Books with author Rob Johnson

What happens when a girl, homeschooled by her counterculture mother, decides to spend her senior year in public school? First friendship, first love—and first encounters with the complexities of authority and responsibility. Evie is different. Not just her upbringing—though that’s certainly been unusual—but also her mindset. She’s smart, independent, confident, opinionated, and ready to take on a new challenge: the Institution of School. It doesn’t take this homeschooled kid long to discover that high school is a whole new world, and not in the ways she expected. It’s also a social minefield, and Evie finds herself confronting new problems at every turn, failing to follow or even understand the rules, and proposing solutions that aren’t welcome or accepted. Not one to sit idly by, Evie sets out to make changes. Big changes. The movement she starts takes off, but before she realizes what’s happening, her plan spirals out of control, forcing her to come to terms with a world she is only just beginning to comprehend. J. J. Johnson’s powerful debut novel will enthrall readers as it challenges assumptions about friendship, rules, boundaries, and power.

Since her father’s mysterious death, Lauren Cowley has been stuck in a pitiful rut until she begins having ominous encounters, haunting her every move. While attempting to break free from her wretched life she meets Donovan. He is tall, dark, good-looking, strangely familiar – and yet terrifying. His unexplained ability to stare deep into her soul with emotionless eyes frightens her, yet she has no desire to break free from the gravitating pull he has on her. He unlocks her passion…and suppressed memories forcing her to fight for everything she loves. Lauren now has to face the reality of demons and the tragic consequences they have had on her life.

In 1916, to the shock of the scientific community and the world at large, a Florida geologist discovered human remains mixed with the bones of prehistoric animals in a Vero Beach canal and proclaimed that humans had lived in North America since the Ice Age. These new findings by Elias Sellards flew in the face of prevailing wisdom, which held that humans first came to the continent only 6,000 years ago. His claim was snubbed by the top scientists of his day, he was laughed out of the state, Vero's fame declined, and the skull Sellards found--famously known as "Vero Man "--was lost.An Ice Age Mystery tells the story of Sellards's exciting find and the controversy it sparked. In the years that followed, other archaeological discoveries and the rise of radiocarbon dating established that humans did arrive in North America earlier than previously thought. The skull, however, was never recovered, and many people began to wonder: What exactly had Sellards found at Vero? And what else might be buried there? One hundred years after the first Vero discovery, construction plans threatened to cover up the legendary dig site, and a band of citizens and archaeologists protested. Excavations were reopened. Archaeologists uncovered 14,000-year-old burnt mammal bones and charcoal, signs of a human presence, and found further evidence to indicate a continuous human occupation of the site for several thousand years. Prior to the latest excavations an etching on a bone possibly 13,000 years old was discovered that could be the oldest piece of art in America. Sellards had been right all along.Many questions still remain. Who were these people? Where did they come from? And how did they get here? This book draws readers into the past, present, and future of one of the most historic discoveries in American archaeology.

Just because everyone else thinks you should be over it, doesn’t mean you are Last year, Sarah’s best friend, Jamie, died in a freak accident. Back then, everyone was sad; now they’re just ready for Sarah to get over it and move on. But Sarah’s not ready. She can’t stop reliving what happened, struggling with guilt, questioning the meaning of life, and missing her best friend. Her grades are plummeting, her relationships are falling apart, and her normal voice seems to have been replaced with a snark box. Life just seems random: no pattern, no meaning, no rules—and no reason to bother. In a last-ditch effort to pull it together, Sarah befriends Jamie’s twin brother, Emmett, who may be the only other person who understands what she’s lost. And when she gets a job working for the local eccentric who owns a Christmas tree farm, she finally begins to understand the threads that connect us all, the benefit of giving people a chance, and the power of love.

Kids have wild imaginations: monsters under their beds, ghosts, the boogeyman, and everything in between.But sometimes, you have to stop and suspend your disbelief for a minute. The unthinkable may just be true for once.Iggy Risner is your typical wise-cracking twelve-year-old. When his younger brother, Oz, wakes him in the middle of the night claiming he heard a monster in the attic, Iggy takes him upstairs to prove him wrong. But instead of a flesh-eating beast, they discover hundreds of their plastic toy dinosaurs that have mysteriously come to life.When the dinos escape the attic and start terrorizing young kids in the neighborhood and trampling flower beds, somehow Iggy, Oz, and their friends must catch the plastic dinos of doom before the damage escalates. But what do you do when your parents doubt your story, and a group of clueless neighborhood bullies stand in the way?For Iggy and Oz, catching the little beasts may prove to be easier said than done.Iggy & Oz - The Plastic Dinos of Doom will make your child's imagination soar and make the hair behind their necks stand on end as they read on.Order your copy today and get in on the adventure!

Peach and Plum opens with seven year-old Mayfair Tootle, who steps into the world of Maverick Elementary as a new student on the first day of school. And things like: Fifth graders who hog the kickball court, snooty school yard cliques, a Pop Star girl, school yard games like High Jump and One Fly Up, a dog named Monster, googlie-eyed school yard crushes, a substitute teacher, the Harvest Moon Potluck, a couple of birthday parties, and a crazy school yard brawl on the first day of school, all set the story of Peach and Plum in motion as the school year rolls itself out. Mayfair easily makes new friends at Maverick Elem (what the children call it), and everything is fine until the leader of The Snootish Girls, Kiara Campbell, gets kicked out of her own clique. When she highjacks Mayfair's litle circle of friends, Kiara banishes Mayfair's BFF from the group simply because Xembi reminds Kiara of another girl she can't stand. Fed up with Kiara's mean-girl ways and holding everybody hostage during lunch and recess, Mayfair stands up to Kiara when she finds out that Xembi might go to home school because of the bullying. And just when things get back to normal, Mayfair has one last show down with Kiara Campbell on the last day of school.

From online singing sensation to international superstar, boy-next-door Shawn Mendes is one of the world s biggest young stars. Born and raised in Pickering, Ontario, Shawn first gained attention by singing cover versions of songs, which he posted online to quickly garner a huge, grassroots fan base and eventually a record deal. Learn how the singer s hard work and dedication helped him become an award-winning artist, and a voice for positive change.

Asking for help is only the first step.Jennifer can’t go on like this―binging, purging, starving, and all while trying to appear like she’s got it all together. But when she finally confesses her secret to her parents and is hospitalized at the Samuel Tuke Center, her journey is only beginning.As Jennifer progresses through her treatment, she learns to recognize her relationship with food, and friends, and family―and how each is healthy or unhealthy. She has to learn to trust herself and her own instincts, but that’s easier than it sounds. She has to believe―after many years of being a believarexic.Using her trademark dark humor and powerful emotion, J. J. Johnson tells an inspiring story based on her own experience when she was hospitalized for an eating disorder as a teenager. The innovative format using blank verse and prose, changes in tense and voice, and forms, workbooks, and journal entries mirror Jennifer’s progress toward a healthy body and mind.

If you or someone you know enjoys tongue twisters, this is the book for you.Suzy's Sick Sister Tricia & Other Tough Tongue Twisters is packed full of silly tongue twisters guaranteed to have your tongue tied in a knot for hours after reading them. Here's just one example from the book:""Silly Sally from the valley had a silly filly,Silly Sally's silly filly had a really frilly lily.Is the really frilly lily Silly Sally's filly's lily?"Try saying that 5 times fast. Now try saying it ten. Bet you can't do it. The tongue twisters and illustrations in this book are sure to elicit giggles. Buy this book now and start tying your tongue in knots.