Illustrations and simple, rhyming text remind the reader that any achievement may be preceded by mistakes, and learning from them makes accomplishments sweeter.

After her twelfth birthday, Rory checks off a list of things she is finally allowed to do, but unexpected consequences interfere with her involvement in the movie being shot at her school, while a weird prediction starts to make sense.

Twelve-year-old Henry Khoo embarks on a forbidden journey from Australia to Singapore to prove his independence to his overprotective family, while working out some problems with friends. Told in comics and prose.

When Ellie is very small, she finds a tiny dragon just hatched from its egg. Ellie calls him Scratch, takes him home, and moves him into her dollhouse. Her mother can't see Scratch, and her teacher doesn't notice when Ellie takes Scratch to preschool, but her friends are amazed. But dragons get quite large as they grow. And Ellie is growing, too, moving from dollhouses to dance parties with friends, not noticing as Scratch's form begins to fade a...

On his first vacation without his parents, eight-year-old Myron faces a scary grandfather, teasing older cousins, his first dive off the ten-foot board, and his grandmother's encouragement to write his mother daily, telling her of his adventures.

"A beautiful free verse story, set in the prairies, about a little girl who waits at a window to wave to the train engineer who drives past her house every day. It's also a story about growing up and finding one's way in the world. Everything changes one day, when something flies out of the window of the train, and the girl rushes out to find out what it is. She wanders further an further from her house, until she spots something in grass--the engineer's...

Maureen and Francine Carter are twins and best friends. They participate in the same clubs, enjoy the same foods, and are partners on all their school projects. But just before the girls start sixth grade, Francine becomes Fran -- a girl who wants to join the chorus, run for class president, and dress in fashionable outfits that set her apart from Maureen. A girl who seems happy to share only two classes with her sister! Maureen and Francine are...

While trying to find a new best friend after feuding with Rowley, middle-school slacker Greg Heffley is warned by older family members that adolescence is a time to act more responsibly and to think seriously about his future.