Under the Watsons' Porch

Knots in My Yo-Yo String

Story Thieves

The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore

The Chronicles of Harris Burdick

Walk Two Moons (Trophy Newbery)

The Nightmare Thief

Bedtime Stories: Beautiful Black Tales from the Past

When the lights go dim and you're sitting in the dark with your popcorn -- that's the magic time that Ruby Miller loves best. And then the music creeps in, and the lion roars, or maybe the moon kid goes fishing....  For Ruby, age twelve and a half, movies are better than real life. The ones she writes, why, those are the best of all. Those stories work out. The dads in her movies always show up when they've promised. The moms don't hold on to secrets. The little brothers don't curl up with sorrow over some missing stuffed animal. All right, it's Ruby's fault he's missing.  But the terrible red-painted graffiti on the concrete riverbanks -- it that her fault too? She's blamed for it. And here she is on a chain gang with two stupid classmates -- the Dumb and Dumber of the Hayes Middle School -- doing community service to make up for it.  If she were writing the script, the setup would be intriguing, the middle exciting, and the ending a complete and happy surprise. She has seven pages ready for Spielberg. But real life keeps interrupting.

Discover Your Child's Next Read

Under the Watsons' Porch

Susan Shreve, 2004

Knots in My Yo-Yo String

Jerry Spinelli, 1997

Story Thieves

James Riley, 2018

The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore

William Joyce, Joe Bluhm, 2011

The Chronicles of Harris Burdick

Chris Van Allsburg, 2011

Walk Two Moons (Trophy Newbery)

Sharon Creech, Hope Davis, 1994

The Nightmare Thief

Federica Fenna, Nicole Lesperance, 2021

Bedtime Stories: Beautiful Black Tales from the Past

Candice Brathwaite, Wendy Shearer, Ify Adenuga, Ryan Crawford, Ashley Hickson-Lovence, 2021