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There are no shortcuts to surviving your first day at a new school — you can’t fix it with duct tape like you would your Chuck Taylors. Things aren’t going so well, but when Malú (María Luisa, if you want to annoy her) assembles a group of like-minded misfits at school and starts a band, she finally begins to feel at home. She’ll do anything to preserve this, which includes standing up to an anti-punk school administration to fight for her right to express herself!

Black and white illustrations and collage art throughout make The First Rule of Punk a perfect pick for fans of books like Roller Girl and online magazines like Rookie.

Jimmy McClean is a Lakota boy, though you wouldn’t guess it by his name. Over summer break, Jimmy embarks on a journey with his grandfather, Nyles High Eagle. While on the road, his grandfather tells him the story of Crazy Horse, one of the most important figures in Lakota, and American, history. Expertly intertwining fiction and nonfiction, celebrated Brulé Lakota author Joseph Marshall III chronicles the many heroic deeds of Crazy Horse, especially his taking up arms against the U.S. government. Through his grandfather’s tales about the famous warrior, Jimmy learns about his Lakota heritage and, ultimately, himself. 

Middle school is tough enough but what happens when your grandfather — a scientist who has uncovered some really interesting jellyfish properties — attends with you as a 13-year old? It’s a totally new experience! Told with verve and humor (and a touch of science), this is a coming-of-age tale for 11-year old Ellie and Melvin, her teenaged granddad.

When Gregory and Brian find an old board game while visiting crazy old Uncle Max, they could never imagine that it will draw them into a battle between spirit nations and lead to encounters with all manner of creatures.

An exploration into how recent leaps in the understanding of DNA offer both scientific promises and complex ethical issues probes the fundamental questions related to advances in DNA science, covering such topics as the business of genomics, the use of DNA technology to solve crimes, investment and economic issues, and the stem cell debate.

A cabin boy winds up on an infamous pirate ship called the Giant Rat of Sumatra — and in the middle of the war with Mexico. Swashbuckling adventure moves swiftly along even as the boy yearns to return to New England and pirate Captain Gallows to leave the sea.

A very poor, young couple, who are deeply in love, want to buy each other Christmas presents but have no money to do so. They each figure out a way to get the money to buy each other gifts. What unpleasant surprises await them on Christmas Day?

Sixteen-year-old Deka lives in fear and anticipation of the blood ceremony that will determine whether she will become a member of her village. Already different from everyone else because of her unnatural intuition, Deka prays for red blood so she can finally feel like she belongs.

But on the day of the ceremony, her blood runs gold, the color of impurity–and Deka knows she will face a consequence worse than death.Then a mysterious woman comes to her with a choice: stay in the village and submit to her fate, or leave to fight for the emperor in an army of girls just like her. They are called alaki–near-immortals with rare gifts. And they are the only ones who can stop the empire’s greatest threat.