Moving in with her loving Aunt Hilda after escaping the Child-Catching Services and her villainous uncle, Emily Wiggins and her orphaned friend, Jackson, struggle to outmaneuver a child snatcher intent on earning a reward for nabbing Jackson while also evading a mysterious, dusty creature who approaches the house while Emily and Jackson are alone. By the Newbery Award-winning author of Shiloh.
Things start looking up for Emily and Jackson when Emily's inheritance clears and Aunt Hilda becomes her legal guardian and offers to become Jackson's, as well, but Uncle Victor reappears, willing to do anything to steal Emily's fortune.
Emily Wiggins is poor and timid, without a drop of self-confidence. When unexpectedly orphaned, she is left all alone except for her turtle, Rufus. What in blinkin' bloomers should Emily do? Emily's neighbors, Mrs. Ready, Mrs. Aim, and Mrs. Fire, have the answer. Emily must travel by stagecoach to honorable Aunt Hilda. What a hootin', tootin' grand idea! But Miss Catchum of the Catchum Child-Catching Services will get a big bonus for making Emily live with her next of kin, vicious Uncle Victor. How in ding dong dickens will Emily escape Miss Catchum? It will take all the gumption and cunning of fellow orphan and traveler, Jackson, to help Emily find her confidence, conniving spirit, and the truth behind why Uncle Victor wants to claim her. But how in flippin' flapjacks will Emily outsmart Uncle Victor?
The race is on! The Hatford boys and the Malloy girls are ready to outdo one another again. Eddie is the first girl to ever try out for the school baseball team. Now she and Jake are competing for the same position, while Caroline and Wally compete for class spelling bee champ. Wally is itching to win, but Caroline the show-off plans to be number one. As if that wasn’t enough, the kids decide to race bottles down the rising Buckman River to see whose will go the farthest by the end of the month. The winner will be queen or king for the day while the other kids act as servants. But neither team trusts the other. When the girls go down to the river to try and capture the boys’ bottles, Caroline falls into the rising water. It looks like those Malloy girls may be in over their heads this time!
SUMMER IS AROUND the corner, and the rivalry between the Malloys and the Hatfords is heating up! The kids have two weeks to earn money for a fundraising contest sponsored by the local hospital. Those who collect $20 or more for the new children’s wing can choose to be in the annual Strawberry Festival Parade or get all the strawberry treats they can eat. There’s only one place Caroline Malloy—wants to be: smack dab in the middle of the glamourous Strawberry Queen’s float. But how will she earn the money in such a short time? Do the Hatford brothers have moneymaking secrets that they’re not telling the girls?
Marty gets to keep Shiloh! He wasn’t able to rescue all the dogs that Judd Travers mistreated, but at least Shiloh is safe . . . right? Not necessarily, it turns out. With hunting season approaching, Judd has started drinking again, and hunting on the outskirts of Marty’s family property. What if Judd tries to take back Shiloh? What if one of Marty’s sisters gets in the way of Judd’s shotgun? It seems only a matter of time before something goes very wrong. The thing is, Marty knows a secret about Judd that no one else does, and if anything terrible happens, he will never be able to forgive himself for keeping quiet. Is it time for Marty to speak up? And can he find the courage to do so, before someone he loves gets hurt?
Who will win as the curtain closes on the war between the girls and the boys? Summer vacation is almost over and after one year in Buckman it looks like the Malloy girls will be going home to Ohio. The Hatford boys are relieved to finally be rid of Eddie, Beth and Caroline, also known as the Womper, the Weirdo and the Crazy. As the clock ticks away at their final days, Jake and Eddie keep up the competing, tricking and scheming until Eddie puts Jake up to the biggest dare of the year. She wants to prove once and for all that the girls are in charge. Jake can't back away and let the girls declare victory. The wacky war that began the day the girls arrived isn't over yet!
Do not panic. Lord Thistlebottom's Book of Pitfalls and How to Survive Them has taught Roxie Warbler how to handle all sorts of situations. If Roxie's ever lost in the desert, or buried in an avalanche, or caught in a dust storm, she knows just what to do. But Lord Thistlebottom has no advice to help Roxie deal with Helvetia's Hooligans, the meanest band of bullies in school. Then Roxie finds herself stranded on a deserted island with not only the Hooligans but also a pair of crooks on the lam, and her survival skills may just save the day -- and turn the Hooligans into surprising allies.
"One of the year's best thrillers." - BestThrillers.com "Dark and gritty ... without peer in contemporary mysteries/thrillers." - Publishers Weekly BookLife Prize Semifinalist Twelve-year-old Emily Calby was a good girl from a religious family in rural Georgia. She loved softball, her little sister and looking up words to get her allowance. Then two men came and murdered her family. Somehow Emily escaped. Only the killers know she survived. On the run in a fugue, she makes an unlikely ally in a ruthless ex-gang member who takes her in. Overwhelmed by guilt for failing her family, she persuades him to train her to kill before setting out alone on a terrifying journey for justice. Nothing will stop her-not cops or creeps, not even her own splintering mind. Through it all, Emily fights to hold onto hope and the girl she once knew, kept buried deep inside. A testament to the boundless limits of love, sacrifice and the will to survive, The Hiding Girl is the first book in the Emily Calby Series. "Deeply atmospheric ... an exceptional, heart-pounding story full of raw emotion, deep-seated fear, and an undercurrent of hope and innocence." - Publishers Weekly BookLife Prize "In Emily, Author Dorian Box has created a rarity-a teenage protagonist that is at once sympathetic, vulnerable and largely fearless. ... This sharp characterization within a fast-paced work of suspense makes The Hiding Girl one of the year's most exciting series openers." - BestThrillers.com (named a 2020 Best Thriller of the Year) "The story that author Dorian Box has created for Emily Calby is nothing short of thrilling, but it's THE HIDING GIRL's masterful interplay of character, setting, and theme, along with its fast-pace and high emotional stakes that makes it a real page-turner." - IndieReader (starred review, Official Seal of Approval) "[S]tunning, captivating, heartbreaking, but also heartwarming. ... [T]he characters were so alive, believable, with heart and warmth, humor and love. ... This book is certainly on my 'best ever books' list." - NetGalley "[A] unique mix of hope, shattered innocence, pain, fear, and vulnerability ... a great, suspenseful read." - Reader's Favorite "This is a fantastic book that completely demolished my expectations. ... This novel is fast-paced and action-packed but it has a profound human element that sets it apart from other novels in its genre." - BookishFirst
From the Newbery Award–winning author of Shiloh comes a middle-grade novel that combines adrenaline-fueled adventure with a poignant coming-of-age story. Buck Anderson’s life seems to be changing completely. His best friend, David, has moved away; his anxious parents are hounding him more than ever; he has reluctantly agreed to fill in for his uncle and do odd jobs for a grumpy old veteran in town; and his twin sister has a new boyfriend and is never around anymore. To top it all off, Buck is bullied by a group of boys at school—mainly because he stutters. There is one thing that frees Buck from his worries. It is the heart-pounding exhilaration he feels when exploring underground caves in and around his hometown. He used to go caving with David, but he’s determined to continue on his own now. He doesn’t know that more changes are headed his way—changes that just might make him rethink his view of the world and his place in it. Praise for GOING WHERE IT’S DARK “A well-constructed and well-paced story that will be appreciated by anyone who has ever felt out of place or bullied.” —School Library Journal “Buck’s strength is inspirational, and his family’s love and respect are heartwarming.” —Kirkus Reviews “With characteristic sensitivity, Naylor delivers an engrossing account of a boy’s interior and exterior struggles.” —Publishers Weekly
