Showing results by publisher "Blackstone Publishing" in Growing Up & Facts of Life

Grey has improved a ton with the help of his friends, and he's closing in on the top tier of players. But then his closest friend announces that he's been asked to join a new squad on the top tier and leaves them in hopes of making the top five with his new squad. Grey is devastated, and his team struggles. He falls back several ranks and begins to wonder if it's even possible to escape the game this season. Some players have been there for many seasons...some aren't even trying to leave because they like it so much. Maybe he should just accept it as his life.

Grey never expected his best friend, Finn, to end up trapped in Battle Royale as well, but now they both have to fight to get out. And there are only a few more weeks to do it. If Ben and Tristan hadn't left Grey's squad, he would have been a lot closer to the top five. But with the help of his new squad members, Grey is determined to climb back to the top. It won't be easy when Grey's old squad mates use his own tactics against him. He must use his creativity to find new ways to lead his squad back to the top 20.

Moishe “Mushy” Luftmensch, age 10 and a half, has a big problem: He’s a very good kid...in a very bad world (and we mean very, very bad! We’re talking “tangerine peanut butter and garlic milkshakes” bad!). When Mushy proves to be too good for his, well...own good...he’s summarily shipped off to a special camp for “good eggs” like him. It’s no surprise we end up at a particularly unique camp where kids like Mushy are turned from really good to really bad...just like they’re supposed to be.

No one predicted the dragon apocalypse. The dragons came suddenly and decimated the world as we knew it, including New York City. Now, three years later, Noah, his hardcore survivalist father, and a ragtag group of survivors are barely scraping by in this new reality. Kids scavenge not only for materials in abandoned homes but also for leftover books at the library. Adults spend their time establishing a make-shift society and defending their shelter… with any means available. At least for the few months the dragons are hibernating, until it’s no longer safe aboveground.

William Wyatt Orser, a socially awkward middle schooler, is a wordsmith who, much to his annoyance, acquired the ironically ungrammatical nickname of “Worser" so long ago that few people at school know to call him anything else. Worser grew up with his mom, a professor of rhetoric and an introvert just like him, in a comfortable routine that involved reading aloud in the evenings, criticizing the grammar of others, ignoring the shabby mess of their house, and suffering the bare minimum of social interactions with others. But recently, all that has changed. 

Calvin Waffle doesn't believe in bad ideas. Danny knows his friend Calvin has crazy ideas, so he's not surprised when Calvin suggests they start a Rent-a-Pet business. After all, Calvin's Aunt Ruth wants the boys to watch her dog while she's away, and what better way to get the miniature Collie off their hands than loaning him to a kid in the neighborhood for a few days? But in order to rent a pet, you need a renter. Which Calvin and Danny don't have. Can the two drum up some business before it's too late? Or will their plan go to the dogs?

Before they became the world-famous Kids of Widney High, they first had to survive junior high! This rock band, composed entirely of members with developmental disabilities, loves to put on a show, but boy can they can get into fights, trouble, and sticky situations. Join their friend and honorary assistant manager Robbie as he introduces the band members and shows us how they’re just like everyone else.  

We share this beautiful planet we call home with countless living creatures, from monarch butterflies and falcons to koalas and dolphins. And just like us, animals everywhere are faced with the growing threat of climate change. Featuring seven categories of animals, this book offers a roadmap for change and an invitation to explore the outdoors with fascinating facts, hope-filled stories, and hands-on STEAM activities. Each section includes biographies of adventurers, scientists, and artists from all over the world who used their passion and skills to become bold allies for nature.

Something has gone wrong in Danny and Calvin’s fourth-grade classroom - out of the blue, Mrs. Cakel has transformed from a rampant rule-enforcer to a quiet excuse-accepter. Has she been replaced with an alien? Has she undergone a top-secret personality makeover? Danny and Calvin decide there’s only one way to find out what’s really going on - spy. But spying soon leads to a greater mystery filled with dog chasing, jelly-injected donuts, prune butter-included experiments, riddle mania, and more!

Twelve-year-old Ellie is ordinary. Absolutely, positively ordinary. Then her dad's latest community project makes their whole ritzy town, including all of Ellie's friends, turn against them. Tired of being ostracized, Ellie's family moves to the other side of the state to live in a rickety 100-year-old house complete with a turret—and Ellie swears off friendship forever. That is until Ellie explores the turret and discovers an old-fashioned telescope—a spyglass.

