A writer’s conference brings twelve-year-old Lark’s favorite writer—and a suspicious death—to Swallowtail Island, in the second book in this middle grade mystery series by an Edgar Award-nominated author. Swallowtail Island is hosting the Swallowtales Writer’s Conference. Lark's ecstatic to be chosen as a “page” for her favorite author, Ann E. Keyhart. But they say you should never meet your idols. When Keyhart arrives with her personal assistant in tow, she is nothing but a terror. And within a few hours, the assistant is dead! But the explanation isn't sitting well. Not when lots of people had reasons to want to be rid of Keyhart, and especially not after it’s revealed the assistant recently completed a hot new novel and the file's vanished from her computer. Then Lark finds out the assistant had a bird—the match to the one she found hidden in her mom’s book—and she needs answers. It looks like Swallowtail Island still has secrets to reveal, and Lark’s going to uncover them. A gripping new chapter in the Swallowtail Legacy series, Mike D. Beil spins another clever clue hunt that seamlessly slips in alongside the best classics of middle grade mystery.

A missing diamond, a mysterious neighbor, a link to Shakespeare—can Hero uncover the connections?

A writer’s conference brings twelve-year-old Lark’s favorite writer—and a suspicious death—to Swallowtail Island, in the second book in this middle grade mystery series by an Edgar Award-nominated author. Swallowtail Island is hosting the Swallowtales Writer’s Conference. Lark's ecstatic to be chosen as a “page” for her favorite author, Ann E. Keyhart. But they say you should never meet your idols. When Keyhart arrives with her personal assistant in tow, she is nothing but a terror. And within a few hours, the assistant is dead! But the explanation isn't sitting well. Not when lots of people had reasons to want to be rid of Keyhart, and especially not after it’s revealed the assistant recently completed a hot new novel and the file's vanished from her computer. Then Lark finds out the assistant had a bird—the match to the one she found hidden in her mom’s book—and she needs answers. It looks like Swallowtail Island still has secrets to reveal, and Lark’s going to uncover them. A gripping new chapter in the Swallowtail Legacy series, Mike D. Beil spins another clever clue hunt that seamlessly slips in alongside the best classics of middle grade mystery.

From award-winning author Deborah Heiligman comes Torpedoed, a true account of the attack and sinking of the passenger ship SS City of Benares, which was evacuating children from England during WWII. Amid the constant rain of German bombs and the escalating violence of World War II, British parents by the thousands chose to send their children out of the country: the wealthy, independently; the poor, through a government relocation program called CORB. In September 1940, passenger liner SS City of Benares set sail for Canada with one hundred children on board. When the war ships escorting the Benares departed, a German submarine torpedoed what became known as the Children's Ship. Out of tragedy, ordinary people became heroes. This is their story. This title has Common Core connections.

Ellie Ballantyne, youngest child of Silas and Eden, has left finishing school. But back at her family home in Pittsburgh, Ellie finds that her parents are away on a long trip and her siblings don't seem to want her to stay. When she opens a day school for young ladies, she begins tutoring the incorrigible daughter of the enemy Turlock clan. The Turlocks are slaveholders and whiskey magnates, envious of the powerful Ballantynes and suspicious of their abolitionist leanings. As Ellie becomes increasingly tangled with the Turlocks, she finds herself falling in love with an impossible future--and Jack Turlock, a young man striving to free himself from his family's violent legacy. How can she betray her family and side with the enemy? And will Jack ever allow her into his world? Masterful storyteller Laura Frantz continues to unfold the stirring saga of the Ballantyne family in this majestic tale of love, loyalty, and the makings of a legacy. With rich descriptions of the people who settled and civilized a wild landscape, Frantz weaves a tapestry of characters and places that stick with the reader long after they turn the last page.