Pines and Plains Libraries

"For sisters Samantha and Ella Mitchell, Christmas is their most precious time of the year. But this year, they'll be buying presents for the most unexpected guest of all--their mother. It's been five years since they last saw each other. But when their mom calls out of the blue, Samantha and Ella cautiously agree to spend Christmas all together in the beautiful Scottish Highlands... Gayle Mitchell is at the top of her career, but her success has...

"Best friends since the first day of classes at The College of Charleston, Ashley Anne Waters and Mary Beth Smythe, now 23 years old, live in Ashley's parents' beach house rent-free. Ashley is a gallery assistant who aspires to become an artist. Mary Beth, a gifted cook from Tennessee, works for a caterer while searching for a good teaching job. Though they both know what they want out of life, their parents barely support their dreams and worry for...

From the New York Times bestselling creator of the Vanderbeekers series comes a triumphant tale of friendship, healing, and the power of believing in ourselves told from the perspective of biracial sixth-graders June and Tyrell, two children living in a homeless shelter. As their friendship grows over a shared love of classical music, June and Tyrell confront a new housing policy that puts homeless families in danger. It's June's first day at Huey...

When timid Elizabeth's father takes her and her fearless friend, Zenobia, to his family home, Zenobia becomes obsessed with finding a ghost there, and then Elizabeth learns she had an aunt who disappeared from the house years ago.

Dani and Dorian Wytte have been through everything together—including joining forces with trouble maker Nico, Princess Monica, and golden boy Mark to sneak into the witch's sabbath, spring hostages from prison, and defend the castle when it was attacked by witches. With witches like their parents out for power and blood and non-magical people increasingly threatened by them, Dani and Dorian don't know whose side they're on . . .or if anyone's on...

Hopefully small children can use the story of the author's family experience to deal with military deployments by seeing that there is a beginning, middle and an end to their parent or loved one being gone.