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Books published by publisher Atheneum Books for Young Readers

  • Good Night, Little Blue Truck

    Alice Schertle, Jill McElmurry

    Hardcover (HMH Books for Young Readers, Oct. 15, 2019)
    The #1 New York Times BestsellerBeep! Beep! Beep! It’s time for sleep. Say goodnight with Little Blue Truck and friends! A storm is brewing and Little Blue Truck and his good friend Toad are hurrying home for bed. But who can sleep with all that racket? It’s not long before other friends show up seeking safety from the storm. Thunder and lightning sure can be scary, but it’s easy to be brave together. When the clouds roll on and the sky is clear, it’s all aboard for a bedtime ride! Beep! Beep! Shhh . . .
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  • The Giver

    Lois Lowry

    Paperback (HMH Books for Young Readers, July 1, 1993)
    1994 Newbery Medal WinnerThe Giver, the 1994 Newbery Medal winner, has become one of the most influential novels of our time. The haunting story centers on twelve-year-old Jonas, who lives in a seemingly ideal, if colorless, world of conformity and contentment. Not until he is given his life assignment as the Receiver of Memory does he begin to understand the dark, complex secrets behind his fragile community. Lois Lowry has written three companion novels to The Giver, including Gathering Blue, Messenger, and Son.
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  • Out of My Mind

    Sharon M. Draper

    Paperback (Atheneum Books for Young Readers, May 1, 2012)
    Over 1.5 million people have read the #1 New York Times bestseller Out of My Mind and discovered the brilliant mind of Melody Brooks. Out of My Mind spent two years on the New York Times bestseller list! “If there’s one book teens and parents (and everyone else) should read this year, Out of My Mind should be it.” —The Denver Post “A gutsy, candid, and compelling story. It speaks volumes.” —School Library Journal (starred review) “Unflinching and realistic.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review) “Uplifting…This moving novel will makes activists of us all.” —Booklist (starred review) From award-winning author Sharon Draper comes a story that will forever change how we all look at anyone with a disability, perfect for fans of RJ Palacio’s Wonder.Eleven-year-old Melody is not like most people. She can’t walk. She can’t talk. She can’t write. All because she has cerebral palsy. But she also has a photographic memory; she can remember every detail of everything she has ever experienced. She’s the smartest kid in her whole school, but NO ONE knows it. Most people—her teachers, her doctors, her classmates—dismiss her as mentally challenged because she can’t tell them otherwise. But Melody refuses to be defined by her disability. And she’s determined to let everyone know it…somehow.
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  • Out of My Mind

    Sharon M. Draper

    eBook (Atheneum Books for Young Readers, March 4, 2010)
    Over 1.5 million people have read the #1 New York Times bestseller Out of My Mind and discovered the brilliant mind of Melody Brooks. Out of My Mind spent two years on the New York Times bestseller list! “If there’s one book teens and parents (and everyone else) should read this year, Out of My Mind should be it.” —The Denver Post “A gutsy, candid, and compelling story. It speaks volumes.” —School Library Journal (starred review) “Unflinching and realistic.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review) “Uplifting…This moving novel will makes activists of us all.” —Booklist (starred review) From award-winning author Sharon Draper comes a story that will forever change how we all look at anyone with a disability, perfect for fans of RJ Palacio’s Wonder.Eleven-year-old Melody is not like most people. She can’t walk. She can’t talk. She can’t write. All because she has cerebral palsy. But she also has a photographic memory; she can remember every detail of everything she has ever experienced. She’s the smartest kid in her whole school, but NO ONE knows it. Most people—her teachers, her doctors, her classmates—dismiss her as mentally challenged because she can’t tell them otherwise. But Melody refuses to be defined by her disability. And she’s determined to let everyone know it…somehow.
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  • Ghost

    Jason Reynolds

    Paperback (Atheneum Books for Young Readers, Aug. 29, 2017)
    A National Book Award Finalist for Young People’s Literature. Nominated as one of America’s best-loved novels by PBS’s The Great American Read. Ghost wants to be the fastest sprinter on his elite middle school track team, but his past is slowing him down in this first electrifying novel of the acclaimed Track series from Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe Award–winning author Jason Reynolds.Ghost. Lu. Patina. Sunny. Four kids from wildly different backgrounds with personalities that are explosive when they clash. But they are also four kids chosen for an elite middle school track team—a team that could qualify them for the Junior Olympics if they can get their acts together. They all have a lot to lose, but they also have a lot to prove, not only to each other, but to themselves. Running. That’s all Ghost (real name Castle Cranshaw) has ever known. But Ghost has been running for the wrong reasons—it all started with running away from his father, who, when Ghost was a very little boy, chased him and his mother through their apartment, then down the street, with a loaded gun, aiming to kill. Since then, Ghost has been the one causing problems—and running away from them—until he meets Coach, an ex-Olympic Medalist who sees something in Ghost: crazy natural talent. If Ghost can stay on track, literally and figuratively, he could be the best sprinter in the city. Can Ghost harness his raw talent for speed, or will his past finally catch up to him?
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  • Frindle

    Andrew Clements, Brian Selznick

    Paperback (Atheneum Books for Young Readers, Feb. 1, 1998)
    From bestselling and award-winning author Andrew Clements, a quirky, imaginative tale about creative thought and the power of words that will have readers inventing their own words.Is Nick Allen a troublemaker? He really just likes to liven things up at school -- and he's always had plenty of great ideas. When Nick learns some interesting information about how words are created, suddenly he's got the inspiration for his best plan ever...the frindle. Who says a pen has to be called a pen? Why not call it a frindle? Things begin innocently enough as Nick gets his friends to use the new word. Then other people in town start saying frindle. Soon the school is in an uproar, and Nick has become a local hero. His teacher wants Nick to put an end to all this nonsense, but the funny thing is frindle doesn't belong to Nick anymore. The new word is spreading across the country, and there's nothing Nick can do to stop it.
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  • You Matter

