Home Sweet Home

Emmy Mae is not happy at all when she hears that her cousins Cody, Nick, and Rhino (don't those names sound familiar?) are coming to stay for the summer. Her cousins are weird and act about three years older than they are. This summer will be HORRIBLE.

But her cousin Cody is actually VERY fun! He loves soccer just as much as she does, and he agrees that Rhino and Nick are pure evil. Emmy Mae just might have a new best friend. And after a while, Rhino and Nick turn out to be okay, too.

Her sister Harly is very sick, though, and dies from cancer at the young age of fourteen. Emmy Mae will have to cope with the loss of her favorite sister and her new friends as they head back home. Even the family dog notices the sudden loss of the house's four favorite people.

Will this summer ever get any better, or will Emmy Mae have the worst summer in the history of summers?

There isn't really a certain age for this story. It's just a nice book.

Dancer Girl

Kora is a spoiled, snobby girl whose mother owns a dance studio and she IS the best dancer there. (Well, that's what she thinks.) Her older sister and brother help out around the dance studio, too, and in exchange, they get to run the show most of the time, picking out the costumes, toying with the lineup of dances in the recital, and, of course, giving themselves as many solos as they believe are necessary.

But when Romea Bora, her mom's latest boyfriend's daughter, joins the studio after their parents are married, Kora (now Kora Bora, and how she hates that name) has some competition in the studio. Romea is funny, cool, nice, and even better than Kora at dancing, which, Kora thought, was impossible.

It turns out that it was possible.

Kora and Romea settle their differences in a dance, where they can let their feelings out on stage, for their upcoming competition. Will they be able to get along, or will Kora actually have to settle for second place, not only in the judges eyes, but in her mother's?

Age recommendation: Ages 8-15

The Year Rozikyn Left

BJ's life is not turning out as planned. Her weird older brother leaves home, leaving his eight siblings and parents confused and angry. Of course, BJ's parents get into a fight over Rozikyn's random departure, and this leads to a catastrophic family feud, one that BJ's stuck in the middle of!

If her parents don't start "liking each other" again, that means they're going to get a divorce. And sure enough, just two weeks after Rozikyn packed up and left, her parents split up, tearing BJ, her baby brother Nelson, and her one older sister, Angeline, off with her mother, while the other five continue to live with their father.

Life gets complicated for BJ, especially since seventh grade is going to be a major flop unless she can stop getting sent to the principals office! Will her barely nineteen-year-old big brother come back AT ALL, or will he just continue to make things worse? And also, what's going to happen to BJ's mom, who's been going out with some jerk that BJ doesn't even like?

Age recommendation: Ages 12 and up