Books published by publisher Bancroft Press

There was a time when all was right in Taylor Dresden’s world—that is, as long as she was on the baseball diamond, pitching with all her heart.But that was years ago.Now, as she heads toward her senior year, the magic is gone. There’s no competition in her New Jersey high school, and summer league is not much better. With the scouts losing interest on account of her poor grades, and with the challenge of the game gone, Taylor has made a difficult decision: She won’t be playing her senior year.Everything changes when a local, elite, all-boys prep school recruits Taylor for its own baseball team. One of the first three girls ever to attend, Taylor begins to see that she genuinely does have the opportunity to create some real change in her life, her way—and just maybe for the better.But the Hazelton School is a rich boy’s world, its student body run by the Statesmen—an organization determined to force Taylor and the other girls out of their school. Their leader, Sam Barrett, may well be more than he seems, but in a school where not only the sports, but the classes too, are harder than ever, Taylor may never have a chance to find out.Taylor knows she’s a great pitcher, but can she be a great student? Can she succeed in the face of devious boys who will stop at nothing to get rid of her? Will she rise above them or sink to their level—or will she be gone before she can do either?Singled Out, the exciting sequel to Thrown a Curve, will answer these questions as Taylor struggles to find her place beyond the pitcher’s mound.Sara Griffiths is a young adult author and teacher. Her first novel, Thrown A Curve, was published in May 2007. Sara has been teaching language arts to seventh and eighth grade students for many years. She began writing to provide struggling students novels that were age appropriate but easy to read.Sara is a graduate of Rutgers College in New Brunswick, New Jersey. She is a teacher at South Orange Middle School in South Orange, New Jersey. She is a member of the National Council of Teachers of English, the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators, and the New Jersey Education Association.Sara currently resides in Whitehouse Station, New Jersey with her husband, Jamie, and their son, Benjamin.

"You think history is boring?Baltimore kid Daniel does―until a chance encounter with a magical talking raven named Calvert sends him flying back to 1814, where he finds his home city under siege by a British army on the verge of defeating the United States of America in the War of 1812.The beautifully illustrated pages of Calvert the Raven in the Battle of Baltimore, the first book of the Flying Through History series, are as close as you can get to the Battle of Baltimore without going back in time yourself. Author and illustrator J. Scott Fuqua takes you on a harrowing journey through a history of near misses, narrow escapes, and brave soldiers with no idea what tomorrow would bring.When you're flying through history, history is never boring."

"What if they just stopped?What if in a grand, scruffy stab at corporate disobedience, teenagers en masse simply stopped spending their money on the cynical crap that’s relentlessly mainlined to them: the addictive and deadly cigarettes, the hateful music, the crude and desensitizing videos and movies?What if they stopped buying that $#!%―just to cause trouble?That’s the radical notion behind Like We Care, a biting, clever, and hilarious satire in which two endearingly subversive high school seniors set out to monkey wrench the recording industry, the cigarette industry, the junk food industry―indeed, much of the American money machine. Marrying the internet to corporate America’s own schemes and weapons, they slowly, reluctantly launch a grassroots campaign, with racial, political, and cultural implications, that harnesses the awesome, untapped power of teenagers flush with cash and inflamed by adult hypocrisy."

Ever since his mother left, life hasn't been easy for Heath Wellington, III. Between his father’s (Junior’s) bouts with alcoholism and literary rejection, and Heath’s own wrongful suspension from school, there hasn't been all that much to be thankful for. But following the tragic death of estranged grandfather Senior, father and son alike stand to inherit a life-changing fortune … with one catch. Heath and Junior must spend the next three months managing Senior’s bed and breakfast, located in the same Massachusetts home Junior has spent the last eight years trying to escape. As Heath adjusts to his new world, what he needs most is to understand that Junior, too, is dealing with loss, and to realize that, even in the most tragic of times, there’s a lot in life to be thankful for. Thanksgiving at the Inn is a beautiful story of family and forgiveness, and a sure holiday classic.

