Showing results by narrator "Michael Crouch" in All Categories

Beware the secrets of the swamp... Aidan and Olivia live in a creaky old house on the edge of a dirty, swampy lake. Craving some excitement, they convince their parents to let them camp out by the lakeshore under a full moon, with only their dog for company. Aidan loves to scare his sister and...

The stunning sequel to Maria Dahvana Headley’s bestselling, critically acclaimed Magonia tells the story of one girl who must make an impossible choice between two families, two homes—and two versions of herself. Aza Ray is back on earth. Her boyfriend, Jason, is overjoyed. Her family is...

Twelve-year-old March McQuin forgot rule number one for cat burglars, which is how he and his twin sister, Jules, found themselves dangling upside down 20 feet above a stone floor at three in the morning. Their target was a set of stunning diamonds, and it should have been an easy job, in and out. Except another thief got there first. March and Jules were lucky to escape with their lives - and one measly stone.

Pete Milano has always been the class clown and proud of it. What's the point of having friends if you can't make them laugh, right? Even if doing so has the unfortunate side effect of constantly getting him into trouble. But, for once, Pete's tricks have led him to just the right place at just the right time. Now he's about to become famous, because he's been asked to audition for the hottest new movie with the hottest girl costar. But balancing real life with movie life is way harder than it sounds.

Jeannie is 19 when the world changes, Kip only 14. The sudden accident that robs them of their mother leaves them adrift, with only their father to guide them. Jeannie seeks escape in work and later marriage to a man whose social connections propel her into an unfamiliar world of wealth and politics. Ill equipped and unprepared, Jeannie finds comfort where she can. Meanwhile Kip's descent into a life of petty crime is halted only when he volunteers for the marines.

In this spine-tingling story from Newbery Medal winner Avi, a boy must solve the mystery of the ghost haunting him. For most of Tony Gilbert’s life, he has thought of his uncle as “Weird Uncle Charlie.” That is, until Uncle Charlie moves in with Tony and his family. Uncle Charlie is still...

*"Both hopeful and devastatingly real." --Kirkus, starred review *"A poignant look at the messiness of love, faith, and humanity." --School Library Journal, starred review *"Gilbert respectfully and sensitively handles themes of faith,religion, and family [a] moving debut." --Booklist, starred...

A heart-wrenching novel about best friends on a collision course with the real world from Amy Zhang, the critically acclaimed Indies Introduce and Indie Next author of Falling into Place. Janie and Micah, Micah and Janie. That’s how it’s been ever since elementary school, when Janie Vivien...

What would you do if every spark of electricity suddenly vanished, as if somebody had flipped a switch on the entire planet? Cars won't start, the heat shuts off, there's no water in your faucet, and your radio, TV, and flashlight go dark. Everyone in Charlie's small town is baffled. But as time passes, lawlessness erupts and takes an ugly turn. When the market and pharmacy are torched by an anti-Semitic arsonist, Charlie realizes his mother will die without her medicine.

Told in alternating points of view by a wide cast of characters, Twisted Fate is a tensely wrought psychological thriller, perfect for fans of We Were Liars by E. Lockhart. Two sisters. One mysterious boy. Ally and Sydney couldn’t be more different—one shy, the other popular and...

Laura: a teenage girl struggling to fit into her small, sleepy town in upstate New York, slowly drifting away from reality, into the secret life she inhabits online. Paul: a twentysomething wannabe rock star, back home from NYC, broke and jobless, living with his mother. April: a math teacher with two kids, running her church's vacation Bible school, discontent with another summer planning crafts and regurgitating verses. Ben: a boy stuck at VBS, still adjusting to the presence of his foster brother, DeShawn, a quiet, brooding kid from Brooklyn. Over summer, their paths will collide.

Henry has been deaf from an early age. He's intelligent and aware of language, but by age six, he has decided it's not safe to speak to strangers. When the time comes for him to start school, he is labeled "unteachable." Because his family has very little money, his parents and older sister, Molly, feel powerless to help him. Henry's sent to Riverview, a bleak institution where he is misunderstood, underestimated, and harshly treated. Victor, a conscientious objector to World War II, is part of a Civilian Public Service program and arrives at Riverview to serve as an attendant in 1942.

The Acrasian army has swept through Eledore, nearly massacring the entire race in fear and hatred of the magic they possess. This same magic is all that was keeping the demon incursion at bay, but now the great evil that was banished is seeping into the world. Watchers are formed to warn of any sightings of the demons, but little can be done if one encounters them in shadow or at night.

Rapunzel is having the ultimate bad day. She's been stolen by a witch, may have a ghost for a roommate, and doesn't even have a decent brush for her hair. Prince Benjamin's got it pretty tough, too. His father wants him to be more kingly, his mother wants him to never leave her sight, and his cousin wants to get him into as much trouble as possible (possibly with a troll). Both Rapunzel and Prince Benjamin are trapped - in very different ways. Once their paths cross, well, that's when things get really strange.

At the turn of the 20th century, as he composes a treatise on melancholy, Jacov Reinhardt sets off from his small Croatian village in search of his hero and unwitting mentor, Emiliano Gomez Carrasquilla, who is rumored to have disappeared into the South American jungle - "not lost, mind you, but retired." Jacov's narcissistic preoccupation with melancholy consumes him, and as he desperately recounts the myth of his journey to his trusted but ailing scribe, hope for an encounter with the lost philosopher who holds the key to Jacov's obsession seems increasingly unlikely.

When the world first formed, the night was black and filled with dark creatures. The Elders knew their people couldn't survive under such a threat. So they gave their hearts to the sky in the form of stars to keep evil away. Now, 11-year-old Kyro is a Star Shepherd like his father. He's spent his life tucked away in the small town of Drenn. There, the family watches the night sky for falling stars - and rushes to rescue them when they do.

Rumor Mora fears two things: hellhounds too strong for him to kill and failure. Jude Welton has two dreams: for humans to stop killing monsters and for his strange abilities to vanish. But in no reality should a boy raised to love monsters fall for a boy raised to kill them. Nyx Llorca keeps two secrets: the moon speaks to her, and she's in love with her best friend. Braeden Tennant wants two things: to get out from his mother's shadow and to unlearn his colony's darkest secret. To save everyone they love, they'll both have to commit treason.

It’s 1939, and a teenage math genius is mysteriously summoned to the Smithsonian Institution, where a crash program to develop the atomic bomb is being conducted in the basement. The boy turns out to hold the key to both the secrets of nuclear fission and breakthroughs in the time continuum. As he brainstorms with Robert Oppenheimer, he catches a glimpse of the coming war and becomes determined to ward off the cataclysm.

The Late Bloomer is harrowing, grim, and poignant in the way of Cormac McCarthy’s The Road. Told in Kevin March’s singular and unforgettable voice, delivering a gripping narrative with an unsparing climax as moving as it is terrifying, The Late Bloomer defies expectations of the genre and will haunt those who listen to it.

Two years after his partner, Francesco, died, 28-year-old Kevin Doyle is dusting off his one good suit jacket for yet another funeral, yet another loss in their close-knit group. They had all been young, beautiful, and living the best days of their lives, though they didn't know it. That was before New York City began to feel like a war zone, its horrors somehow invisible, and ignored by the rest of the world. Some people might insist that Francesco is in a better place now, but Kevin definitely isn't.