Sebastian Garcia, Juliet Okofor, and twins Angus and Celia McNeil could not be more different from one another. But when they accidently discover an enchanted house that once belonged to the great magician Moriarty Mortimer, everything changes. Legend has it that somewhere inside the mysterious mansion is the most powerful book of magic ever known, and the kids aren’t the only ones hoping to find it. Someone unexpected wants to use it for their evil plan. 

Third-grader Aven Green has been solving mysteries for a really long time—a whole month! She has solved many important cases like The Mystery of the Cranky Mom, The Mystery of the Missing Ice Cream, and The Mystery of the Smelly Feet. Her record is nearly 100 percent, with only The Mystery of the Cereal in My Underpants remaining unsolved to this day. Aven asks all the right questions, wields her detective kit carefully, and follows up on every clue. Then her teacher’s lunch bag, with her lunch still in it, is taken, and Aven’s great-grandma’s beloved dog goes missing. 

Homing pigeon Homer and his parrot friend Lulu learn something is afoul when they witness four-legged criminals stealing valuables from both the animal and human communities. Lulu and Homer track down the bandits, but need human help to stop them for good. Can they lead their human keepers to the culprits’ hideout and stop the thieves? Award-winning author-illustrator Henry Cole offers a fun, action-packed middle grade mystery that will keep listeners guessing if the crime-solving pigeon will get his guy

Twelve-year-old Elissa has been raised in seclusion as a devotee of the Mother Goddess. She is a special child, a blessed child, a child who can sing miracles into being. Her voice can heal wounds, halt landslides, cure hunger—and even end wars. But there are those who would use her gift for darker things. And when Elissa finds herself the farthest from home she’s ever been—along with her vain and jealous music tutor, Lucio—she will have to develop the judgment to decide who wants to use her song to heal...and who wants to use her song to hurt.

In 1607, a year after the Virginia Company was granted a charter to establish a settlement in North America, 104 men set sail on a voyage to a new land. Among the brave adventurers who make the journey is a young boy named Samuel Collier, the page of famed Captain John Smith. Disease, famine, and continuing attacks by neighboring Algonquin Native Americans take a tremendous toll on the settlers. Samuel is one of the few to survive the harsh realities of the New World during the first few years of Jamestown.

Twelve-year-old Spade is a grave thief. With his father and brother, he digs up the recently deceased to steal jewels, the main form of trade in Wyndhail. Digging graves works for Spade - alone in the graveyard at night, no one notices his limp or calls him names. He’s headed for a lifetime of theft when his father comes up with the audacious plan to rob a grave in the Wyndhail castle cemetery. Spade and his brother get caught in a royal trap, and Spade must find the master of the Woegan: a deadly creature that is stalking the castle by night.

Listeners have come to expect chatty, direct narratives that develop distinct characters and place those individuals squarely in the context of both their times and their disciplines, and this account of the noted physicist’s life delivers the goods. From her childhood in an oppressed Poland, the daughter of two highly educated individuals, Curie emerges as a driven woman, determined to excel for both her parents’ and her country’s sake - this drive informing everything that followed.

Twelve-year-old Tahlia Wilkins is ready to start off her perfect summer when her dreamy crush invited her to his birthday pool party. But the Red Goddess of Panties, a.k.a. her first period, arrives 24 hours before the pool party and completely messes up all her plans. To make matters worse, her mom is out of town, and there’s no way she’s going to ask her awkward dad for help! Thalia was always afraid growing up would be tough, but this is just not fair. 

Penny Hope used to be brave, but that was before she met the Fear Maker. Years later, he still haunts her nightmares―a tall, thin man with red eyes, in a haunted house in the woods, who devours human souls and leaves their eyes hollow and empty. Penny’s beloved grandma tells her to write down these nightmares as poems in her notebook. But then Penny starts seeing blank-eyed people in the waking world, too. She’s the only one who notices.

Scaredy Smurf is afraid of heights, the water, the dark … and just about everything! So when he sees a big spider, naturally he’s terrified. Until he realizes the spider is just as frightened of him as he is of it! Soon Scaredy Smurf and the spider are best friends, and they surprise everyone! This gently spooky story is perfect for Halloween or anytime for Smurfs fans.