Showing results for "Brilliance" in Social & Life Skills

Minnie and Daisy get some help from a bow-making robot in this retelling of an episode of Disney Junior’s Minnie’s Bow Toons. Listen along to learn what happens when the bow-bot does its job a little too well!

Stevie Crumb doesn’t want to stand out. But when you’re nearly five foot ten in seventh grade, it’s kind of hard not to. All anyone wants to talk about is Stevie’s height―including Stevie’s parents, who would just love for her to be an athlete like her basketball-star older brother. Sure, Stevie wants to be good at something―maybe even great at something. She’d just prefer it didn’t draw more attention to her lanky frame.

When Darby meets Torin as a fellow counselor at the survival camp she impulsively applies to, she’s certain his main goal is to turn her world upside down, with his disheveled curly hair, irresistible dimples, and endearingly quirky habit of reciting quotes from classic movies and ancient thinkers. Darby’s not sure she can adapt to Torin’s way of viewing his past and the tragedies he's faced. Because she’s had her own share of heartache too, and as much as she wants to believe that it’s all been for a purpose, she hasn’t been able to move on.

Will Everett has always wished for an adventure. Little does he know his adventure starts the moment he boards the Boundless. There is a murder, and now Will protects a key that can unlock the train¹s hidden treasures. Villains are fast on his heels and strange creatures are lurking outside the windows, as the Boundless hurtles across the country. Together with Maren, a gifted escape artist, and Mr. Dorian, a circus ringmaster with amazing abilities, Will must save the Boundless before someone else winds up dead.

The witches of the Far Lands of Minecraft are missing...all of them! When a young village girl is badly injured, and only a witch can help her, Watcher and his friends quickly discover there are spiders involved. They must follow clues leading them through jungles and forests, all the way to the doorstep of the dreaded outcast spiders, the Forgotten. Watcher and his companions must figure out a way to free the witches from their ruthless captors, but can they escape the Lair of the Forgotten in time to save the girl?

When Amalee’s grandmother dies, she inherits a very strange object: a huge champagne bottle filled with over a thousand dollars’ worth of change. Amalee is told to spend the money on something important, so she decides to make a movie about endangered species. Soon there’s as much going on behind the scenes as there is in front of the camera, as Amalee deals with a new friend, a very cute older boy, her wacky family friends, and other challenges. She also discovers something she never expected to find....

Sixth grader Spencer Lemon is rapidly losing his eyesight. So he has no idea why he was chosen to guard Pandora’s Book. When Ed, the old guy at a nursing home, hands over the book, there’s no time to explain the rules to Spencer. Spencer only knows that the book contains famous dead people - who can be brought back to life. Then Ed disappears, and a strange man shows up on Spencer’s doorstep - and he seems to know a lot about Pandora’s Book. Is he a bad guy? Or can he help Spencer unravel the secrets of the book?

As the middle sister in a family with three girls, Stevie Reel doesn’t know much about boys, and that’s always been just fine with her. But lately, things have been changing: kids at school are starting to pair up, and Owen, the new boy in her Earth Science class, seems to have his sights set on her. The trouble is, Stevie doesn’t want a boyfriend - she’s not even sure that she’s ready to have a boy friend. And her sisters, who know exactly where they stand on the issue of boys, are no help: Alex is too busy trying to orchestrate her first kiss, and Joey can't understand why anyone would prefer a boy over a frog....

Adam Canfield's friend Jennifer talks him into being co-editor of the Slash. Between supervising know-it-all cub reporters and arguing with Principal Marris about which articles will "propel the Good Ship Harris forward," Adam worries he might lose it altogether. But then a third grader delivers a scoop bigger than any of Adam's career, and only Adam can dig deep enough to crack through a cover-up that will rock the very foundations of Harris itself.

