tells the moving story of how a nation learned to celebrate a hero. Through years of protests and petition, Kathlyn's story highlights the foot soldiers who fought to make Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday a national holiday.

Ain't Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me 'Round is a deeply moving middle grade memoir about what it means to be an everyday activist and foot solider for racial justice, as Kathlyn recounts how, drawn to activism from childhood, she went from attending protests as a teenager to fighting for Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birthday to become a national holiday as an adult. A blueprint for kids starting down their own paths to civic awareness, it shows life beyond protests and details the sustained time, passion, and energy it takes to turn an idea into a law.

Deftly weaving together monumental historical events with a heartfelt coming-of-age story and in-depth information on law making, Ain't Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me 'Round is the perfect engaging example of how history can help inform the present.

Experience the action-packed first book in #1 New York Times bestselling author Brandon Sanderson's laugh-out-loud middle-grade fantasy series like never before--Alcatraz vs. the Evil Librarians is now in paperback with all new covers!

AN ANCIENT RIVALRY REAWAKENS.

Everything I'd known about the world was a lie.

On my thirteenth birthday, I, Alcatraz Smedry (yes, I got named after a prison, don't ask) received my inheritance: a bag of sand. And then I accidentally destroyed my foster parents' kitchen. It's not my fault, things just break around me, I swear!

I thought the sand was a joke until evil Librarians came to steal it. You're probably thinking, "Librarians are nice people who recommend good books," but that's just what they want you to think! It turns out they're actually a secret cult keeping the truth from you--a hidden world filled with magical eyeglasses, talking dinosaurs, and knights with crystal swords!

Or so my Grandpa Smedry claimed when he suddenly showed up to rescue me. So now I have to go with him to invade the local library and get that sand back, before it's used to conquer the world. And Grandpa says how I keep breaking things is actually an amazing talent. There's no way that can all be true, right?

Will I ever make it back home alive?

An excellent choice to read aloud to the whole family. Funny, exciting, and briskly paced. --NPR

Incredible stories. Award-winning storytellers. Epic adventure, mystery, and fun? We've got it all in Ghostwriter--the extraordinary new series from the Emmy-award winning hit Apple TV+ show, created by your friends at Sesame Workshop.

Masterfully adapted by Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich, this playful retelling of Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is sure to delight today's readers for years to come. Featuring an introduction by Newbery and Coretta Scott King Award winning poet and writer Kwame Alexander.

The book also includes bonus activities from the stars of the show:

Games

Quizzes

Puzzles

Vocabulary

Reading Comprehension

and Crafts!

In the second book of the Alien Next Door series, Harris and Roxy go over to Zeke's house and meet his strange family. Will Harris be able to prove to Roxy that Zeke and his family are aliens?

Harris has his suspicions that the new kid at school, Zeke, is an alien, but he hasn't been able to prove it to his best friend, Roxy. When they're both invited over to Zeke's house, Harris thinks this is the perfect opportunity for him to research Zeke's alien family and show Roxy that they're all from another planet. But Roxy is perfectly fine playing with all of Zeke's alien technology which she just thinks is "hi-tech," and as a thank you, Harris's parents invite Zeke's parents over for dinner.

At dinner, no one but Harris seems to notice all the strange things Zeke's family is doing-like making food levitate to their mouths. However, Zeke realizes that Harris is the only one noticing these things and decides to use this opportunity to have a little more fun at dinner. . . .

Don't miss the instant New York Times bestseller from Emmy Award winner Henry Winkler and Lin Oliver that Diary of a Wimpy Kid author Jeff Kinney calls "truly out of this world!"

No one is shocked by the six-eyed alien strolling around the Universal back lot. The tourists just think he's part of the show. It doesn't take long for Buddy to land a role on a popular TV show, playing (of course) an alien. He becomes an overnight heartthrob and is suddenly faced with legions of adoring fans, rides in glamorous limos, and appearances at "all-the-shrimp-you-can-eat" red carpet parties. But can Buddy maintain his secret identity while in the spotlight?

Has Grandma Agee gone off the deep end with her new plan? Is there any chance Grandma and Agnes can meet with Russian's supreme leader, Nikita Khrushchev? Is CIA Officer Miller or Mr. Borge of EI4 (the Norwegian Intelligence Service) going to catch up to them and force them to go home? Book III in the Agnes Kelly Mystery Adventure Series is full of even more surprises, takes you on another exciting ride (this time through the heart of Russia), and Reveals All! including some things you would never expect!

Perfect for fans of Hatchet and the I Survived series, this harrowing middle grade debut novel-in-verse from a Pushcart Prize-nominated poet tells the story of a young girl who wakes up one day to find herself utterly alone in her small Colorado town.

When twelve-year-old Maddie hatches a scheme for a secret sleepover with her two best friends, she ends up waking up to a nightmare. She's alone--left behind in a town that has been mysteriously evacuated and abandoned.

With no one to rely on, no power, and no working phone lines or internet access, Maddie slowly learns to survive on her own. Her only companions are a Rottweiler named George and all the books she can read. After a rough start, Maddie learns to trust her own ingenuity and invents clever ways to survive in a place that has been deserted and forgotten.

As months pass, she escapes natural disasters, looters, and wild animals. But Maddie's most formidable enemy is the crushing loneliness she faces every day. Can Maddie's stubborn will to survive carry her through the most frightening experience of her life?