Books with author Alison Bell

Zibby Payne can't wait for sixth grade -- finally she and her best friends will rule the school! But on the first day back in class, Zibby gets an awful surprise. Her friends have gone completely girly over the summer, and just want to put on make-up, fix their hair, and talk about boys -- what could be more boring? To save the school year, and show her former best friend Sarah that she doesn't have to follow the crowd to be cool, Zibby decides to become a total tomboy. She dumps her frilly outfits, plays soccer with the boys, and learns to do some awesome new things, like belch out the alphabet. Even if her old friends are giving her dirty looks, Zibby insists she's having the time of her life ... until she tries to form an exclusive "Tomboy Club," and her experiment starts to backfire. Can Zibby find a way to be different and still keep her best friend, or will she end up one lonely, unhappy tomboy? Zibby thinks she has all the answers, in this new, upbeat series for young readers! Tween girls will relate to this feisty sixth grader's trials and tribulations at school and at home, and laugh at the unique way she deals with the constant challenges thrown her way!

Everyone's favorite Total Tomboy, Zibby Payne, is back, with more of her precarious, and hilarious, navigation of the ups and downs of sixth grade. Zibby can't believe friends like Amber and Savannah are turning their birthday bashes into exclusive events, handing out special invitations to a select few. It's not that Zibby actually wants any dumb party privileges but this is just plain rude! Zibby decides to have her own shindig which will of course be The Best Party Ever and comes up with a new mantra: A party for all, and all for the party! But can Zibby really invite everyone? Even the boys? Even classmates that she's not really friends with? Zibby's open invitation policy lands her in one tricky party predicament!

In the fifth installment of the Zibby Payne series, we find Zibby's classmates showing off some bad behavior during a field trip. The teachers decide the unruly group needs some manners help fast! Amber, Zibby's sometimes friend (but more often rival), volunteers to lead etiquette lessons to whip the sixth graders into shape. But Amber quickly gets carried away with the minutiae of manners, and forces the girls to learn things such as how to use a fish fork and curtsy she's turning them all into mindless princesses! Zibby finds creative ways to ditch the classes and even forms the Total Slobs But Loving It group. It's not that she is a fan of bad manners it's just that she knows Amber's Etiquette Uprising is based on appearances and material things. Amber's celebrity magazines inspire her to throw a gala ball complete with fancy gowns, a red carpet, and enough pomp to rival the Academy Awards! As more girls get on board, Zibby decides to fight back. Of course, in true Zibby style, she goes way over the top in trying to convince her friends to attend the Come as You Are anti-gala. In the middle of the red carpet face-off, she learns what good manners are really all about.

Everyone is excited about the school play -- except for Total Tomboy Zibby, who thinks acting is utterly boring. But when she learns that the main character in the play is a soccer star, just like her, she decides that playing a famous athlete and having tons of adoring fans would be More Than Okay. After she gets the part, she realizes her character has to kiss a boy. Even worse, the boy is her soccer buddy ... and he may actually like her. That way. Zibby will do anything to get out of The Kiss, if it means rewriting the script, wearing plastic lips, or quitting the show! Can she find a way out of smooching on stage without letting down her cast members, or will she wreck the entire sixth grade musical?

Everyone's favorite Total Tomboy, Zibby Payne, is back, with more of her precarious, and hilarious, navigation of the ups and downs of sixth grade. Zibby's new best friend Gertrude and old best friend Sarah can't stand each other, so Zibby swings into action with Operation Friendship Campaign. And, it works ... too well! Gertrude and Sarah end up bonding more with each other than with Zibby, whose peacemaking efforts have resulted in Zibby Payne, Party of One. As Zibby tries to figure out how to turn this smug duo into a happy trio, she discovers that Gertrude isn't who she seemed to be and in fact, purposefully drove Zibby and Sarah apart using not-so-nice tactics. Can Zibby save Sarah from the toxic friendship or will Sarah think it's just Zibby's jealousy talking?

The second book in the Zibby Payne series...... ''Acting is for sissies!''.... There is no way Zibby Payne is trying out for the school musical - until, that is, she discovers that the main character in the play is a soccer star ... just like her! But after she gets the part, she learns that her character has to kiss a boy - totally gross! Even worse, the boy is her soccer buddy ... and he may actually like her. That way. Zibby will do anything to get out of The Kiss, even if it means rewriting the script, wearing plastic lips, or quitting the show! Can Zibby find a way out of smooching on stage without letting down her cast members, or will she wind up wrecking the entire sixth-grade musical?

ZIBBY PAYNE & THE WONDERFUL, TERRIBLE TOMBOY EXPERIMENT: The first book in the new Zibby Payne series..... It's the first day of school, and Zibby Payne can't believe how much her friends have changed ... for the worse! At recess, all they want to do is put on makeup, fix their hair, and talk about boys - ugh! Zibby decides there's only one way to save the school year-she'll become a total tomboy. She dumps her frilly outfits, starts playing.

Can the power of love survive three thousand years? What if you could see into the past and uncover a mysterious secret deliberately erased from history—an ancient ability so threatening that it was obliterated from human consciousness and buried deep in the unexpressed DNA of the descendants of a select group of Bronze Age people? Jennifer Bracken is visiting the British Museum in London when she falls, hitting her head. While unconscious, she sees life through the eyes of a young priestess from a long-ago Bronze Age civilization. Assuming the experience was the result of striking her head, she discounts the episode and goes to visit her best friend in Scotland. There, at the foothills of The Highlands, the visions return, both frightening and compelling. Each time they occur, Jennifer is drawn deeper into the young priestess Cela’s life. Driven to discover if such a Bronze Age society ever existed, she enlists the help of noted archaeologist, Derek Rannoch. Derek is astonished by Jennifer’s detailed descriptions of that era. He demands to see the source of her information in exchange for his assistance. Jennifer refuses, but she needs his archaeological expertise. She must find a way to convince him to help her, for an uneasy feeling begins to overtake her. As Derek and Jennifer’s turbulent—and often antagonistic—relationship develops, Jennifer is inexplicably drawn to him, feeling safe in his presence, but safe from what? Touch the Sky takes the reader on a mesmerizing trip back and forth between the Bronze Age and contemporary times—a trip that will challenge our notion of science and reality and affirm our belief in the immortality of love.

Everyone's favorite Total Tomboy, Zibby Payne, is back, with more of her precarious, and hilarious, navigation of the ups and downs of sixth grade. Zibby can't believe ''friends'' like Amber and Savannah are turning their birthday bashes into exclusive events, handing out special invitations to a select few. It's not that Zibby actually wants any dumb party privileges but this is just plain rude! Zibby decides to have her own shindig - which will of course be The Best Party Ever - and comes up with a new mantra; ''A party for all, and all for the party!'' But can Zibby really invite everyone? Even the boys? Even classmates that she's not really friends with? Zibby's open invitation policy lands her in one tricky party predicament!

Everyone's favorite Total Tomboy, Zibby Payne, is back, with more of her precarious, and hilarious, navigation of the ups and downs of sixth grade. Zibby's new best friend Gertrude and old best friend Sarah can't stand each other, so Zibby swings into action with Operation Friendship Campaign. And, it works ... too well! Gertrude and Sarah end up bonding more with each other than with Zibby, whose peacemaking efforts have resulted in Zibby Payne, Party of One. As Zibby tries to figure out how to turn this smug duo into a happy trio, she discovers that Gertrude isn't who she seemed to be and in fact, purposefully drove Zibby and Sarah apart using not-so-nice tactics. Can Zibby save Sarah from the toxic friendship or will Sarah think it's just Zibby's jealousy talking?