SSYRA 3-5

A visit to Leo's grandfather's farm turns upside down when his grandmother's bee hives are stolen. A light-hearted and funny middle-grade novel for fans of Rebecca Stead and Lynda Mullaly Hunt. Eleven-year-old Leo is an "armchair adventurer." This, according to Dad, means he'd choose adventures in books or video games over real-life experiences. And while Leo hates the label, he can't argue with it. Unlike his little sister Lizzie, Leo is not a risk-taker....

"Rafael Fuentes isn't easily scared. He loves writing ghost stories, reading scary books, and entertaining his friends with terrifying tales he creates on the spot. Rafa has come up against enough real-life scary situations that fictional hauntings seem like no big deal. Rafa's incarcerated mom is being released from jail soon, and will be coming to live with him, his sister, and their grandparents. For the first time in a while, Rafa feels a pit...

Three young inventors are excited to start their summer internship at Flax Industries, where they can build the invention of their dreams, but things take a sinister turn when Dr. Flax's robots take over the laboratory and try to take over the world.

Mia is spending her summer with her grandmother in a small Maine town, expecting it to be an oasis of stability in her changing life, but there is a new know-it-all boy next door, and soon she finds herself competing with Cayman in identifying an injured bird of prey--and pretty much everything else.

Fifth grader Penny, who doodles to cope with anxiety, worries that her best friend is drifting away. Why does the cubby room always smell like farts? Who etched the words "I Am Bug Man" inside my desk? Why is Mom suddenly acting like she has a secret? Nobody said starting fifth grade would be easy, and Penny Lowry's anxiety means a million questions are always spinning through her thoughts. Luckily she's got a lot to look forward to, like her favorite...

Holly, a grey squirrel, and her animal friends have accepted that they will never be wizards' familiars. Though they are each magical, their powers are so offbeat--that no professional magic-worker would choose any of them. So instead of going on adventures, they languish at the Shelter for Rejected Familiars, where they are known as 'shelterlings.' When an old friend appears with a plan for curing the shelterlings' defective magic, everyone is on...

Ten-year-old Ben Cutler loves soccer, and he like to have fun while playing too, but when he joins a travel team that takes winning very seriously, he starts to wonder if there is more to the game than just getting a W.