Two best friends ponder over and partake in summer's seemingly endless possibilities. There's fun to be had at the sunny shore, fireworks to watch, and amusement parks to visit. This Step 1 story has big type and easy words, rhyme and rhythm, picture clues and includes two sheets of stickers!

Written by Newbery Medalist, National Book Award winner, and Laura Ingalls Wilder Award recipient, and author of Bridge to Terabithia. Vinnie Matthews needs a real lifesaver--on that will bring her father back to life and let her family go home. Living with Grandma means having to be responsible for her little brother, Mason, who refuses to speak, and ignoring the kids who ask why he's so crazy. Then Vinnie meets Lupe, the mysterious "flip-flop girl" who only wears orange flip-flops on her feet. Lupe is strong, confisent, and even more of an outsact than Vinnie. She's just teh type of friends Vinnie needs, if only Vinnie can ignore the rumora about Lupe's past.

From two-time Newbery award-winning author Katherine Paterson. When Lyddie and her younger brother are hired out as servants to help pay off their family farm's debts, Lyddie is determined to find a way to reunite her family once again. Hearing about all the money a girl can make working in the textile mills in Lowell, Massachusetts, she makes her way there, only to find that her dreams of returning home may never come true. Includes an all-new common core aligned educator's guide. "Rich in historical detail...a superb story of grit, determination, and personal growth." —The Horn Book, starred review "Lyddie is full of life, full of lives, full of reality." —The New York Times Book Review An ALA Notable Book An ALA Best Book for Young Adults A Booklist Editor's Choice American Bookseller "Pick of the Lists" School Library Journal Best Book Parents magazine Best Book

From her childhood in China to the moment she won her first National Book Award, literary icon Katherine Paterson shares the personal stories that inspired her children’s books. Told with her trademark humor and heart, Paterson's tales reveal details about her life from her childhood with missionary parents, to living as a single woman in Japan, to raising four children in suburban Maryland with her minister husband. Read about the origins of such familiar characters as Leslie Burke and Janice Avery from Bridge to Terabithia, and go behind the scenes to the moments Katherine found out she won her many awards. Filled with personal photos and letters, this funny, heartwarming history from a legendary writer lets fans in on the making of literary classics.

"When ten-year-old Birdie's dad is sent back to Iraq, she makes a deal with God to bring him home safely, while dealing with a new school where she finds it hard to make friends especially when she could use one"--