There was a time when all was right in Taylor Dresden’s world―that is, as long as she was on the baseball diamond, pitching with all her heart. Now, as she enters her senior year, the magic is gone. With the scouts losing interest because of her poor grades, and with the challenge of the game gone, Taylor has made a difficult decision―she won't be playing her senior year. Everything changes when a local all-boys prep school recruits Taylor for its own baseball team. One of the first three girls ever to attend, Taylor must face the Statesmen―an organization determined to force Taylor and the other girls out of their school. Taylor knows she’s a great pitcher, but can she be a great student? Can she succeed in the face of devious boys who will stop at nothing to get rid of her? Singled Out, the exciting sequel to Thrown a Curve, will answer these questions as Taylor struggles to find her place beyond the pitcher’s mound.

FANTASY GOVERNMENT BY THE PEOPLE AND FOR THE PEOPLENot just the United States, but the entire world, remembers that fateful November day back in 2018 when Al Qaeda terrorists held the entire nation hostage in exchange for the public disclosure of an anti-terrorist bioweapon that may not have even existed.In that darkest hour, salvation came not from the United States government, but from fantasy government. This cabinet of independent thinkers from Naperville, Illinois—a librarian, a customer service representative, a gas station owner, and an obsessive gamer—was led by insurance adjustor and President Jay Weise.Now, thanks to the tireless efforts of crusading vagabond journalist, former White House press secretary, and part-time Radio Shack employee Jerome Bartels, here for the first time is the true story of the Stockdale Hostage Crisis from the people who lived it.

When eleven-year-old Sam Webber's father disappears without a trace, he and his mother are forced to relocate to a tough neighborhood, closer to her job. Unfamiliar with his surroundings and intimidated by the students of his new school, Sam recounts the sometimes frightening, sometimes delightful details of his life with touching, humorous sincerity. Living in a tiny apartment, he is forced to deal with the legacy of depression that marked his father, and threatens to envelop him. The city remains a cold and unwelcoming place to Sam until he meets Greely, an elderly black janitor at his junior high. Through this unlikely friendship, Sam begins to heal, as well as confront the racism that surrounds his community, and his life. Tracing a year in the life of an exceptional young boy, newcomer Jonathon Scott Fuqua leaves an impression that endures like a watermark. A masterfully written novel full of beautifully drawn, unforgettable characters, The Reappearance of Sam Webber is only the first from a top writer whose talented storytelling will touch every reader.

Orphaned and penniless in 1922 Baltimore, Maryland, fifteen-year-old Carl and seventeen-year-old Adam Matuski are forced to move across the continent to live with their Uncle Pete in Portland, Oregon. Almost from the beginning, homesick Carl desperately wants to return east with his brother, but his plans fall apart when Adam is sought by police for the theft of expensive jewels from his wealthy girlfriend’s home. Carl is convinced that Adam is being fingered unfairly. He and his brother are Polish Catholics, and Portland is awash in anti-Catholic, anti-immigrant sentiment. Voters, in fact, are being asked to decide whether Catholic schools, indeed all non-public schools, should be outlawed entirely. Carl works at one such Catholic school. Fueled by the Ku Klux Klan and other unsavory groups, the campaign touches Carl personally as he strives to clear his brother’s name and solve the mystery: Who really took the family jewels, and why?

