Books with author Alyson Rodriguez

Pacha Riley's family is being threatened, and they must leave Perú and head to safety in America to live with their Uncle Jamie and Aunt Nina. For one who prefers anonymity, the thought of being the skinny weird kid with the funny name in a new country is not appealing. One night, there is another sudden attack, and twelve-year-old Pacha and nine- year-old little sister Lucy must escape through the window...without Mami and Papi. Pacha begins to realize that there is more going on than protests over the sacred sun disk his archaeologist parents discovered at Machu Picchu. By the time he and Lucy arrive in America, he has more doubts and questions than hope. But Pacha is aided in his quest by his Traveller—animal spirit guide—and his Uncle Jamie. Their father's younger brother, Uncle Jamie is nothing like his buttoned-up sibling; he's a jokester, an adventurer...and a sorcerer? Uncle Jamie takes Pacha into his confidence and reveals a secret: Travellers can take their humans to visit past lifetimes. He also shares his suspicions about Tomás de la Vela, a Peruvian art gallery owner, who may or not be connected to the attacks on the Rileys. While amazed to learn his uncle's secrets, Pacha does not share his own fears that Aunt Nina may also be involved. The stakes are raised when Lucy is kidnapped by de la Vela and Aunt Nina. Searching for clues sparks a fire in Pacha, and he is able to overcome his insecurities and find the fight inside himself. He Travels to his past lifetimes as an Incan emperor and untangles a centuries- old tale of revenge to save both the sacred disk and his little sister.

"What if... we kissed?" Ken Arrestor thought it was stupid to ask a girl he'd never met before, never had seen, and was sitting in a dark closet with to kiss him, but when she agreed, he never knew how much his life would change. Four years later, Ken Arrestor is popular and well-known on the soccer team. He could have any girl at his school, but for some reason, he's stuck thinking about the mysterious girl who had been his first kiss. Enter Levy Fennel. Ken fell flat on his face when he met her, quite literally since he tripped over her wheelchair. Never did Ken think that he'd end up being friends with the girl in the wheelchair, or that he'd even end up wanting to be more with her. In the beginning, he was determined just to get to know the sweet, shy, sarcastic, and somewhat familiar girl no matter what, even with his teammate and ex-girlfriend making Levy question her friendships. As he got to know Levy however, Ken couldn't deny that he would soon be faced with his biggest challenge yet: figuring out how to admit his feelings to her. But what about the kiss with the mysterious girl in the closet? Follow Ken as he makes new friends and reconnects with old ones, all thanks to the help of the girl that everyone seems to underestimate. In the end, it's the fact that Levy's in a wheelchair that matters the least.(A 35,000 word novella)

Travel with Art Rodriguez as he dreams of his past. He experiences an unpleasant childhood full of difficult obstacles that could have profoundly impaired his chance for a normal life. Life appears hopeless during those young years as he struggles to discover who he really is and at the same time contends with his dictatorial father. Travel with him as he takes you through the California Youth Authority, the prison system for young offenders. In this story, which brings laughter and tears, both young and old can find comfort in knowing that when life appears bleak and there seems to be no hope, events in life can change. In 1975 Art Rodriguez started a successful business in San Jose, the city in which he was born. Grow with him in his life and experience with him the hardships and successes of a new business.

Kara Nightlocke is... different. She doesn't have a super power, she doesn't dress oddly, and she doesn't stand out, but one look in her eyes will set her apart from a crowd. Kara is blind. She's been treated differently since her accident, but at the age of seventeen, she has learned how to live mostly on her own. That doesn't mean her life has been easy however. Her parents got divorced, her two brothers' went away to college, and her mother needs to move around a lot to find work. As if being the new student isn't hard enough, being the blind kid is nearly impossible. In yet another new school Kara expects the same old treatment until she meets Daniel. Danny tries to treat her like she belongs, although she doesn't understand why until finally she finds out the secret he's been hiding. After so many years, that one secret will help her change not only her perception of herself, but others' perception of her as she deals with her disability and tries to find a way to be whole.(A 30,000 word novella)

Chef Peach is a drop of paint and she needs you to help her color with your imagination! Help Chef Peach paint her bakery, cakes, cookies and more using your finger and a little imagination "paint"! Paint It! books are designed to spark imagination! As your child helps the paint drop character paint his pictures, they use their finger to color! It is fun for kids to use their imagination "paint" and great for parents as this paint leaves no mess!

