Showing results by narrator "Eevin Hartsough" in All Categories

April is looking for an escape from the sixth-grade lunch hour, which has become a social-scene nightmare, so she signs up to be a "buddy bench monitor" for the fourth graders' recess. Joey Byrd is a boy on the fringes, who wanders the playground alone, dragging his foot through the dirt. But over time, April realizes that Joey isn't just making random circles. When you look at his designs from above, a story emerges....

After the incredible events of the last official Winterton Bee, Hope and Gordon Smith have discovered that having an extended family isn’t so bad … and maybe their famous relatives’ lives aren’t so charmed. But Hope is still hiding a secret, and it’s a big one. When Elizabeth Springer goes missing just before the Wintertons’ big Thanksgiving celebration—their first reunion since the spelling bee—Hope knows it’s time to come clean. Especially if it means saving Ms. Springer. But none of the Winterton clan wants to hear it. Worse, they accuse Hope of making up the whole story for attention.

What happens in the group chat stays in the group chat… until it doesn’t. Virginia Vaughn just wants to fit in with her super-popular friend group. That means she doesn’t let them know how much she loves the library, she never speaks a word about her massive crush on tragically unpopular Grayson, and she says nasty things she doesn’t actually mean. But only in the group chat, so it’s harmless, right? But when she has a blowout fight with her clique—specifically, with the Queen Bee herself—her mean texts are posted online for the entire school to see!

Eleven-year-old Imogene (Impy) has grown up with two parents working at the Renaissance Faire, and she's eager to begin her own training as a squire. First, though, she'll need to prove her bravery. Luckily, Impy has just the quest in mind - she'll go to public school after a life of being homeschooled! But it's not easy to act like a noble knight-in-training in middle school. When her new friends encourage her to do something mean, Impy goes along with it. Before long, Impy doesn't even recognize herself. Is she the dragon in her own story or the heroic knight?

Storm beasts and their guardians create perfect weather every day, and Mina longs for a storm beast of her own. But when the gentle girl bonds with a lightning beast - a creature of fire and chaos - everyone’s certain it’s a mistake. Everyone but Mina and the beast himself, Pixit. Quickly enrolled in lightning school, Mina struggles to master a guardian’s skills, and she discovers that her country's weather comes at a devastating cost - a cost powerful people wish to hide. Mina’s never been the type to speak out, but someone has to tell the truth.

Hope Smith can't stand rich people—the dictionary magnate family the Wintertons most of all. Not since she and her twin brother, Gordon, learned that their dad was one. So when Gordon enters the family into the Winterton’s charity spelling bee, Hope wants nothing to do with it. But with their mom losing her job and the family facing eviction from the motel where they live, they desperately need the money, and it looks like Hope doesn’t have much of a choice.

Thirteen-year-old Ingrid’s been living a double life. At school, she’s the Girl With Dead Parents, her popular friend Rachel’s charity case. Online, things are different: she crushes it in her favorite MMORPG, geeks out in her favorite fantasy series fandom, and runs a popular social media account. If only real life were that easy. But when Ingrid finally stands up to Rachel and “starts drama,” it suddenly feels like she has no life at all … and nowhere to sit at lunch. Until she gets a supersweet wrong-number text from a mystery boy at her school, and everything starts to go right.

Since the Enforcers raided Refuge City, Rosi, Edwy, and the others are captured and forced to work as slave labor on an alien planet, digging up strange pearls. Weak and hungry, none of them is certain he or she will make it out of this alive. But Edwy's tech-savvy sister, Kiandra, has always been the one with all the answers, and so they turn to her. But Kiandra realizes she can't find her way out of this one on her own, and they all might need to rely on young Cana and her alien friend if they are going to survive.

Emma Avery has always loved solving puzzles and codes, and now that she’s processing a recent autism diagnosis and facing down seventh grade at a new school, they’re even more important to her. Then Emma meets Nate Lin. He’s popular and funny and … loves codes, too. He introduces Emma to the Codebreakers, a group of his friends dedicated to cracking codes that have been discovered in the ruins of a nearby ghost town, which are believed to lead to magical objects.

A girl walks home from school. She's tall for her age. She's wearing her winter coat. Her headphones are in. She's hurrying. She never makes it home. In the aftermath, while law enforcement tries to justify the response, one fact remains: A police officer has shot and killed an unarmed 13-year-old girl. The community is thrown into upheaval, leading to unrest, a growing movement to protest the senseless taking of black lives, and the arrival of white supremacist counter-demonstrators.

