Central Kansas Library System

"Twelve-year-old Annabelle must learn to stand up for what's right in the face of a manipulative and violent new bully who targets people Annabelle cares about, including a homeless World War I veteran"-- Growing up in the shadows cast by two world wars, Annabelle has lived a mostly quiet, steady life in her small Pennsylvania town. Until the day new student Betty Glengarry walks into her class. Betty quickly reveals herself to be cruel and manipulative,...

"It's Carter's first day of middle school, and there's chaos in the Jones household. His little sisters are fussing, there's no milk, his mom is frantic, and the Jeep won't start. And then the doorbell rings. Carter opens the door to find a bowler-hatted English butler standing on the stoop. Carter isn't expecting the Butler to stay and help the family, though they need help. Nor is he prepared for the Butler's high standards, or his determination...

For five years, Coyote and her dad, Rodeo, have lived on the road in an old school bus, criss-crossing the nation. It's also how long ago Coyote lost her mom and two sisters in a car crash. Coyote hasn't been home in all that time, but when she learns that the park in her old neighborhood is being demolished--the very same park where she, her mom, and her sisters buried a treasured memory box--she devises an elaborate plan to get her dad to drive...

From age six through her high school valedictory speech, believing she and her mother are wizards helps young Echo cope with poverty, hunger, her mother's drug abuse, and much more. Echo Brown is a wizard from the East Side of Cleveland, where apartments are small and parents suffer addiction to the white rocks. Yet there is magic everywhere. Every day Echo travels between worlds, attending a rich white school on the West Side. But there are dangers...

"Minnesota private investigator Jane Lawless is headed to the small town of Castle Rock for a little getaway. She and Cordelia plan to visit an old friend, participate in an arts festival, and look into a cold case that has recently come on Jane's radar--thanks to a podcast Jane is now involved in which looks into Minnesota cold cases. In Castle Rock, a high school senior named Sam went missing in 1999. Everyone thought he ran away, though the town...

When boys in her class start touching seventh-grader Mila and making her feel uncomfortable, she does not want to tell her friends or mother until she reaches her breaking point. For seventh-grader Mila, it starts with some boys giving her an unwanted hug on the school blacktop. A few days later, at recess, one of the boys (and fellow trumpet player) Callum tells Mila it's his birthday, and asks her for a "birthday hug." He's just being friendly,...

In 1970s Australia, sixth-grader Allegra splits herself between her grandmothers and grieving father until the tragedy that created the rift between them puts her in the hospital. Australia, 1970s. Some days Allegra Elsom is torn between conflicting loyalties to her grandmothers, Matilde and Joy, and her father, Rick-- none of whom can stand to be in a room together since the decades-old tragedy that hit their family like a wrecking ball. Struggling...

"An exquisitely written and nuanced biography of an exceptional individual and writer who has created the # 1 international bestselling hero Jack Reacher, revered by dedicated and loyal readers worldwide. Lee Child has a great public persona: he is gracious and generous with readers and fans. But Jim Grant is a reticent and very private man. This rags-to-riches literary and social biography is based principally on disarmingly frank personal...