Conejos Library District

"In one day, four lives weave together in unexpected ways. Virgil Salinas is shy and kindhearted and feels out of place in his crazy-about-sports family. Valencia Somerset, who is deaf, is smart, brave, and secretly lonely, and she loves everything about nature. Kaori Tanaka is a self-proclaimed psychic, whose little sister, Gen, is always following her around. And Chet Bullens wishes the weird kids would just stop being so different so he can concentrate...

All kinds of embarrassing rumors are swirling around TJ's class and mostly he thinks they are pretty funny, until he becomes the target of the gossip--then he needs to find out who started the rumors, and why.

Livvy, the new girl at school, is a bully who ridicules the other children, and it is up to TJ and his guidance counselor father to work out a strategy that will improve her behavior--and save TJ's birthday party.

When fourth-grader Eugene, a small and nerdy, mild-mannered housefly, becomes the world's smallest superhero, he takes on Crazy Cockroach and his army of insect baddies.

Illustrations by Richard Jones

Resolving to become the world's greatest stand-up comedian despite less-than-funny challenges in his life, wheelchair-bound middle school student Jamie Grimm endures bullying from his mean-spirited cousin and hopes he will be fairly judged when he enters a local comedy contest.

Twelve-year-old Jonathan Grisby has been sent to the Slabhenge Reformatory School for Troubled Boys, a former lunatic asylum which is currently run by a sadist who enjoys punishing the boys and setting them against each other; but when a lightning strike kills all the adults the boys find themselves suddenly free--and trapped on Scar Island which seems to be sinking into the ocean.

Because his family has moved again Josh Baxter is starting at a new school for the third time in two years, and this time he has really started off on the wrong foot--but when his mother takes away the video games that have become his refuge because of his poor grades, Josh realizes he has to come up with a new strategy for success.

There is a bully on the basketball team at school and he is physically attacking TJ's friend Ethan, so it is up to TJ and his guidance counselor father to find a solution to the problem that does not make the situation worse.

A novel in verse about Kevin's journey from bully to being bullied, as he learns about friendship, family, and his talent for poetry.