New Releases by Dyan Sheldon

"Be nice to mice, is my advice," my granddad said to me. "Take care of bears, be sweet to sheep, and fish deep in the sea." Fans of Oi Frog! will love this funny and clever story about a little boy who asks his grandad how to be happy. His grandad tells him that it''s all about being kind to animals, and lists an increasingly whacky and hilarious set of things to do, and, more importantly, NOT to do to creatures all around the world. Remember, don''t iron a lion, don''t put goats in boats and never EVER laugh at giraffes! The perfect family read-aloud adventure.

Can chasing the wrong girl lead down the right path? Witty as ever, best-selling author Dyan Sheldon maps the agonizing distance between “like” and “love.” Josh has never really thought twice about girls before. He’s usually too busy watching old movies with his friends Sal and Carver, petitioning for more vegetarian options in the school cafeteria, or flailing in yoga class with his best friend, Ramona. But when new girl Jena Capistrano walks into school, Josh loses his heart faster than he’s ever lost his balance on a double downward dog. Not that he has any real aspirations, of course: he knows Jena is completely out of his league. And then, against all odds — they become friends. The closer they get, the more infatuated Josh becomes, and the more he wonders if just maybe Jena might like him back. There’s only one way to find out. But it’s not exactly easy to put your heart on the line.

YA. Teenage Issues. ZiZi likes to think of herself as a girly girl: her wardrobe is almost exclusively pink, her daily makeup routine can take upwards of an hour and she loves a bit of a flirt. Her best friend Loretta is very different: all of her clothes are black, she doesn''t wear any makeup whatsoever and she doesn''t like the way ZiZi dumbs herself down for boys or her old-fashioned ideas about ''a woman''s place''. One day, they decide to make a bet. Can ZiZi stand looking like Loretta for longer than Loretta can bear dressing like ZiZi? As their summer unfolds often hilariously, the pair are surprised to find they have a lot to learn from each other.

What happens when a bratty teenage star and a hardworking waitress get a taste of each other’s worlds? Featuring the best-selling Dyan Sheldon at her snarky, entertaining best. Paloma Rose is sixteen and already a major TV star. She has money, franchises, adoring fans — and an agent and parents who are dependent on her success to sustain their very comfortable lives. But all that could come to an end when Paloma becomes more famous for her bad behavior than for her acting and her show’s sponsors threaten to cancel the upcoming season if things don’t improve. Meanwhile, Paloma’s worried agent happens upon Oona Ginness working in a coffee shop. Maybe she’s not as tall or as blond as Paloma, but details aside, they really might be twins. So a plan is born: What if they send Paloma to a brat camp to become a better person and put the malleable and much nicer Oona in her place? Oona thinks it’s a stupid idea, but the money is hard to resist, given her family’s dire circumstances. What does she have to lose? Of course, plans don’t always work out the way they’re supposed to. . . .

When a king discovers that there are still singing moon dragons high up on the mountainside, he offers a room full of gold to anyone who can bring one to him. The beautiful dancing dragons only reveal themselves to Alina, a young peasant girl, but she preserves the secret of their whereabouts, knowing that there are some things far more precious than a room full of gold.

If this first love is true love, why can’t Hildy hang out with her friends without feeling guilty? Dyan Sheldon takes on the possessive side of summer romance with humor and insight. Hildy has only had two-and-a-half dates in her whole life, and she isn’t counting the half. It’s starting to look as if she’s never going to have a third date, or be kissed, or know a boy who is more than just a friend. Then, on an ordinary day, she meets Connor of the melt-that-ice-cap smile — and a summer that was going to be ordinary as toast turns into Hildy’s summer of love. But love for Hildy is a little more complicated than the songs and movies have led her to believe. It’s not so much girl-meets-boy-and loses-her-heart as boy-meets-girl-and-loses-his-mind. Part cautionary tale and part romantic comedy, Dyan Sheldon’s wry, diary-style novel weighs in on all ends of the relationship scale in a story of first love.

In a new comedy from the best-selling author of CONFESSIONS OF A TEENAGE DRAMA QUEEN, two popular girls vie to out-green each other to snare a boy. Fashion-crazy Sicilee is a poster child for over-consumption. Her archrival, Maya, wears arty vintage clothes but hasn’t a clue what’s in the food she eats. So when drop-dead gorgeous new student Cody Lightfoot sets out to spread his eco-ways--and spur the Environmental Club toward an all-out Earth Day bash--Sicilee and Maya have their work cut out to attract his attention. What if Sicilee trades her fur boots for walking shoes (even if she can’t find the school when she’s not inside a car)? What if Maya dresses in plastic bottles and bags to preach in front of the supermarket (until security is called)? Or could it be that Cody isn’t all he’ s cracked up to be, and that saving the planet really is more important than impressing a boy? With her trademark quick-fire wit, Dyan Sheldon shows just what girls will do for love--and what earth-changing realizations they might have along the way.

