Books with author Peni R. Griffin

While on a secret mission, Agent Liam Adler struggles to gain the upper hand and ultimately embarrasses the CIA. Now he is forced to return to normal every day life as a civilian working at a grocery store. With a knowledge of government secrets and new allies in the produce and meat departments, he begins to suspect the grocery store is not all that it seems to be. The Grocery Store Spy is the first book in B. R. Griffin's Grocery Store Spy Series. This small book is clean, fun, and humorous and can be enjoyed by the whole family.

In a harsh and noisy time, a young girl's key to her dreams -- music -- may be closer than she thinks.There was a new song playing in the back of Alma's head. An angry song, for Jovita and her killer, and Eddie, and everybody whose family did things that everybody had to live with. She could feel it, thumping in her brain, but couldn't hear it well enough to even hum it. Not in this house.She needed quiet, and a guitar. She needed Mrs. B's house.Alma misses many things. She misses her grandmother; her big brother Eddie back when he didn't deal drugs; the freedom she had before her baby niece Silvita was born; and now, worst of all, she misses Jovita, the singer she idolized who was recently killed in a drive-by shooting. Just when things seem hopeless, Alma discovers the cat door in her neighbor's often-empty home, and an unintended window opens into a better world, full of music.And what could be the harm in Alma's stealing (borrowing, really) a little peace and quiet, maybe even a ticket to her future?Peni R. Griffin has created a character at once bitter and optimistic. She has succeeded, even more impressively, in making the "dark" world surrounding Alma shine with small -- but life-changing -- possibility.

Nearly nine-year-old Caroline isn't at all sure visiting her Dad, and his new wife and annoying stepson, is a good idea. She's even less convinced when Dad has to give a final exam, her stepmother is called away, and Hector's left in charge on her first day there! Hector warns the college student who drops off a late art project that Dad won't accept it. The student tells him to mind his own business and "just leave it alone till your dad gets home." Who does he think he is? Caroline can't do any harm by taking the cover off one corner and looking. The picture shows a mountain covered with twisting paths and a variety of fantastic creatures - including a mermaid. Caroline loves mermaids!And she can hear this one singing!Leaning closer to hear better, Caroline finds herself falling into the picture and meeting a mermaid. But mermaids aren't as nice in person as in theory. When Hector jumps in to rescue her, he is at best half-successful. They're trapped on a mountain full of brightly-colored threats, confusing paths, and monsters variously smart and stupid, treacherous and fair-minded, but all - from the courteous sphinx to the crabby Thigama Bob - set on keeping them from getting out alive. Hector is stronger and knows more about monsters than Caroline does; but Caroline is bolder and quicker-witted than Hector. And they'd better stick together, because the odds of either of them making it through alone are slim.

Alma misses many things. She misses her abuela; her big brother, Eddie, when he wasn't mixed up in drugs; the freedom she had before her niece, Silvita, was born; and now, worst of all, she misses Jovita, the singer she idolizes who's been killed in a drive-by shooting. Just when things seem hopeless, Alma discovers the cat flap on her neighbor's back porch, and an unintended door opens into another world. 860L Accelerated Reader® title for ages 10-14 Available only in Juvenile 3 Series.

A vivid, exhilarating peek at our prehistoric past, now available in paperbackThis action-packed, fully-imagined time travel book takes a young Texan girl, participating in an archaeological dig, back to the time of the mammoth. There Esther is adopted by a group of mammoth hunters, who teach her to forage for food, make clothes, build fires, and protect herself from the megafauna who roam the land-scimitar cats, panthers, and more. Even as she grows attached to her new family and proud of her many skills, Esther searches for a way home. Praise for 11,000 Years LostA Texas Bluebonnet Award suggested read for 2006-2007 "A vivid and engrossing picture of Pleistocene society...Griffin draws on her careful research to invent the past with a specificity beyond an archaeologist's wildest dreams."--Archaeology Magazine "Esther's adventures in the messy world of late Ice Age Texas provide a compelling and believable read. Likable characters populate a fully realized world." --Kirkus "An exciting peek into the distant past." --Booklist"A unique, superior contribution to speculative adventure fiction, Ether's survival story is an emotionally satisfying, well-crafted read."--The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books