New Releases by Amy Goldman Koss

A TIMELY, WARMHEARTED NOVEL ABOUT LIFE IN HARD ECONOMIC TIMES. Jacki's ninth–grade teacher is always going on about the unemployment index and the recession, but nothing sinks in until her mom is laid off and everything seems to cost more than they can afford. Acclaimed author Amy Goldman Koss delivers a warm hearted and timely tale about the things we lose and the insights we gain.

"IwithVY: I told Ms. Gold about how The Evil Three have been after me, feeding off me since fourth grade. MARCO: It isn't a very pretty story, so if you're looking for 'nice,' you better ask someone else. ANN: We just have to come up wiht some witnesses for our side. Think! Does anyone owe you any favors? BRYCE: I figure, Dude, why not make a little spare change on the side? A buck a bet. All's I has to do was explain that liable was civil for guilty, and they swarmed like flies." Eight first-person narrators give different versions of the same event. Lessons about the inner workings of the judicial system pale beside the insights into human nature. With pathos and a great deal of humor, Amy Goldman Koss keeps you turning pages.

Ten-year-old Kailey launches an art protest to keep a developer from spoiling the cove and its tide pools that are special to her and her family and friends.

Everything changes for Isabelle, not quite fifteen, when she is diagnosed with lymphoma--but eventually she survives and even thrives.

Abby, Bess, and Cristy are best friends-period, end of story. Until Bess said, "Zack's cute," and the two words sent the three friends into a tailspin. Zack, you see, was Abby's long, long, longtime crush. Gasp! Poor Abby has never even worried about the possibility of someone else liking Zack. Even if she had, she never would've suspected that the someone would be Bess! That leaves us with three puzzling questions about the three best friends: 1) Why didn't Bess think Zack was off-limits? 2) What will Abby do about it? And 3) Whose side is Cristy on anyway? For these three best friends, those three questions are just the beginning!

Award-winning author Amy Goldman Koss explores what happens when one bad decision threatens to destroy everything. Cheating on a geography midterm is only the beginning. It seemed simple enough—they were given the answers from last year's test and they used them. But Sarah and her friends got caught, and what was done without much thought leads to greater and greater consequences. Now they are facing punishment at school, tension at home, and no one is sure how or when it will end. "An excellent springboard to provocative discussion or debate about the moral and ethical questions that this issue raises."—School Library Journal

Summer has always been Gwen's favorite time of year. But this summer, everything has gone wrong. The newspaper's union workers are on strike and it seems like the whole town-including Gwen's family-has taken up sides. Sick of moping around and wondering when things are going to get back to normal, Gwen decides to take matters into her own hands and end the fighting once and for all. “Gwen is a wonderfully spunky kid who has real problems, creative solutions, and the guts to admit that she has a lot to learn about others' needs.” —Booklist

Each of the girls in a middle-school clique reveals the strong, manipulative hold one of the group exerts on the others, and the hurt and self-doubt that it causes them.

As Mitzi's mother tries unsuccessfully to quit smoking, Mitzi pretends her mother has a terrible disease, "Stipitis," in order to win sympathy and affection from a boy she has a crush on.

Every summer John flies to Los Angeles for his visit with Dad. But one week a year isn't a lot of time for father/son bonding, particularly when your father is a workaholic who never seems to have time for his son. Not to mention that Dad always has a new girlfriend hanging around. In the past it's been near impossible to grab some quality time with his father, but this summer John refuses to give up. He's sick of feeling like a stranger in "Dadland."

Hillary Siegal and her footloose parents live on the road. To Hillary, each move is an escape from becoming one of the "sleepwalkers" she's seen at all of the seventeen schools she's attended. But then the Siegals land in Ashwater, California. And this time, they're staying put. Seventh grade isn't going to be a typical year for Hillary. What can she do if she can't run? "Undercurrents of humor, and characters who develop surprising complexities, give this bittersweet tale unusual depth." —Kirkus Reviews

In her diary, eleven-year-old Robyn describes her family's visit to Austria, from the disastrous theft of their luggage to adventures in the countryside, while she tries to recover from the death of her Aunt Beth.

"Will appeal to young readers who will also find themselves learning a bit about the meaning of Hanukkah...Warm and funny." —School Library Journal Marla Feinstein, the only Jewish kid in her fourth-grade class, hates December. While everyone else is decorating trees, she'll be forgetting to light the candles and staring at a big plastic dreidel. The holidays couldn't get much worse. So Marla decides to find out what Hanukkah's really about—and soon she and her family have made the Festival of Lights the biggest party in town!

Zinny Weston has been Ava's best friend since the moment they met. Ava loves animals, but Zinny's idea of a pet is a fur coat. When the Weston’s get a fishpond in their backyard, Ava thinks Zinny might finally be turning into an animal lover. Then a raccoon starts eating the fish, and soon the rumors start flying. What did Mrs. Weston do to eliminate her raccoon trouble? Who ratted on her to Animal Protection? Drawn into a battle with her best friend, Ava wonders: Can they ever be friends again? This novel blends sensitivity and humor in this thought-provoking and often hilarious story about animal rights and friendship.

Brief, illustrated verses provide answers to a variety of questions about nature including why snakes shed their skin and why leaves change color.