In the twenty-fourth book of the Critter Club series, Marion volunteers at a butterfly release event and helps her sister get over her fear of bugs! Marion learns that there’s going to be a butterfly release event at the Santa Vista Arboretum. And she decides she wants to be a part of it! So she volunteers to spread the word and lead the arts and crafts table at the event. Even though none of her friends can make it, she hopes her younger sister, Gabby, will come. But then she remembers that Gabby is afraid of bugs. Can Marion help the butterflies and help Gabby get over her fear? With easy-to-read language and illustrations on almost every page, The Critter Club chapter books are perfect for beginning readers.

2023 IBPA Benjamin Franklin Awards Gold Medal, Fiction: Historical “The book reads as if it really is Davies’ autobiography . . . . a timely reminder of what women would have been up against in Hollywood.” —Historical Novel Society “The Blue Butterfly is a vibrant period novel that reimagines the controversial love story of a classic film star.” —Foreword Reviews New York 1915, Marion Davies is a shy eighteen-year-old beauty dancing on the Broadway stage when she meets William Randolph Hearst and finds herself captivated by his riches, passion and desire to make her a movie star. Following a whirlwind courtship, she learns through trial and error to live as Hearst’s mistress when a divorce from his wife proves impossible. A baby girl is born in secret in 1919 and they agree to never acknowledge her publicly as their own. In a burgeoning Hollywood scene, she works hard making movies while living a lavish partying life that includes a secret love affair with Charlie Chaplin. In late 1937, at the height of the depression, Hearst wrestles with his debtors and failing health, when Marion loans him $1M when nobody else will. Together, they must confront the movie that threatens to invalidate all of Marion’s successes in the movie industry: Citizen Kane.

Marion plans a perfect girls weekend for her friends—with a surprise appearance from a snow bunny!—in the twentieth book of the Critter Club series. Marion has planned the ultimate girls’ getaway. There will be skiing, a trip to the spa, and of course, hot chocolate! What Marion didn’t plan was a snow bunny sighting! As members of the Critter Club, she and her friends are so excited to find the most adorable bunny. But when Marion’s kitten, Ollie, scares the bunnies away, Marion scolds him. That’s when she notices he’s been acting a little strange the whole time. What’s wrong with Ollie? And will the girls get to see the bunnies again? With easy-to-read language and illustrations on almost every page, The Critter Club chapter books are perfect for beginning readers!

On December 17, 1927 in Los Angeles, twelve year old Marion Parker, daughter of a prominent banker, was called to the school office where a stranger told her that her father had been in an accident and that she must leave with him right away. Fewer than 48 hours later, she was dead. What started as a tragic, but otherwise ordinary, kidnapping turned out to be a shocking murder by one of the period’s most twisted killers, William Edward Hickman. James L. Neibaur takes a step into history, depicting how this abduction was soon labeled the “crime of the century” and sparked a change in the nation’s attention to such cases. With a media-driven nationwide manhunt, one of the biggest and most wide-ranging in California history, and then a desperate attempt at sparing the killer’s life with the unfamiliar insanity plea, this infamous case left the abduction and murder of Marion Parker to be etched into 1920s pop culture. The murder of Marion Parker brought to light the unthinkable reality of child abduction. Neibaur resourcefully weaves together the events surrounding the crime in the context of the contemporary culture and attitudes of the late 1920s, covering the impact of the media’s first involvement in a criminal justice case, and how the admired notions of the glamorized ‘20s were crushed by this ordinary family’s chilling reality.

When a broken ankle forces Marion to withdraw from the horse show, she finds a way to stay active by helping her friends at the Critter Club animal shelter find homes for a litter of kittens. Illustrations.

In this twenty-third book of the Critter Club series, Liz and her friends spend a festive fall weekend at Marigold Lake. They bake pies, go on nature walks, and help a goose keep up with his flock! Liz and her friends are at Marigold Lake for a festive fall weekend. Liz has lots of ideas for the weekend: they’ll go fruit picking, bake pies, and admire the nature around them. While out and about, the girls discover an injured goose who is hungry and separated from his flock. Will they be able to get their goose friend, Pie, back in shape so he can fly south with the others? With easy-to-read language and illustrations on almost every page, The Critter Club chapter books are perfect for beginning readers.

Ellie tries her hand at softball in the eighteenth book of the Critter Club series, but she begins to wonder if she’s only meant for the stage! When Ellie joins a softball team, she quickly realizes that the sport is harder than it looks! Is she meant only for the stage, not the field? And what happens when Ellie goes searching in the woods near the field for a stray ball and finds an injured baby deer?! With easy-to-read language and illustrations on almost every page, The Critter Club chapter books are perfect for beginning readers!