Central Kansas Library System

During the summer between eighth and ninth grades, Alice and her friends Pamela and Elizabeth decide to improve themselves through exercise.

"After moving to Northfield with her family, Elyse Nebbit faces the challenge of finding her place in a new school, one dominated by social status and Friday night football. When Elyse's effortlessly beautiful older sister Jayne starts dating Charlie Bingley, the captain of the school football team, Elyse finds herself curious about Charlie's popular and brooding best friend, Billy Fitz. Elyse's body insecurities eventually complicate her relationship...

Obsessed with the idea that he is not muscular enough and tired of being bullied, David, age seventeen, begins using steroids, endangering his relationships with family and friends. What does not kill me makes me stronger. When a video of him getting knocked down by a bully goes viral at the end of junior year, David Espinoza vows to use the summer to bulk up, become a man, and wow everyone when school starts again the fall. Spending his time and...

A thirteen-year-old girl seeemingly destined for a modeling career finds she has a deformation of the spine called scoliosis.

August Pullman was born with a facial deformity that, up until now, prevented him from going to a mainstream school. Starting 5th grade at Beecher Prep, he wants nothing more than to be treated as an ordinary kid -- but his classmates can't get past Auggie's extraordinary face. Wonder begins from Auggie's point of view, but soon switches to include his classmates, his sister, her boyfriend, and others. These perspectives converge in a portrait of...

Dot proves she is not little by standing up to a school bully.

"This short story inspires pride and confidence in children by showing the simple beauty of imagining greatness for oneself"--

"Maggie Edkins Willis's Smaller Sister is a debut middle grade graphic novel about body image, confidence, and the everlasting bond of sisterhood. Lucy's always looked up to her big sister, Olivia, even though the two are polar opposites. But then, Lucy notices Olivia start to change. She doesn't want to play with Lucy anymore, she's unhappy with the way she looks, and she's refusing to eat her dinner. Finally, Lucy discovers that her sister is not...

All bottoms are wonderful! Don't you agree? Each animal in this adorable book has a different reason for loving their behind--from cute and round to fashionable and striped! Talented illustrator Maki Saito makes kids laugh out loud with playful illustrations of the backsides of hippos, zebras, pandas, mandrills, and more of our favorite animals. Her traditional Japanese art techniques add a sophisticated, beautiful feel to a book about ... animal...

"Thirteen-year-old Ari faces what it is to be a man while dealing with a cross-country move, his parents' separation, being bullied for his weight, and belatedly starting bar mitzvah preparations." --