Books with author Constance C. Greene

An ALA Notable Book and an IRA-CBC Children’s Choice: Losing your sister can mean losing your best friend too Thirteen-year-old Kate is thrilled for her sister, Joss, when Joss finds out she gets to keep a horse for a week as a birthday present. Then in one tragic moment, all of the happiness is gone, and numbness and grief overwhelm the family. Kate cannot imagine how she’ll survive but knows somehow she must come to terms with her loss. In this heart-wrenching story, Kate strives to find a place where joyful memories and painful loss can coexist.

Al’s father decides to visit her for the first time in years—but does Al really want him back in her life? Al has always marched to the beat of her own drum—and that includes never letting anyone call her by her real name, Alexandra. But now Al’s mom is dating a strange man from work, and her dad is coming to visit for the first time in six years. As her whole world is thrown into turmoil, Al doesn’t know what to do. What if her mom marries this new man? And should she agree to see her father, who walked out on their family years ago? In this heartwarming sequel to A Girl Called Al, Al learns that although families can be confusing, hers is irreplaceable.

Her name is Al, not Alexandra! Al’s real name is Alexandra, but she hates it. She has always considered herself a nonconformist—she is the only girl in the entire school who wears pigtails, and when all the other girls take the cooking and sewing class, Al wants to take shop. There’s just one problem: Girls aren’t allowed. Al is determined only to learn useful things, like making bookshelves. With the help of her new best friend, a seventh grader who lives down the hall from her, and their building’s kind superintendent, Mr. Richards, she just might get her wish.

Can the ghost of Nora’s mother help her stop her dad from getting remarried? It’s been three years since Nora’s mother died, and while she and her sister, Patsy, want her father to be happy again, they’re not ready for him to remarry. They especially don’t want him to marry “the Tooth”—the woman with the overbite who could soon be their stepmother. While the girls try to upend their dad’s relationship, they soon find themselves competing for the new guy at school. As Nora begins to feel more and more alone, she senses something strange . . . a laugh, a touch, even a kiss. And she knows exactly who they are coming from—her mother.

Tim wants to pen the ultimate love letter—who better to teach him how than classic writers? When sixteen-year-old Tim meets Sophie and discovers One Hundred of the World’s Best Love Letters on the very same day, he is sure he has stumbled on true love. Determined to have the ultimate romantic courtship, he anonymously sends the object of his affection copies ofthe world’s greatest loveletters, word for word, by Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Lord Byron, and Elizabeth Barrett Browning. It turns out that asking his “angel Sophie” if her heart has been “touched by the passion” of his doesn’t bring him the results he expected. Instead, he is rewarded with humiliation and heartache. But true romantics die hard, and Tim refuses to give up. If his favorite authors didn’t succumb to the cruel fate of unrequited love, then neither will he.

Unwilling to wait for a boy to write to her, Al takes the reins Al has two big problems in her life, and both have to do with her mailbox—or more specifically, her empty mailbox. A few months ago, her father’s new wife promised that Al could spend the summer with them, but Al still hasn’t received a written invitation. Even worse, the cute boy she met at her father’s wedding said he would write, but Al hasn’t even gotten a short note from him. What’s a girl to do when she’s waiting to hear from a boy? For a girl like Al, it’s easy: She’ll write to him! But writing a letter to a boy turns out to be harder than she thought. She can’t let him know that she likes him, so signing the letter Your old pal, Al should do the trick, right? Now if she could only work up the courage to send the letter . . .

Grace has two big problems—how will she cope? Grace Schmitt is a bit of a dreamer. In her mind, she’s the most popular girl in school, with flowing golden hair and too many friends to count. And let’s not forget all the boys who admire her perfectly proportioned figure. Everything is, in a word, perfect. Unfortunately, Grace’s life is a bit more complicated than that in reality. Going into tenth grade, her body changes rapidly, leaving her feeling ungainly, awkward, and conspicuous, mostly because of her large bust. It’s become such a problem that she’s begun saving money for breast-reduction surgery. Things come to a head when a circle of cruel classmates, led by Ashley, the actual most popular girl in school, decide to see if Grace’s breasts are real. On the worst day of her life, it takes a miracle (in the form of Ms. Govoni, the gym teacher) to save Grace from life-altering humiliation. Little does she know, the experience will trigger an astounding series of events that test her character, bolster her self-esteem, and turn her life around.

Al is finally turning fourteen, and this birthday is going to bring a lot of changes—starting with a new name! Al has reached the most important point in her life: her fourteenth birthday. Her biggest worry is how boring her life has been so far—nothing exciting has ever happened to her. What if nothing ever does? What’s more, she no longer feels like an Al, but she still hates her real name, Alexandra. She needs to find a more dignified name—and fast—so that she can unveil the new her in time for her birthday. With her new name and her newfound adulthood, Al wants to start leading a meaningful life. But it turns out that saving the world is a little harder than it sounds—even for a girl like Al.

Al has not one but two blind dates—what if they both go terribly wrong? When it comes to boys, fourteen-year-old Al is the first to admit she isn’t exactly an expert. Even Brian, the boy she met at her father’s wedding, has only ever sent her one letter. Just when she’s starting to wonder if any boy could ever really like her, she suddenly finds herself with two blind dates in one week. Al isn’t sure if she’s ready to take this next step. What if the boys are boring, or strange, or really short? Or what if they abandon her to dance with other girls? The more Al thinks about her upcoming dates, the worse they sound. Dating is scary enough, but blind dating? That’s enough to terrify even a girl as brave as Al.