Frances O'Roark Dowell

A group of foster children build a home of their own.

Is it possible to start afresh when you're thoroughly weighted down? A novel from the author of The Secret Language of Girls. Seventeen pounds. That's the difference between Abigail Walker and Kristen Gorzca. Between chubby and slim, between teased and taunting. Abby is fine with her body and sick of seventeen pounds making her miserable, so she speaks out against Kristen and her groupies-and becomes officially unpopular. Embracing her new status,...

Second-grader Sam Graham wants a cell phone to do research and share information but when his parents say no, he devises a new plan that starts a fad at school.

Marylin and Kate have been friends since nursery school, but when Marylin becomes a middle school cheerleader and Kate begins to develop other interests, their relationship is put to the test.

In the segregated south of Kentucky in 1953, twelve-year-olds Callie, who is black, and Wendell, who is white, are brought together by an old dog that is clearly seeking something or someone, but they not only face prejudice, they find trouble at a haunted cabin in the woods.

When his new best friend, Ben, decides to run for class president, fourth-grade science whiz Phineas MacGuire reluctantly agrees to be his campaign manager in exchange for help with his latest experiment--cultivating exhibits for a mold museum.

The quilting novel Marianne Fons calls "a truly enjoyable read" about "the power of quilts to connect, heal, and restore the soul..." When Emma Byrd moves into the house of her dreams in the small mountain community of Sweet Anne's Gap, she knows that making friends may prove to be her biggest challenge. Her husband loves his new job and her kids are finding their way at school. But Emma - no natural when it comes to talking to strangers - will...

New York Times best-selling author Frances O'Roark Dowell has garnered the Edgar Award and the Christopher Medal for her keen-eyed, humorous fiction. Embarrassed by her family's offbeat lifestyle, Janie Gorman lives with her modern-hippy parents on a rustic goat farm. Smart, creative, and a bit quirky, Janie longs to be seen as normal. But having to milk goats every day is not helping her reach that goal.

A kid filled with rage, kicked off the football team for unsportsmanlike conduct, and his father, newly home from the war in Afghanistan, reckon with the injuries they've caused to others and themselves​ in this unflinching middle grade novel in verse about love and forgiveness. Everybody knows Hazard Stokes has mad football skills. A defensive back, he's never played dirty (no need for that when you're as good as he is) so it's a shock when he...

When seven-year-old Sam Graham, eager for some spending money, volunteers to look after a neighbor's chickens, the experience inspires him to get his own chicken--a special bird named Helga.