Showing results by narrator "Tara Sands" in All Categories

Rendered mute at birth, Portia Griffin has been silent for 16 years. Music is her constant companion, along with Felix, her deaf best friend who couldn't care less whether or not she can speak. If only he were as nonchalant about her newfound interest in the musically gifted Max Hunter.

Welcome to Hokey Pokey. A place and a time, when childhood is at its best: games to play, bikes to ride, experiences to be had. There are no adults in Hokey Pokey, just kids, and the laws governing Hokey Pokey are simple and finite. But when one of the biggest kids, Jack, has his beloved bike...

Barbit is not any rabbit. He is a curious rabbit who needs to know and explore everything around him. Living with his mother, Barbit always felt secure and protected. However, his curiosity made him leave his home alone one day. Where will this lead him? Will he be safe? Who will he meet and will he ever return home? Enjoy listening to this story of discovery, friendship as well as danger as the result of the ambitions of a curious rabbit, Barbit!

Baby squirrels, Hazel, Pistachio, and Hickory embark on a forest adventure that leads them to realize the importance of listening to their mother's advice.

While looking out the window with her grandma's binoculars, Sammy witnesses a crime across the street at the Heavenly Hotel. What's worse, the thief saw her spying! As Sammy attempts to find the burglar who has made several other hits in the neighborhood, she finds herself trying to keep him from uncovering her - or worse, the police discovering that she's living illegally with her grandmother in the seniors-only housing!

While serving school detention in the soup kitchen at St. Mary's Church, Sammy finds herself the prime suspect in the theft of Father Mayhew's ivory cross. But there have been other robberies at the church recently, and as Sammy attempts to discover the real thief, all the suspects appear to be religious figures who are above suspicion. That is, until Sammy cuts through disguises to uncover an enormous heist!

Sammy and her friends are startled when they interrupt what seems to be an attempted murder on Halloween. While trick-or-treating at a spooky old, house, they find the door open, and inside a man is tied to a chair while a fire rages on the floor. A robbery? But what valuable could be missing from the home of a reclusive old man?

Sammy accidentally makes a deadly mistake, but all clues point to her nemesis, Heather, and she gets blamed. As Sammy struggles with her conscience, she should confess, but there's a certain justice in Heather finally getting what she deserves, and she gets distracted helping an ailing senior citizen in her fight against urban renewal.

It's Christmas, but leave it to Sammy Keyes to find trouble even in the midst of the holiday parade. Trying to help a friend, she reluctantly volunteers on the Canine Calendar float, only to have the famous cover dog dog-napped on her watch! The animal's owner orders Sammy to find the dog before the $50,000 ransom being demanded comes due.

Cats are disappearing and Sammy is finding some of them in neighborhood garbage cans - dead! Miss Kitty, a local psycho cat lady, blames Sammy. Meanwhile, there's something fishy going on with one of the students from Slammin' Dave's Pro Wrestling School that just opened up next door to Sammy's friend Holly.

In Justin Sayre's third adjective-busting novel, Ellen discovers why it matters to be true to oneself, no matter what people might say or think about her. Set in the same world as Justin Sayre's previous books, Husky and Pretty, Mean explores the private and public life of Ellen, who is...

A decade after Cadence Lawrence accused the perpetrator in the brutal murder of her high-school friend, she’s finally put the nightmare to rest. But the ghosts of her past won’t rest, and an unexpected encounter with the killer reawakens demons she thought were long dead. Gripped by paranoia, Cadence fears she’s being stalked and suspects that the murderer has invaded the sanctity of her home. Could her chance encounter have rekindled the savage rage that claimed the life of her friend and now threatens Cadence herself?

Dorothy awakens one morning to discover that Princess Ozma has disappeared, along with several magic items belonging to Glinda and the wizard. A search party comprising Dorothy, the wizard, Betsy Bobbin, Trot, and Button-Bright is formed, and the friends set off for the land of the Winkies. But who is behind the mysterious disappearances?

It's the summer of '83 on Trowbridge Road, and June Bug Jordan is hungry. Months after her father's death from complications from AIDS, her mother has stopped cooking and refuses to leave the house, instead locking herself away to scour at the germs she believes are everywhere. June Bug threatens this precarious existence by going out into the neighborhood, gradually befriending Ziggy, an imaginative boy who is living with his Nana Jean after experiencing troubles of his own.

“The perfect summer read” (USA TODAY) begins with a shocking tragedy that results in three generations of the Adler family grappling with heartbreak, romance, and the weight of family secrets over the course of one summer. *A New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice * One of USA...

Rose Montgomery parks her family’s trailer in Fort Glory, Oregon with one goal: to carve out a new life for herself and her little brother, Charlie. They need a fresh start for their family, and she thinks she's found it. But then, in an instant, Fort Glory disappears and every person in town vanishes into thin air - including Charlie. Rose and four other teens become trapped in the Fold, a patch of woods caught halfway between the real world and the lost town. In the Fold, a mysterious force suspends the laws of physics, and everyone’s inner darkness has the power to kill.

Sutton is having robot problems. Her mini-bot is supposed to be able to get through a maze in under a minute, but she must have gotten something wrong in the coding. This is frustrating for a science-minded girl like Sutton - almost as frustrating as the fact that her mother probably won't be home in time for Sutton's 10th birthday. Luis spends his days writing thrilling stories about brave kids, but there's only so much inspiration you can find when you're stuck inside all day.

Summer has begun, the beach beckons - and Francesca Schnell is going nowhere. Four years ago, Francesca's little brother, Simon, drowned, and Francesca's the one who should have been watching. Now Francesca is about to turn 16, but guilt keeps her stuck in the past. Meanwhile, her best friend, Lisette, is moving on, most recently with the boy Francesca wants but can't have. At loose ends, Francesca trails her father, who may be having an affair, to the local country club. There she meets four-year-old Frankie Sky, a little boy who bears an almost eerie resemblance to Simon.

Thirteen-year-old Gabby Woods is looking forward to another summer vacation at her family’s lake house, even though she would rather bury herself in a mystery novel than make new friends. But soon Gabby befriends Paige, a snarky kid from Chicago, and they get caught up in a local mystery: the sudden disappearance of a glamorous couple and the extravagant lake house they left behind. To gather clues about the missing couple, Paige coaxes Gabby into trespassing, even though she knows it’s wrong. Yet, each sneaky visit to the abandoned lake house uncovers new mysteries.

In the second book of a bestselling graphic novel series that explores family, friendship, and change, a former city kid is finally adjusting to life on a farm with two brand-new stepsisters when she faces an even bigger challenge: middle school. "Like [Raina] Telgemeier, [Lucy] Knisley has a...