"A publication of the Pioneer Girl Project."

In this Michael L. Printz Honor Book, the Newbery Honor-winning creator of the Joey Pigza books shares the true story of how he became a writer the hard way by learning a valuable lesson while he was in college.

When his beloved jack-o'-lantern starts to decompose, Tim puts it outside and watches it transform from pumpkin—to seed—to pumpkin again. The first pumpkin Tim ever carved was fierce and funny, and he named it Jack. When Halloween was over and the pumpkin was beginning to rot, Tim set it out in the garden and throughout the weeks he watched it change. By spring, a plant began to grow! Will Hubbell's gentle story and beautifully detailed illustrations give an intimate look at the cycle of life.

In rhyming text, Jack describes all the ways that God gave him to move around, from running and swimming to building and climbing.

Dead End in Norvelt is the winner of the 2012 Newbery Medal for the year's best contribution to children's literature and the Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction! Melding the entirely true and the wildly fictional, Dead End in Norvelt is a novel about an incredible two months for a kid named Jack Gantos, whose plans for vacation excitement are shot down when he is "grounded for life" by his feuding parents, and whose nose spews bad blood at every little shock he gets. But plenty of excitement (and shocks) are coming Jack's way once his mom loans him out to help a fiesty old neighbor with a most unusual chore—typewriting obituaries filled with stories about the people who founded his utopian town. As one obituary leads to another, Jack is launced on a strange adventure involving molten wax, Eleanor Roosevelt, twisted promises, a homemade airplane, Girl Scout cookies, a man on a trike, a dancing plague, voices from the past, Hells Angels . . . and possibly murder. Endlessly surprising, this sly, sharp-edged narrative is the author at his very best, making readers laugh out loud at the most unexpected things in a dead-funny depiction of growing up in a slightly off-kilter place where the past is present, the present is confusing, and the future is completely up in the air.

Newbery Medal-winner Kelly Barnhill's debut novel is an eerie tale of magic, friendship, and sacrifice. Enter a world where magic bubbles just below the surface. . . . When Jack is sent to Hazelwood, Iowa, to live with his strange aunt and uncle, he expects a summer of boredom. Little does he know that the people of Hazelwood have been waiting for him for quite a long time. When he arrives, he begins to make actual friends for the first time in his life-but the town bully beats him up and the richest man in town begins to plot Jack's imminent, and hopefully painful, demise. It's up to Jack to figure out why suddenly everyone cares so much about him. Back home he was practically... invisible. The Mostly True Story of Jack is a stunning debut novel about things broken, things put back together, and finding a place to belong. "There's a dry wit and playfulness to Barnhill's writing that recalls Lemony Snicket and Blue Balliett...a delightfully unusual gem." --Los Angeles Times

Holly Lane has spent her life under the crushing thumbs of her cop father and controlling mother. Now, well into her twenties, she's finally getting a fresh start and moving into her own apartment. Breaking away from her parents should be easy, but how can Holly begrudge their overprotective nature when their other daughter was murdered by an outlaw biker years ago? With his brand-spankin' new patch, Little Jack has a satisfying life in the Hell's Handlers MC. Sure, the town's new sheriff is messing with his club, but it's nothing they can't handle. Life only gets better when LJ's dream woman walks out of his fantasies and into the vacant apartment next to his. Holly is sweet as sugar, curvy in ways that make LJ's mouth water, and the woman can bake like no other. Personal demons keep LJ from chasing a long-term relationship with any woman, but that doesn't mean he can't have a little fun with his hot new neighbor. Holly is pretty sure life is finally on the right track when she meets LJ on her first day in town. Incredibly tall, bearded, tattooed, and strong enough to unload her car without breaking a sweat, her new neighbor just might be perfect.With outrageous chemistry and a genuine liking for each other, Holly and LJ seem destined for an explosive encounter until a tornado rolls through their budding relationship in the form of Holly's father. As the new town sheriff, her father only has one item on his agenda: eliminate the Hell's Handlers MC.