    Christian Robinson

    Hardcover (Atheneum Books for Young Readers, June 2, 2020)
    A New York Times bestseller! They All Saw a Cat meets The Important Book in this sensitive and impactful picture book about seeing the world from different points of view by Caldecott and Coretta Scott King Honoree Christian Robinson.In this full, bright, and beautiful picture book, many different perspectives around the world are deftly and empathetically explored—from a pair of bird-watchers to the pigeons they’re feeding. Young readers will be drawn into the luminous illustrations inviting them to engage with the world in a new way and see how everyone is connected, and that everyone matters.
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  • A Long Walk to Water: Based on a True Story

    Linda Sue Park

    Paperback (HMH Books for Young Readers, Oct. 4, 2011)
    The New York Times bestseller A Long Walk to Water begins as two stories, told in alternating sections, about two eleven-year-olds in Sudan, a girl in 2008 and a boy in 1985. The girl, Nya, is fetching water from a pond that is two hours’ walk from her home: she makes two trips to the pond every day. The boy, Salva, becomes one of the "lost boys" of Sudan, refugees who cover the African continent on foot as they search for their families and for a safe place to stay. Enduring every hardship from loneliness to attack by armed rebels to contact with killer lions and crocodiles, Salva is a survivor, and his story goes on to intersect with Nya’s in an astonishing and moving way.
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  • Corduroy

    Don Freeman

    Board book (Viking Books for Young Readers, Oct. 16, 2014)
    Handpicked by Amazon kids’ books editor, Seira Wilson, for Prime Book Box – a children’s subscription that inspires a love of reading.Celebrate 50 years of the beloved teddy bear. 2018 marks Corduroy’s 50th anniversary, and Don Freeman’s classic character is even more popular today than he was when he first came on the scene. Now his original story is available in an unabridged, sturdy board book format, perfect for even the youngest readers.
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  • Wonder

    R. J. Palacio

    Hardcover (Knopf Books for Young Readers, Feb. 14, 2012)
    Kindness brings us together no matter how far apart we are. Millions of people have read the #1 New York Times bestseller WONDER and fallen in love with Auggie Pullman, an ordinary boy with an extraordinary face. A perfect read for back to school -- no matter what that looks like! The book that inspired the Choose Kind movement, a major motion picture, and the critically acclaimed graphic novel White Bird. I won't describe what I look like. Whatever you're thinking, it's probably worse. August Pullman was born with a facial difference that, up until now, has prevented him from going to a mainstream school. Starting 5th grade at Beecher Prep, he wants nothing more than to be treated as an ordinary kid—but his new classmates can’t get past Auggie’s extraordinary face. WONDER, now a #1 New York Times bestseller and included on the Texas Bluebonnet Award master list, begins from Auggie’s point of view, but soon switches to include his classmates, his sister, her boyfriend, and others. These perspectives converge in a portrait of one community’s struggle with empathy, compassion, and acceptance. "Wonder is the best kids' book of the year," said Emily Bazelon, senior editor at Slate.com and author of Sticks and Stones: Defeating the Culture of Bullying and Rediscovering the Power of Character and Empathy. In a world where bullying among young people is an epidemic, this is a refreshing new narrative full of heart and hope. R.J. Palacio has called her debut novel “a meditation on kindness” —indeed, every reader will come away with a greater appreciation for the simple courage of friendship. Auggie is a hero to root for, a diamond in the rough who proves that you can’t blend in when you were born to stand out. Join the conversation: #thewonderofwonder, #choosekind
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  • Kamala Harris: Rooted in Justice

    Nikki Grimes, Laura Freeman

    Hardcover (Atheneum Books for Young Readers, Aug. 25, 2020)
    Discover the incredible story of a young daughter of immigrants who would grow up to defend the rights of people everywhere and be named the Democratic vice presidential candidate by Joe Biden in this moving picture book biography of Senator Kamala Harris.When Kamala Harris was young, she often accompanied her parents to civil rights marches—so many, in fact, that when her mother asked a frustrated Kamala what she wanted, the young girl responded with: “Freedom!” As Kamala grew from a small girl in Oakland to a senator running for president, it was this long-fostered belief in freedom and justice for all people that shaped her into the inspiring figure she is today. From fighting for the use of a soccer field in middle school to fighting for the people of her home state in Congress, Senator Harris used her voice to speak up for what she believed in and for those who were otherwise unheard. Her dedication led to her being selected as the Democratic vice presidential nominee in the 2020 election. Told in Nikki Grimes's stunning verse and featuring gorgeous illustrations by Laura Freeman, this picture book biography brings to life a story that shows all young people that the American dream can belong to all of us if we fight for one another.
  • Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

    Judith Viorst, Ray Cruz

    Paperback (Atheneum Books for Young Readers, July 15, 1987)
    The perennially popular tale of Alexander’s worst day is a storybook that belongs on every child’s bookshelf.Alexander knew it was going to be a terrible day when he woke up with gum in this hair. And it got worse... His best friend deserted him. There was no dessert in his lunch bag. And, on top of all that, there were lima beans for dinner and kissing on TV! This handsome new edition of Judith Viorst's classic picture book is sure to charm readers of all ages.
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