Illinois Authors

Holiday House, New York : ©2010.

When someone takes a pet goldfish, then other items from Ms. Herschel's classroom, each time leaving a clue in the form of a poem, student Edgar Allan competes with a classmate to be first to solve the mystery.

"On her birthday, Minerva, a seventeen-year-old singer/songwriter, hears from the father she has never known and her placid life is turned upside down"--

When their thieving parents steal a rich and famous dog, twins Jillian and Billy, who have grown tired of being crooks, must find a way to get Poochie Smoochie back to her owner. Includes activities.

Tired of being pressured to help commit crimes and yearning for a more normal life, twins Jillian and Billy band together to do good deeds while their parents kidnap a monkey from the zoo, hoping to teach it to steal. Includes activities.

Unlike their thieving parents, ten-year-old twins Billy and Jillian Crook like to do good deeds, including rescuing a baby skunk. Features activities.

Egmont USA, New York : ©2012.

Tripp, who plays guitar only for himself, and Lyla, a cellist whose talent has already made her famous but not happy, form an unlikely friendship when they are forced to share a practice room at their high school.

Egmont USA, New York : 2009.

Coming from a poor, single-parent family, seventh-grader Trevor must rely on his intelligence, artistic ability, quick wit, and soccer prowess to win friends at his new Washington, D.C. school, but popular and rich Xander seems determined to cause him trouble.

"While Lucy McGee tries to track down her missing ukulele, the members of the Songwriting Club must decide if it's worth competing against one another in a giveaway for free concert tickets"--

Lucy avoids her school's new Uke Club to help neighbor Scarlet create a Poetry Club, although Scarlet keeps telling her to do things that seem wrong.--

A notebook that is passed from student to student around a classroom becomes a repository for wild rumors, heartfelt confessions, and creative writing and helps the students cope when their teacher has medical emergency and they must cope with a rigid substitute as they worry about their beloved teacher and her family.

When Ms. Wurtz leaves a blank book in the Writer's Corner with a note encouraging those who find it to talk to each other in its pages, the students' entries spark a classroom-wide battle.

"A talent contest brings out the worst in Lucy McGee and her fourth-grade classmates"--

G.P. Putnam's Sons New York, NY : ©2008.

When her older sisters tease her into believing that she is actually a chicken, Henrietta runs off to a farm to be among her own kind.

Holiday House New York : ©2005.

When her father begins a long-distance romance with a Washington, D.C. zookeeper, twelve-year-old Frankie sends fabricated email letters to the zookeeper in an attempt to end the relationship.

Holiday House New York : ©2006.

Three more hilarious, gross-out stories featuring Orville and Wilbur Riot.

Holiday House New York : ©2004.

Contains three stories in which brothers and best friends Wilbur and Orville Riot catch a thief, overthrow a king, and find a treasure, and includes rules to some of their made-up games.

Holiday House New York : ©2007.

Orville and Wilber Riot rescue a damsel in distress, are mad scientists, and defeat a bully through Operation Armpit.

Holiday House New York : ©2009.

Story shows that guts, brains, and a little slobber are all you need to have a ripsnorgling good time.

Holiday House New York : 2000.

Lerner Chanse, a new student at Cleveland Park Middle School, finds a worm that magically makes things disappear, and she hopes it will help her fit in, or get revenge, at her hated school.