Every year, the people of the Protectorate leave a baby as an offering to the witch who lives in the forest. They hope this sacrifice will keep her from terrorizing their town. But the witch in the Forest, Xan, is kind. She shares her home with a wise Swamp Monster and a Perfectly Tiny Dragon. Xan rescues the children and delivers them to welcoming families on the other side of the forest, nourishing the babies with starlight on the journey. One year,...

Dinosaur characters illustrate the value of friends, how to make friends, and how to be and not to be a good friend.

This New York Times bestseller from Dennis Lehane is a gripping, unnerving psychological thriller about the effects of a savage killing on three former friends in a tightly knit, blue-collar Boston neighborhood.

When they were children, Sean Devine, Jimmy Marcus, and Dave Boyle were friends. But then a strange car pulled up to their street. One boy got into the car, two did not, and something terrible happened—something

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Lives briefly intertwine when two youngsters and their dogs meet in the park.

Eli and Chelsea lost touch with each other over the years, until Eli bought a house in his father's hometown of Edilean, Virginia, and invited Chelsea for a visit. She had her own life and was certain that a childhood friendship couldn't be anything more, but she went nonetheless and found herself quite unprepared for the changes she saw in Eli. And neither of them were prepared to run into a mystery with a family that needs to be rescued.

When his friend moves away, a boy sets out on a journey to find her.

"The Big Cheese is the best at everything, and brags about it, too. When the annual Cheese-cathlon comes around, the Big Cheese is prepared to win, as always. But what happens when the quiet new kid, Wedge Wedgeman, comes out on top? Is a slice of humility all the Big Cheese needs to discover that some things are better than being the best?"--

"Miggy Brenneman is a wild and reckless seven-year-old with a fierce imagination ... Ellen is polite, cautious, and drawn to her friend's bright flame. While the adults around them adjust to unstable times and fractured relationships, the girls respond with increasingly dangerous play. When tragedy strikes, all the novel's characters grapple with questions of fate and individual responsibility, none more so than Miggy, who must make sense of a swiftly...

Alder has always lived in his cozy little house in Southern California. An old, reliable, comforting walnut tree has stood between his house and the one next door. When a new family--with a particularly annoying girl his age named Oak--moves into the neighboring house, they cut the tree down. As Oak and Alder start school together, they can't imagine ever becoming friends. But they soon discover a series of mysterious, possibly magical, connections...

"Middle schooler Rafe Khachadorian faces his greatest challenge yet as he struggles to complete a week-long wilderness survival course to prove to his school administrators that he can succeed"--