In precisely the same spirit as Abelard and Heloise and Romeo and Juliet, Paul and Juliana are a fresh young couple who embody the near-impossible notion of perfect love. In this elegant, timeless, and lyrical love story, they walk the fine line between forbidden romance and tragic disaster that is the stuff of ageless myths.Mr. Lawrence is a guidance counselor relegated to the mind-numbing task of proctoring standardized tests at his Chicago-area high school, then analyzing the results. Over-educated and over-cultured for his station, Lawrence is emotionally stifled, an island unto himself—until chance circumstance throws him into the lives of two high school students, Paul Berrisford and Juliana Franck.Paul is a sloppy genius who would rather sing and play his guitar on a street corner than take the SATs and have his pick of Ivy League schools. Juliana is a lovely musical prodigy kept under the thumb of her old-fashioned, Viennese-born parents. Through Lawrence’s furtive but well-intentioned design, Paul and Juliana meet one another, then fall in love, almost at first glance.Together, the two are a picture of courtly love brought to modern life. Lawrence’s guidance sessions with them begin to grow into a friendship between the three, and slowly, his own admiration and affection for the couple begins to develop into love. But is he in love with Paul, or with Juliana? Or is he in love with their love?The situation takes an ill-fated turn when Juliana’s parents catch her in a clandestine, prohibited moment with Paul. The couple’s respective parents, concerned about each child’s welfare, forbid them to see one other. Lawrence, like the friar in Romeo and Juliet, is caught in the middle, struggling between emotion and professionalism. At the climax, Paul and Juliana come to a fork in the road, one route that could kill their love—and another that could kill them.Author Richard Hawley revives the classical romance in order to ask age-old questions: Is true adolescent love possible? What is perfect love? And what is perfection? Paul and Juliana leaves the answers up to you, while promising to take you on a magical journey of both personal and epic proportions.

Meet Woody Robins, a bon vivant, devil-may-care wine guru who specializes in investigatory work involving rare artifacts of a vinous nature. Amidst the backdrop of world-famous Napa, California wine country, and upbeat, cosmopolitan “city by the bay” San Francisco, Woody finds he’s bitten off more than he can chew when hired by a wealthy grape grower to retrieve his stolen, rare, priceless, large bottle of red Burgundy that once belonged to the French emperor, Napoleon Bonaparte. Tested by a colorful cast of characters, deceit, blackmail, intrigue, dealings with the mob and even murder ensue. With the help of his dozy boyhood chum, girlfriend, aunt and detective buddy with San Francisco’s finest, he eventually manages to unravel the case, but not before he learns a thing or two about himself.Edward Finstein, aka “The Wine Doctor,” is an internationally recognized wine expert. He is the award-winning author of “Ask the Wine Doctor.” A TV and radio host, he is a renowned journalist writing for numerous newspapers, magazines and on the Internet in North America and abroad. As an international wine judge, he travels the world judging in competitions. Edward is also a Professor of Wine at George Brown College’s School of Hospitality and Culinary Arts, a wine consultant, wine appraiser, wine tour guide, and former V.P. of the Wine Writers’ Circle of Canada. “Doc,” as he is known, believes wine should be fun, and he preaches the gospel with a sense of humor and whimsy. He lives in Toronto with his wife Jo Ann and their cat Pepper. You can reach him through his website www.winedoctor.ca or via email at winedoctor@sympatico.ca.

The long-awaited Strange Round Bird brings Eden Unger Bowditch’s Young Inventors Guild trilogy to a satisfying conclusion―no mean feat with so many threads and mysteries to be resolved. The children―young inventors all―are brought together with their parents at last in what seems like a peaceful retreat. But the evil Komar Romak waits behind the scenes and innocents may get hurt. While parents hide in secret laboratories, doing who knows what, the children resolve to take immediate action and set out through the streets of Cairo, finding clues, analyzing mysteries, and utilizing those curious inventions they've so carefully designed.

You think history is boring? Baltimore kid Daniel does―until a chance encounter with a magical talking raven named Calvert sends him flying back to 1814, where he finds his home city under siege by a British army on the verge of defeating the United States of America in the War of 1812. The beautifully illustrated pages of Calvert the Raven in the Battle of Baltimore, the first book of the Flying Through History series, are as close as you can get to the Battle of Baltimore without going back in time yourself. Author and illustrator J. Scott Fuqua takes you on a harrowing journey through a history of near misses, narrow escapes, and brave soldiers with no idea what tomorrow would bring. When you're flying through history, history is never boring.