Showing results by narrator "Merissa Czyz" in All Categories

In the new country, Shirley and her family all have big dreams. Take the family store: Shirley has great ideas about how to make it more modern! Prettier! More profitable! She even thinks she can sell the one specialty no one seems to want to try: Mama’s homemade gefilte fish. But her parents think she’s too young to help. And anyway they didn’t come to America for their little girl to work. “Go play with the cat!” they urge.  

Alice Jones’ mother died in a boating accident. Well, that’s what everyone says. Alice doesn’t believe them - her mother’s body was never recovered off the coast of Aviles Island, and Alice has always thought she might still be out there somewhere. Then Alice discovers that the residents of Aviles know how to communicate with loved ones who have died. If Alice can go there and try to contact her mother, she might have all the answers she needs.   

Twelve-year-old Grace is desperate for a puppy. All she wants is someone to love - and to love her back. Someone who’ll make her new stepfather’s house feel like home. Christmas morning, Grace springs out of bed hopeful that her dreams are about to come true. But the present that awaits her isn’t soft and furry. It’s not a puppy at all - it’s a pig.  

Madeline Finn and Star are off to Walker Oaks, a retirement community where Star will take his tests to become a therapy dog. Accompanied by Mom, Mrs. Dimple, and Bonnie, she and Star make their way through a variety of challenges and meet several new friends. But Madeline Finn can't stop thinking about an elderly man in a wheelchair who never smiles. Is there something she and Star can do to help?  

When Mia moves to Vermont the summer after seventh grade, she's recovering from the broken arm she got falling off a balance beam. And packed away in the moving boxes under her clothes and gymnastics trophies is a secret she'd rather forget. Mia's change in scenery brings day camp, new friends, and time with her beloved grandmother. But Gram is convinced someone is trying to destroy her cricket farm. Is it sabotage or is Gram's thinking impaired from the stroke she suffered months ago?

A lonely doll helps a child adjust to a blended family in the first of a charming series about library toys and the children who borrow them, written by Newbery Honoree Cynthia Lord.  

A dirty, skinny, dog shows up in Sam and Katie's neighborhood. They start to follow it, and they don't like what they see: The Wilson sisters yell at it because it goes in their garden and the Tracy twins chase it on their bikes and throw things at it. Sam and Katie want the dog to know they'll be its friends. They think it should have a name. Most of all, they want it to like them. But then they do something thoughtless, and after that, it's hard to make things right, especially because the dog now won't come near them. 

Every month Ms. Madeleine creates a special cookie of the month for her bakery. And her best customer, a little girl named Cookie, is always the first to try it. Ms. Madeleine’s sweet treats never disappoint. When June arrives, Cookie and her two moms stop in and taste the best cookie yet: a heart-shaped, rainbow-striped, crunchy, frosted confection that Ms. Madeleine baked especially for Pride.

Rose is a good girl. She listens to her parents and follows every rule. After all, rules are there for a reason … right? And adults always know best. Talia, the new girl from New York City, doesn’t think so. After only a week at school, Talia—who does what she wants, when she wants—is already making enemies. First on the list: Charlotte, Rose’s lifelong best friend. So why can’t Rose stop wondering what it would be like to be Talia’s friend? And why does Rose read a banned book that Talia recommends? Rose doesn’t know. But the forbidden book makes her ask questions she’s never thought of. 

There is the whole world, and in it, there's a city, and in that city, there's a house, and in that house, there are two half-houses, and in one of those half-houses, there lives a pair of sisters named Stella and Marigold. Stella, who's seven, likes cats and axolotls and second grade. But most of all, she likes Marigold. Marigold, who's four, likes gibbons and red paint and the plumber. But most of all, she likes Stella.

In Rye, Virginia, just outside Washington, DC, people work hard, kids go to school, and football is big on Friday nights. An eighth-grade English teacher creates an assignment for her class to debate whether Rye’s mascot should stay or change. Now six middle schoolers get involved in the issue that already has the suburb turned upside down with everyone choosing sides and arguments getting ugly. At the center of this story about human rights and Native sovereignty, there are six young people.

Ruthie can’t wait to celebrate Hanukkah. And what makes Hanukkah even better? Pajamakkahs! Ruthie wants to wear them all eight nights, but her parents agree only if she can keep them spotless until the Hanukkah Pajamakkah Party. But eight nights is a long time, and a lot can happen. With a splish, squelch, and a splash, Ruthie keeps her promise of having spotless pajamakkahs in time for the party.

Mason lives in 2023. His parents have just split up, and there's a guy at school who won't get off his case. As part of an assignment, he writes a letter to Albert Einstein and it ends up getting a little too personal. He throws the letter into his closet … and the next day he gets a letter back from a girl named Talia, who lives in 1987. She has problems of her own, including classmates who make jokes because she's Jewish. She thought her friends would have her back. But it ends up the only person she really has to talk to is … a random boy from the future?

This charming and critically acclaimed early chapter book series follows the everyday adventures of siblings Stella and Marigold. In this second book, Stella and Marigold receive a purple present—a book for them to list all their friends. That’s when they discover they need to make more friends! But how? With magical recipes to make snow fall? With lots of nice Band-Aids? How about a mermaid candleholder? The two sisters are full of ideas and plans.