Showing results by publisher "Brilliance Audio" in Growing Up & Facts of Life

The wonderful grandmother whom listeners saw through the eyes of a young boy in The Cookcamp reaches out to him when he is fourteen, offering him a haven from his harsh and painful family life. She arranges a summer job for him on the farm where she is a cook for bachelor brothers Gunnar and Olaf. Farm life offers the camaraderie and the routine of hard work, as well as good food, peaceful evenings spent making music together, and even dancing lessons. Life with Alida gives the boy strength and faith in himself, drawing him away from the edge and into the center of life.

Bone and his sister, Squirrel, are stray dogs born in a shed. Left mother-less as puppies, the two dogs survive together for a while, but are soon wrenched apart, and Bone must now go on, alone. Charlie is a boy who has suffered a terrible loss. And, as he's healing with the help of his dog, another tragedy occurs. All Henry has wanted is a dog of his own, and now that his best friend has moved away, his parents still won't let him.

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.

Mo lives on Fox Street with her dad and little sister, the Wild Child. Their house is in the middle of the block — right where a heart would be, if the street were a person. Fox Street has everything: a piano player, a fix-it man, the city’s best burrito makers, a woman who cuts Mo’s hair just right, not to mention a certain boy who wants to teach her how to skateboard. There’s even a mean, spooky old lady, if ringing doorbells and running away, or leaving dead mice in mailboxes, is your idea of fun.

As a punishment for lying, Kevin has lost his allowance. He doesn’t lie now, but he’s broke. He’s got to find a way to make money. Lots of it, so he can impress Tina Zabinski, the World’s Most Beautiful Girl, and ask her on a date. So Kevin gets creative - and his life becomes a financial comedy of errors. Does he really have what it takes to get filthy rich at age fourteen? In Gary Paulsen’s hilarious follow-up to Liar, Liar, Kevin’s schemes lead him into situations that are sweet, some that are sticky, and some that are downright stinky.

Charlie Joe Jackson may be the most reluctant reader ever born. And so far, he’s managed to get through life without ever reading an entire book from cover to cover. But now that he’s in middle school, avoiding reading isn’t as easy as it used to be. And when his friend Timmy McGibney decides that he’s tired of covering for him, Charlie Joe finds himself resorting to desperate measures to keep his perfect record intact. This is the hilarious story of an avid non-reader and the extreme lengths to which he’ll go to get out of reading a book.

Today, Molly:Lost her Notebook (her Notebook that contained everything she needed to live. Including her homework), learned her wacky grandma Irene was coming to spend the day at school with her, got a black eye, AND was late to class. And it’s only nine a.m. Could things get any worse? You bet!

Amalee’s world is out of order. She’s used to things being all over the place, because of the frequent presence of her father’s bantering, bickering group of friends. But now everything is a big question mark. School isn’t what it used to be, and Amalee’s not really sure she likes her friends anymore. Life is a mystery that’s weighing her down.Then Amalee’s dad becomes seriously ill, and life becomes even more complicated. The world quiets to a whisper... until Amalee finds help from some very unexpected places.

Stella Chavez is your classic good girl: straight As, clean-cut boyfriends, and soccer trophies. You’d never guess that Stella’s dad was a drug addict who had walked out when she was a kid. Or that inside, Stella wishes for something more. New girl Ruby Caroline seems like Stella’s polar opposite: cursing, smoking, and teetering in sky-high heels. But Stella is pulled in by Ruby’s infectious confidence, brutal honesty, and die-hard loyalty. With Ruby, Stella gets a taste of another world

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.

Fourteen-year-old Finn is a loner, living with his dad and his amazing dog, Dylan. This summer Finn is hoping for a job where he doesn’t have to talk to anyone except his buddy, Matthew. Then he meets Johanna, who’s living next door. She’s a graduate student in her 20s, cool and funny, and she treats Finn as an equal. Dylan thinks she’s great too. Johanna’s dealing with breast cancer, and Matthew and Finn help take care of her - and come to care for her.

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.

In August 1972, President Idi Amin declares that a message from God has come to him in a dream: all foreign Indians must be "weeded out" of Uganda in the next 90 days. Fifteen-year-old Sabine and her father, a successful businessman, are confident that their family will not be affected, since they are Ugandan citizens, but Sabine's fearful mother is certain that they will have to leave.

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....

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.

Yes! Graduation day is finally here! Charlie Joe has been waiting for this moment his entire middle school career. This might even be the best day of his life. No more teachers! No more books! Just make it through the ceremony and he's free. But suddenly things around him are starting to change. Words like responsibility and college prep keep popping out of his friend's mouths. What happened to words like fun and pool party? And come to think of it, doesn't high school bring more teachers and more books?

Loveable slacker Charlie Joe Jackson is back. This time he’s trying to devise ways to make money - and fast. Charlie Joe’s weekly allowance just isn’t cutting it and he desperately needs money to buy a Botman, the latest gadget to sweep his middle school. Only catch is, he wants to earn the money by doing the least amount of work possible. After several failed attempts, including a near disastrous day of dog-walking, Charlie Joe hatches a plan to throw his own bar mitzvah (no gifts please - checks only) even though he’s not Jewish.

A six-year-old boy goes to spend the summer with his grandmother, Alida, in a small Minnesota town. With the men all gone off to fight, the women are left to run the farms. There’s plenty for the boy to do - trying to help with the chores; getting to know the dog and the horses, cows, pigs, and chickens. But when his cousin Kristina goes into labor, he can’t do a thing. Instead, the house fills with women come to help and to wait, and to work on the quilt together

Nyle’s life with her grandmother on their Vermont sheep farm advances rhythmically through the seasons until the night of the accident at the Cookshire nuclear power plant. Without warning, Nyle’s modest world fills with protective masks, evacuations, contaminated food, disruptions, and mistrust. Things become even more complicated when Ezra Trent and his mother, refugees from the heart of the accident, take temporary shelter in the back bedroom of Nyle’s house.

Harold Schernoff, fourteen-year-old science whiz and social outcast, has a theory to solve every problem, from dating to dealing with bullies, to making money, to playing sports, to buying a car when you’re underage. Want to learn to ski? Try: Mass x acceleration x slope of hill = EEEEEAAGGHHH! Here’s another surefire formula: Golf balls + car = BANG!Science turns slapstick when Harold and his buddy team up to test Schernoff’s Discoveries.