How to Read a Story

Sloth Wasn't Sleepy

History Smashers: Plagues and Pandemics

The Exact Location of Home

Champlain And The Silent One: A North Country Adventure (North Country Adventures)

Billy Bones: Tales from the Secrets Closet

Pashmina

The Dragon Thief: Dragons in a Bag

What if your pencil had all the answers? Would you ace every test? Would you know what your teachers were thinking? When Ava Anderson finds a scratched up pencil she doodles like she would with any other pencil. But when she writes a question in the margin of her math quiz, she hears a clear answer in a voice no one else seems to hear.

With the help of her friend Sophie, Ava figures out that the pencil will answer factual questions only – those with definite right or wrong answers – but won’t predict the future. Ava and Sophie discover all kinds of uses for the pencil, and Ava's confidence grows with each answer. But it's getting shorter with every sharpening, and when the pencil reveals a scary truth about Ava's family, she realizes that sometimes the bravest people are the ones who live without all the answers...

Discover Your Child's Next Read

How to Read a Story

Kate Messner, Mark Siegel, 2015

Sloth Wasn't Sleepy

Kate Messner, Valentina Toro, 2021

History Smashers: Plagues and Pandemics

Kate Messner, Falynn Koch, 2021

The Exact Location of Home

Kate Messner, 2014

Champlain And The Silent One: A North Country Adventure (North Country Adventures)

Kate Messner, 2008

Billy Bones: Tales from the Secrets Closet

Christopher Lincoln, Avi Ofer, 2008

Pashmina

Nidhi Chanani, 2017

The Dragon Thief: Dragons in a Bag

Zetta Elliott, Geneva B, 2019