Colonial Comics is a graphic novel collection of twenty stories focusing on the colonial period from 1620 through 1750 in New England. Created in partnership with the Massachusetts Historical Society and the Concord Museum, these illustrated stories focus on tales you cannot find in history books. Includes stories about free thinkers, Pequots, Jewish settlers, female business owners and dedicated school teachers, whales and livestock, slavery and frontiers, and many other aspects of colonial life.Jason Rodriguez is a writer and editor whose books have been nominated for an Eisner Award and eight Harvey Awards. Jason lives in Arlington, Virginia, with his wife and their two dogs, four cats, and a parrot. You can usually find him on a street corner, staring out into the future.

Aqua is a drop of paint and she needs you to help her color with your imagination! Help Aqua paint her lagoon, sea friends and more using your finger and a little imagination "paint"! Paint It! books are designed to spark imagination! As your child helps the paint drop character paint his pictures, they use their finger to color! It is fun for kids to use their imagination "paint" and great for parents as this paint leaves no mess!

A massacre in Boston. A tea party. A shot heard around the world. But who was the first casualty of the massacre? How did the tea get to Boston Harbor? What was the Battle of Concord like for a Minute Man? Colonial Comics: New England, 1750–1775 expands the frame of this important period of American history. Unconventional characters come to life, including gravedigging medical students, counterfeiters, female playwrights, instigators of civil disobedience, newspaper editors, college students, rum traders, freemen, and slaves.

Nick Knowles has a hard time understanding people. She's got an IQ over 200 with a memory like a tape recorder, and yet expressions and social cues have always been a mystery to her. Anger however, anger and hatred, she knows very well. Ever since she lost her eye by her mother's own hand, she's known exactly what those toxic emotions feel like. Nick is surrounded by them every day after all, and at seventeen, she'd growing tired of it. She's tired of pretending to be stupid, tired of the beatings, tired of the lies, and tired of her own inability to do anything to change things. That's when her old friend, Lucas Tsutaya shows up. Nick hasn't seen him in five years now. Too much has changed for her to even consider being his friend again. All she needs is her friend Vicky and her violin. She doesn't need someone looking into her life and finding out her secrets. But Lucas has a way about him that makes his voice just as beautiful as the violin she plays. Nick knows she's making a mistake, but for the first time in her life, she wonders if friendship and emotions are a mistake worth making.

Snow Richards is a shy seventeen year old girl. She's always kind of blended into the background, although she's never had a problem with that. Her life has been the opposite of easy in every way. Her mother died in a car accident when she was ten and Snow became the mother of the family. She cared for her father when they found out he had cancer and practically raised her brother younger brother Rain. Now she needed a job to keep them afloat as medical bills suffocated them. Finally she found one as a maid for a wealthy family: the Johnson's. Snow just wanted a job, but she was surprised by their caring son Ryan and how sweet he was to her. The whole family practically took her in. She doesn't want them to get too close though. Her burdens were her own. But when they keep trying to edge their way in, how will she handle it? How much more could she carry before she finally shattered like glass?(A short novella less than 30,000 words)

This book is specially designed in Amazon's fixed-layout KF8 format with region magnification. Double-tap on an area of text to zoom and read.A massacre in Boston. A tea party. A shot heard around the world. But who was the first casualty of the massacre? How did the tea get to Boston Harbor? What was the Battle of Concord like for a Minute Man? Colonial Comics: New England, 1750–1775 expands the frame of this important period of American history. Unconventional characters come to life, including gravedigging medical students, counterfeiters, female playwrights, instigators of civil disobedience, newspaper editors, college students, rum traders, freemen, and slaves.