If only Weezie could find her daddy, she’s sure her life would be happier. Tired of making up stories about a parent she knows nothing about, Weezie teams up with her bike-riding buddy, Calvin, and new friend, Louella, to find her mysterious father. Does he drive a truck? Sing country and western songs? Why, her real daddy might even be better than the made-up father she’s been telling lies about at school! Now, all she has to do is find him.

Rose Howard has OCD, Asperger's syndrome, and an obsession with homonyms (even her name is a homonym). She gave her dog Rain a name with two homonyms (Reign, Rein), which, according to Rose's rules of homonyms, is very special. Rain was a lost dog Rose's father brought home. Rose and Rain are practically inseparable. And they are often home alone, as Rose's father spends most evenings at a bar, and doesn't have much patience for his special-needs daughter.

Eli and his family have lived in the Compound for six years. The world they knew is gone. Eli's father built the Compound to keep them safe. Now, they can't get out. He won't let them.

For Sugar, life is anything but sweet.

Ten-year-old Sugar lives on River Road Plantation along the banks of the Mississippi River. Slavery is over, but working in the sugarcane fields all day doesn’t make her feel very free. Thankfully, Sugar knows how to make her own fun, telling stories, climbing trees, and playing with forbidden friend Billy, the plantation owner’s son. Then a group of Chinese workers arrives to help harvest the cane. Sugar wants to know everything about them - she loves the way they dress, their unfamiliar language, and, best of all, the stories they tell of dragons and emperors.

dom Jane McKenzie isn’t good at following the rules. She’s good at getting into trouble - and playing marbles. All she wants is to enter the marble competition at the Autumn Jubilee and show the boys in the neighborhood that she’s the best player. First, Freedom has to convince her mother to let her enter. But there’s a new baby on the way, Freedom’s daddy is drinking too much, her little brother is a handful, and her mother is even more difficult than usual. Freedom learns that when it comes to love, friendship, and family, sometimes there are no rules.

Merci Suarez knew that sixth grade would be different, but she had no idea just how different. For starters, Merci has never been like the other kids at her private school in Florida, because she and her older brother, Roli, are scholarship students. They don’t have a big house or a fancy boat, and they have to do extra community service to make up for their free tuition.

Middle school is hard. Your bodies are changing, your friends are changing, classes are harder, and tough things happen. This “support group in a book” is specifically geared to you. Read stories written by kids just like you, about their middle school years, and: true friends and new friends; mean girls... and boys!; embarrassing moments; bully payback; crushes and young love; being happy with yourself; tough times; family issues; doing what’s right and lots more!

Callum Drift has been head of E.L.F. security at the North Pole for hundreds of years, and his worst nightmare just came true. Santa, code name “Red One,” has been kidnapped. Cal will do anything he can to save Red One, even if it means teaming up with the world’s most infamous bounty hunter, Jack O’Malley. Together, this unlikely duo crisscrosses the globe on an action-packed mission to figure out who took him and why. Will they be able to find Red One and save Christmas?

Muscle Man McGinty can certainly tell some whoppers, but this time he's done the unthinkable. He bragged he can beat the entire block in a game of kickball! On Ramble Street, tough talk about kickball cannot be ignored. For Tamara Ann Simpson, however, this is great news. Now she'll finally be able to prove to everyone what a wormy little runt Muscle Man really is. Of course things would be a lot easier if her best friend Kebsie Grobser were here to help her.

Jimmy is sure that his dog Abby is special. After all, it was Abby who (with the help of Jimmy & friends) helped nab the criminal Barnaby Bratford and shut down Barnaby's babysitting service, a front for robbing the nice folks of Quietville. Jimmy's parents, on the other hand, are starting to feel like Abby is one destructive little dog (she chewed up Mom's entire shoe collection!) and they insist on enrolling Abby in obedience training.

Oggie Cooder's charving has already taken him to the top of the world. (Charving, in case you don't know, involves chewing and carving pieces of cheese.) But there's one place Oggie Cooder has never been allowed to go: Donnica Perfecto's pool.