Normally, Olivia spends all year looking forward to her family's summer vacation in Florida. But not this year. Not when her parents have recently separated, and her father has to stay behind in Colorado. Olivia doesn't know what she'll do all summer without him. They've always been a pair, and she's never felt the same bond with her mother or younger sister. So Olivia plans to spend the summer laying low, and trying to ignore the hurt gnawing at her heart. Then she learns that the local sea turtle population is in serious risk of dying because of her neighbor's poorly designed house.

Beatrice does her best thinking upside down. Hanging from trees by her knees, doing handstands...for Beatrice Zinker, upside down works every time. She was definitely upside down when she and her best friend, Lenny, agreed to wear matching ninja suits on the first day of third grade. But when Beatrice shows up at school dressed in black, Lenny arrives with a cool new outfit and a cool new friend. Even worse, she seems to have forgotten all about the top-secret operation they planned!

Operation Upside has grown to a team of three: Beatrice, her best friend Lenny, and her mysterious neighbor Sam. With several successful missions under their belts, the trio is preparing for another great week when the unthinkable occurs - an imposter delivers an imitation Upside Award! As Beatrice hunts for clues to the culprit, Lenny suspects one of their own. Will they solve the mystery before Operation Upside is ruined once and for all? Or is the situation much bigger than any of them imagines?

More than anything, Audrey L wants to be the best at something. It always feels like she’s not quite enough—not smart enough, not fast enough, not funny enough. When her beloved Ms. Fincastle announces that a new girl—another AUDREY—is joining the class, Audrey suddenly becomes Audrey L, which makes her feel worse than ever. But what if the two Audreys have more in common than just their name? And how will Audrey L ever figure out how to be her best self if she can’t even be the best Audrey?

Crimson Twill is a little witch, but you might not know it. She lives in the country and loves polka dots and puppies instead of pointy shoes and black dresses. She even wears a big bow on her hat—which is crimson, just like her name. Tonight, for the very first time, Crimson is riding on her mother’s broom all the way to New Wart City to go shopping at Broomingdale’s! The huge department store has everything a witch could itch for. For Crimson, each floor (hats! cats! brooms!) is a new adventure. But is Broomingdale’s ready for a witch as unique as Crimson?

Crimson Twill’s new friends from New Wart City, Mauve and Wesley, are coming for a visit! But as soon as they arrive at Crimson’s house in Cackle County, things start to go wrong. At the rotten apple orchard, Crimson’s ripening spell goes horribly awry (what will they do with all that rotten applesauce?). Then, at the broom-straw field, Wesley cuts too much straw and starts to float away. And when the friends try to collect frogs’ breath for their spells (it makes everything wonderfully green and warty), Mauve gets a stinky faceful of it! What on earth is going on?

Next-door neighbors and ex-best friends Hannah and Emory haven't spoken in months. Not since the fight - the one where they said things they couldn't take back. Now, Emory is fine-tuning her UCLA performing arts application and trying to make the most of the months she has left with her boyfriend, Luke, before they head off to separate colleges. Meanwhile, Hannah's strong faith is shaken when her family's financial problems come to light, and she finds herself turning to unexpected places - and people - for answers to the difficult questions she's suddenly facing.

All her life Jessica Drake has dreamed of other worlds, some of them similar to her own, others disturbingly alien. She never shares the details with anyone, save her younger brother Tommy, a compulsive gamer who incorporates some aspects of Jessica’s dreams into his games. But now someone is asking about those dreams...and about her. A strange woman has been watching her house. A visitor to her school attempts to take possession of her dream-inspired artwork.

Beatrice Zinker's top-secret plan, Operation Upside, is finally in full swing! And she's really excited about it! But when Beatrice impulsively awards her teacher, Mrs. Tamarack, an Upside of her own - with the words Most Strict lettered in gold - the team has to put the entire mission on hold to avoid suspicion. Lying low isn't exactly Beatrice's strong suit...and her classmate Wes desperately needs to be recognized. When Wes's certificate falls into the wrong hands, Beatrice and her best friend, Lenny, must find a way once again to save themselves from big trouble.

It’s Tally Tuttle’s first day of second grade, and she’s super nervous! She’s new in town and worries that she won’t fit in, so when everyone starts teasing her about her full name, Tallulah, she wishes she could retreat into a shell … Then, all of a sudden, she does! Tally is shocked to discover that she’s turned into a turtle! She’d heard that Mrs. Norrell’s class was special, but she hadn’t expected this.