The best-selling author of CONFESSIONS OF A DRAMA QUEEN takes a smart, funny look at friendship, staying true to your identity, and moving on. (Ages 12 and up) Gracie and Savannah are best friends --and utterly unalike. Savannah is beautiful, outrageous, and irresistible to the opposite sex. Gracie is shy, smart, and would rather be studying lizards than meeting boys. Still, they’ve made a surprisingly great team, and (until now) it seemed as if nothing could come between them. But lately, Savannah’s talent for lying and manipulating is becoming harder to ignore. She’s fallen head over heels for an elusive college boy, and Gracie can’t help wondering: is her friend as confident as she seems? When Savannah gets between Gracie and her crush, the line separating best friend from worst friend is crossed.

YA. Issues. A sharply observed, bittersweet tale of the trials of teenage pregnancy. Lana Spiggs is fed up with everyone telling her what to do. If it isn''t her mother nagging and shouting, it''s her teachers nagging and shouting. What Lana wants is to be grown-up. She wants her own flat, her own husband and her own children - and then no one will be able to boss her around any more. When Lana meets Les on her fifteenth birthday, she knows he is The One. And when she gets pregnant without even trying, she knows it''s her ticket to freedom - even though everyone else calls it a prison sentence. But can her dream of Happy Families stand up to reality?

Adventure fiction. Science fiction. Trish is scared of her mother''s rages while timid Kiki is scared of the teen gang who terrorize the inner-city estate where they live. In their different ways, they both feel helpless and alone. But then they meet the mysterious Betty Friedman, and old lady with a secret to protect. Before they know it, Trish and Kiki are plunged into a time-travelling quest to save a historic church - and the buried treasure beneath it. Going undercover as servants in Victorian London, their cunning and bravery are put to the test, and they learn that they are more courageous than they could ever have imagined.

The exchange of daughters that began in "Sophie Pitt-Turnbill Discovers America" continues in this companion about a bohemian Brooklyn teen, who crosses the pond to visit an uptight English family.

Upon learning at the end of her senior year of high school that a Hollywood film is being made in her hometown, Lola stops at nothing to get a part and upstage her nemesis, Carla Santini.

Quoi de neuf dans la famille Brandy ? Sigmund, le père, est toujours psy (mais il est séparé de sa femme). " La crise ", la mère, a un nouvel homme dans sa vie (mais elle est toujours en crise). Justin, le frère, est toujours aussi fourbe. Il va passer deux mois en Amérique du Sud à photographier des pauvres. Quant à Janet... Obligée de travailler si elle veut partir en Grèce avec Disha, elle n''est pas au bout de ses peines ! Au restaurant où elle est employée comme serveuse, elle découvre que l''esclavage existe encore : ses pieds sont en bouillie, les muscles de son visage sont contractés à force de sourire à de clients odieux, et elle a pour collègue une fille aussi aimable qu''une porte de prison (et avec une énorme poitrine). Heureusement, il y a Ethan, l''incarnation de la perfection masculine. Il est serveur et australien. Ca tombe bien, Janet a toujours rêvé d''aller en Australie. La suite des aventures hilarantes de Janet !

While spending the summer in Brooklyn with her mother''s former schoolmate, Sophie, a sheltered English teenager, makes new and unlikely friends and finds a new side to her formerly "dull and passive" personality.

Having taken a break from the "Dark Phase" of her life, Janet records in her diary the trials and tribulations that occur as she finds a summer job, witnesses the changes in her mother and best friend as they fall in love, and approaches her own seventeenth birthday.

Sixteen-year-old Janet Bandry keeps a diary as she deals with an annoying family, school, a quirky best friend, and trying to find herself through vegetarianism, literature, romance, and her "Dark Phase."

Ella has no interest in running for class president at her suburban New Jersy high school, but her off-beat friend Lola tricks her into challenging the rich and overbearing Carla Santini in a less-than-friendly race.

Elena really wants to be the princess in the dance-school ballet, dressed in the beautiful coral-coloured tutu with silver stars, but nasty, vain Sylvie gets the part, while Elena has to be ... a frog What chance has she got to sparkle now?

Clara the cat and Buster the dog create a trail of destruction when they try ballroom dancing inside their house, but then they discover the joys of dancing outside, with the moon for a light and all the room in the world.

Lizzie can''t wait to go shopping with her best friend Charley. When her strange neighbour, Mrs Moscos, warns them not to go into Happy Burger they don''t listen. One minute they''re looking at the menu the next they find themselves on another planet trying to thwart an alien invasion

Elmo is caught in the middle of a feud between her environmental activist mother and property developer Mr Bamber, who lives over the road. When the Bambers adopt Kuba, an angel undercover as a South American orphan, Elmo''s life will never be the same.

In her first year at a suburban New Jersy high school, Mary Elizabeth Cep, who now calls herself "Lola", sets her sights on the lead in the annual drama production, and finds herself in conflict with the most popular girl in school.

Enthralled by her grandmother''s story of seeing and hearing whales singing in the sea long ago, Lilly hopes to see them herself and to hear their mysterious songs.