Tom Birdseye

Fifth-grader Patrick can't read, but when the new girl next door encourages him to overcome his fears and try, he starts believing he isn't so stupid after all Patrick Lowe has always loved imagining his own fantastic stories of brave knights and dragons. Unfortunately, every time he tries to read, his father's voice pops up in his head telling him he's stupid, and the words on the page suddenly become too blurry to see. By his fifth grade year, Patrick...

Tucker Renfro hasn't seen his little sister in seven years, and when she finally comes to visit, he's sure she's made it her mission to drive him crazy-why won't Olivia leave him alone? Tucker Renfro is obsessed with Native American culture, and nothing is more important to him than his tribe-his dad and his best friend, Joe Allen. When Tucker's sister comes to visit, he isn't exactly excited to see her. Tucker hasn't seen his mother or sister since...

When Jackson Cooper is suddenly sucked into another world, he must find the courage to fight an evil monster before it destroys everything in its path! Even on his birthday, nothing is going right for Jackson Cooper. His friends think he's a wimp for not biking down a steep hill, and his father, who's always in a bad mood since he lost his job, is acting weirder than normal. To top it off, Jackson has to babysit his little sister. The year is off...

Cat Taylor is furious when her cousin steals her father's ashes to scatter on the mountain-but when they get caught in a blizzard, can the two work together to survive? Cat Taylor's father and uncle, a famous search-and-rescue team, died on Storm Mountain two years ago, and Cat and her mother still can't seem to move on. When her mom goes away on business for the weekend, Cat thinks she has the house to herself-until her cousin Ty suddenly shows up...

Arlo Moore has resolved to break the world record for eating bananas-consuming seventeen in two minutes should be easy, right? Arlo Moore's favorite book of all time is TheGuinness Book of World Records, and as bananas are his favorite food, he has memorized the record for eating bananas. While gearing up to start his fifth grade year, Arlo suddenly has a crazy thought: He should break the world record for banana eating and become famous! His brother...

Deep in the mountains of North Carolina, there once lived a young boy with such a poor memory that he sometimes forgot his own name. Now, Plug Honeycut's mother loved him. So she was the only one who had enough faith in her son to send him on an errand. Leaving their hilltop cabin, he started toward the distant country store to buy some soap. As Plug trudges along the path, over the hills and streams, he also follows the erratic trail of his elusive...