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Roxie and the Hooligans at Buzzard’s Roost

Coming May 2018!

The last time we saw Roxie and the Hooligans they were stopping a bank robbery and being honored as town heroes. After all that excitement, Roxie is ready for a vacation So her beloved Uncle Dangerfoot is taking her and her best friend, Norman, to the beach at Buzzard’s roost–along with surprise stowaways. But their vacation is not entirely what it seems, and Uncle Dangerfoot is keeping a big secret…so big that it leads to a kidnapping. Can the ever-resourceful Roxie and the sometimes-resourceful Hooligans stage a rescue?

Zack and the Turkey Attack!

Zack’s got a problem, a big ol’ beadyeyed, mean, gobbler of a problem. Its name is Old Tom and it’s a turkey. Don’t judge. You haven’t seen this beast of a bird! First, it’s about as big as a wheelbarrow. Second, its beak is half the size of a HAND. And third, fourth, fifth, threehundredth: Every single time Zack visits his grandparents’ farm (which is every single weekend), the turkey attacks, peck peck pecking at Zack’s ankles like they are dinner!

So Zack comes up with a plan. He’ll build a contraption that’ll scare the turkey—let it know who REALLY rules the roost. But he can’t do it alone, and Josie, the girl next door, is too busy trying to figure out who’s behind a series of petty thefts in the neighborhood to help out . . . until they realize that if they join forces, they just might be able to catch more than a turkey. . . .

Going Where it’s Dark

From the Newbery Award–winning author of Shiloh comes a middle-grade novel that combines adrenaline-fueled adventure with a poignant coming-of-age story.

Buck Anderson’s life seems to be changing completely. His best friend, David, has moved away; his anxious parents are hounding him more than ever; he has reluctantly agreed to fill in for his uncle and do odd jobs for a grumpy old veteran in town; and his twin sister has a new boyfriend and is never around anymore. To top it all off, Buck is bullied by a group of boys at school—mainly because he stutters.

There is one thing that frees Buck from his worries. It is the heart-pounding exhilaration he feels when exploring underground caves in and around his hometown. He used to go caving with David, but he’s determined to continue on his own now. He doesn’t know that more changes are headed his way—changes that just might make him rethink his view of the world and his place in it.

Starting With Alice

The first of three prequels to Phyllis Reynolds Naylor’s beloved Alice series.

This is where it all started!

Eight-year-old Alice McKinley wants pierced ears, really long hair, a pet, and, most of all, a mother. Oh, and some friends would be nice. As the new girl in third grade, Alice doesn’t know a single person in Takoma Park, Maryland, except for her next-door neighbor Donald Sheavers, who not only is a boy, but also seems to be a little bit peculiar!

Desperate to meet people, Alice learns that making friends is harder than it seems when she runs into a group of girls whom she nicknames “the Terrible Triplets” after they make it very clear that they do not want to get to know Alice. On top of all this, Alice also has to keep an eye on Donald’s recently divorced mom, who seems to have her eye on Alice’s dad!

Alice in Blunderland

Fourth-grader Alice McKinley can’t seem to do anything right. Her intentions are as good as gold, but her gullibility gets the best of her every time.

Her older brother, Lester, has a great time pulling her leg, and usually his teasing is harmless. But one day he takes it too far and convinces trusting Alice that his new girlfriend is a child-abuse victim who plans to run away to China to escape her violent home life.

Alice’s kindhearted effort to help out leads to considerable embarrassment for everybody, especially the McKinleys. Add a few other world-class mistakes to the mix, and Alice’s fourth-grade year starts to feel like a total failure.

Lovingly Alice

This last of three prequels leading up to the original “Alice” series is just as funny and touching as the previous books.

Here, the fifth grader experiences the emotional ups and downs of relationships with family and friends. When her friend Sara moves without telling her, Alice is afraid she’s living on the street and sets off to find her. Alice’s dad starts to date, and 18-year-old Lester expects her to ward off unwanted calls by a girl who likes him.

When Alice’s beloved cat dies, her anger at everything unjust erupts. As in the earlier books, Lester is a tease, and her dad is patient and caring. Alice is concerned about being motherless and muddled about sex, and there’s a fair amount of talk about it, much to Lester’s embarrassment.

The book ends with their dad buying a house in Silver Spring, a place Alice likes, although she’s torn about leaving her friend Rosalind. She does her best to make the separation less painful for her friend and herself.

The Agony of Alice

Life, Alice McKinley feels, is just one big embarrassment. She’s about to be a teenager and she doesn’t have a role model. Her mother died years ago. What does her father know and her nineteen-year-old brother, who is a slob know about being a teen age girl?

Alice decides she needs a gorgeous woman who does everything right, as a roadmap. She thinks her troubles are over when she sees this in a beautiful sixth-grade teacher, Miss Cole at school. Unfortunately, she ends up with the homely, pear-shaped Mrs. Plotkin. One of Mrs. Plotkin’s first assignments is to keep a journal of thoughts and feelings. Alice calls hers “The Agony of Alice.”

Alice comes to know the lovely Miss Cole, as well as Mrs. Plotkin, and meets an aunt and a female cousin whom she didn’t know. To her amazement, a role model evolves — one that she would never have accepted before she made a few very important discoveries on her own, things no roadmap could have shown her. Alice moves on, ready to be a wise teenager.

Alice in Rapture, Sort Of

Returning to the setting of The Agony of Alice, Naylor gives readers a wry and poignant depiction of what Alice’s father calls “The Summer of the First Boyfriend.” Having lost her mother early in life, Alice must rely on her friends Pamela and Elizabeth, and her Aunt Sally for advice on the rules of dating. But Pamela and Elizabeth are as confused as Alice, and her aunt is just plain behind the times.

Alice and boyfriend Patrick endearingly muddle their way through the summer, which includes their first kiss and first argument, a weekend at the beach and a very special dinner at the club.

Alice begins to form her own, maturing opinions; her decision about her relationship with Patrick seems both natural and true and by the end of the summer Alice has become a very special person.

Reluctantly Alice

Alice McKinley comes home on the first day of junior high with a list of seven things about seventh grade that stink. Just about the only good thing she can think of is that she’s friends with everyone. Maybe that’s how to survive seventh grade — make it through the entire year with everyone liking her.

That turns out to be easier said than done, when Alice gets on the wrong side of the school bully, Denise “Mack Truck” Whitlock. But Alice’s problems with Denise pales in comparison with the romantic entanglements of both her father and her older brother, Lester. And when Alice decides to help them out… life gets even more complicated.

All But Alice

There are, Alice decides, 272 horrible things left to happen to her in her life, based on the number of really horrible things that have happened already. She figures that out after the disaster of the talent show. And she realizes that there is no way to fend them off.

But, she reasons, if you don’t have a mother, maybe a sister would help. Maybe lots of sisters. A worldwide sisterhood! Sisterhood means more sympathy and less likely odds that the next horrible thing will strike when Alice is by herself. But, Sisterhood also comes with a whole new set of problems for Alice. Can she be Sisters with all three girls who want to be her brother Lester’s girlfriend? In fact, how do boys fit into Universal Sisterhood at all? And how far should she you go when being part of the crowd means doing something you don’t want to do?

Alice copes with life in her own way, and her solutions to her endless problems are often funny and surprisingly right.