Features words starting with the letter "s."

When Sam learns that the new girl at school, the daughter of his mother's friend, is not only coming over to play but also spending the night, he is unhappy until he learns that girls can be as tough as boys and can be their friends, too.

Sam lives with his mother and his baby sister, and he looks forward all week to his father's Sunday visits, imagining all the things he will tell Dad. Suggested level: junior.

Natasha Friend is a Judy Blume for today -- clearly evident in this remarkable new novel about a girl whose father is an alcoholic and how she and her family learn to deal with his condition.It's hard to be a 13-year-old girl. But it's even harder when your father's a drunk. It adds an extra layer to everything -- your family's reactions to things, the people you're willing to bring home, the way you see yourself and the world. For Samantha, it's something that's been going on for so long that she's almost used to it. Only, you never get used to it. Especially when it starts to get worse...

“This book is ridiculously hilarious, and makes my father look like a normal member of society.” —Chelsea Handler “Read this unless you’re allergic to laughing.” —Kristen Bell “If you’re wondering if there is a real man behind the quotes on Twitter, the answer is a definite and laugh-out-loud yes.” —Christian Lander, New York Times bestselling author of Stuff White People Like Tuesdays with Morrie meets F My Life in this hilarious book about a son’s relationship with his foul-mouthed father by the 29-year-old comedy writer who created the massively popular Twitter feed of the same name.

It is out and Ready for Purchase. “Sam's Best Friend” is the first in a ten book series. Sam is a seven year old boy who has just moved to the small, Texas Town of Utopia. Sam's parents are going through a divorce and his dad lives forty miles away. Sam has to make new friends. A boy from church invites Sam to summer camp. Sam prays for a new best friend, and that is just what happens when Sam goes to camp. He meets the best friend of all – Jesus Christ. “Sam's Best Friend” can be ordered from our web site: www.authorjpruiz.com

“Edgar-winning Vaught, a neuropsychologist, has both personal and professional experience to draw on in crafting a narrator who is admirably smart and resilient despite an ‘itchy’ brain and a compulsion to count things.” —Booklist (starred review) “Deeply smart and considerate.” —BCCB “An absorbing mystery.” —Kirkus Reviews “A strong addition to help diversify realistic fiction collections to include neuroatypical characters and heroines.” —School Library Journal Jesse is on the case when money goes missing from the library and her dad is looking like the #1 suspect in Edgar Award­–winning author Susan Vaught’s latest middle grade mystery. I could see the big inside of my Sam-Sam. I had been training him for 252 days with mini tennis balls and pieces of bacon, just to prove to Dad and Mom and Aunt Gus and the whole world that a tiny, fluffy dog could do big things if he wanted to. I think my little dog always knew he could be a hero. I just wonder if he knew about me. When the cops show up at Jesse’s house and arrest her dad, she figures out in a hurry that he’s the #1 suspect in the missing library fund money case. With the help of her (first and only) friend Springer, she rounds up suspects (leading to a nasty confrontation with three notorious school bullies) and asks a lot of questions. But she can’t shake the feeling that she isn’t exactly cut out for being a crime-solving hero. Jesse has a neuro-processing disorder, which means that she’s “on the spectrum or whatever.” As she explains it, “I get stuck on lots of stuff, like words and phrases and numbers and smells and pictures and song lines and what time stuff is supposed to happen.” But when a tornado strikes her small town, Jesse is given the opportunity to show what she's really made of—and help her dad. Told with the true-as-life voice Susan Vaught is known for, this mystery will have you rooting for Jesse and her trusty Pomeranian, Sam-Sam.