New Releases by Gary D. Schmidt

Herc Beal knows he''s named after a mythical hero but he''s no superhero. He''s the smallest kid in his class. His homeroom teacher at his new middle school gives him the assignment of duplicating the mythical Hercules''s amazing feats in real life.

Look Both Ways meets Seedfolks in this masterful novel from two titans of kid lit that follows a diverse cast of young people whose lives intersect in surprising and hilarious ways over the course of a summer day. Here’s what’s so cool about the beach. Kids are everywhere! Kids you know, kids you want to know. Wandering from one blanket to another, from one family to another. Somebody’s mom reads a fat summer novel. Somebody’s dad snores with an iPad on his chest. Babies cry. Girls laugh. Frisbee players whoop! Kites in the perfect blue sky. Some kids bodysurf. Some don’t even like the water. They build sand cities for their friends and sand jails for the grown-ups, and when the tide comes in everything gets washed away. There’s the other world, where all kids hear is tomorrow, next week, next year. And then there’s the beach, where everything is right now! Why can’t every day be a day at the beach? From two-time Newbery honoree Gary D. Schmidt and two-time PEN Award winner Ron Koertge comes a moving and often laugh-out-loud funny middle grade novel about family, friendship, and belonging, told by a group of kids spending a day at the beach. Thoughtful vignettes brilliantly weave together an irresistible tale of tween conflict and connections.

1968, dans une petite ville de l’État de New York.Un père sans repères, une mère sans remède.Deux grands frères, l’un brutal, l’autre avalé par la guerre du Vietnam.Pas assez d’argent à la maison, des petits boulots pour se maintenir à flot.Trop de bagarres au collège. Une bibliothèque ouverte le samedi pours’évader. Une collection d’oiseaux éparpillée à tous les vents. Des talentsinexploités. Et une envie furieuse d’en découdre avec la vie.Dans ce contexte sinistre mais pas dénué d’espoir, Doug s’efforcede ne plus être ce que tout le monde semble penser qu’il est,un « voyou maigrichon ».Grâce à Lil, alliée inattendue, il va trouver la force d’affronter le passagede l’adolescence et l’envie de rêver à des horizons plus radieux.

Après la mort de son ami le plus proche durant l’été 1968, Meryl Lee Kowalski part pour la St. Elene’s Preparatory Academy for Girls, où elle s’efforce de s’adapter aux traditions du vénérable pensionnat et à une structure sociale fortement axée sur les étudiantes issues de milieux aisés. Dans une histoire parallèle, Matt Coffin s’est retrouvé sur la côte du Maine, près de St. Elene’s, avec une taie d’oreiller pleine d’argent dérobée au chef d’un gang criminel, craignant la poursuite implacable et destructrice de ce dernier. Les deux jeunes gens se débarrassent peu à peu de leur solitude, trouvant un moyen d’espérer et de se trouver l’un l’autre.

Celia Thaxter grew up on a desolate island off the coast of Maine, where her father worked as lighthouse keeper. Amid the white and gray of the sea, the rocks, and even the birds, young Celia found color where she could: green mosses and purple starfish and pink morning glories by the shore. And she planted her first garden, tucking bright marigolds between rocky ledges. When she was twelve, Celia''s family moved to nearby Appledore Island, where her father built a large hotel, and Celia planted a bigger, ever-growing garden with nearly sixty types of flowers, from asters to wisteria.

In this poignant, perceptive, witty novel, Gary D. Schmidt brings authenticity and emotion to multiple plot strands, weaving in themes of grief, loss, redemption, achievement, and love. Following the death of her closest friend in summer 1968, Meryl Lee Kowalski goes off to St. Elene''s Preparatory Academy for Girls, where she struggles to navigate the venerable boarding school''s traditions and a social structure heavily weighted toward students from wealthy backgrounds. In a parallel story, Matt Coffin has wound up on the Maine coast near St. Elene''s with a pillowcase full of money lifted from the leader of a criminal gang, fearing the gang''s relentless, destructive pursuit. Both young people gradually dispel their loneliness, finding a way to be hopeful and also finding each other.

Carter Jones n’en revient pas. Alors qu’il se réveille un beau matin, voilà qu’il trouve un véritable majordome anglais – avec chapeau melon et tout le tralala, s’il vous plaît ! – sur le pas de sa porte. Comme si survivre et comprendre le collège ne suffisait pas, Carter doit aussi s’adapter à la présence opportune de cet inconnu venu aider la famille Jones – un brin fauchée. Mais lorsque la colère et le chagrin deviennent trop lourds à porter, Carter découvre qu’un fardeau devient plus léger quand il est partagé.

On a short winter day, Samuel and his father enter into a series of trades with neighbors and strangers until they come home with a brown-eyed milk cow for Mama.

Ethan eagerly anticipates making maple syrup with his father, but it will not be time until the days are warmer, the nights shorter, and Ethan''s loose tooth falls out.

S’il y a un élève du collège que Mme Baker, la prof d’anglais, ne peut pas voir en peinture, c’est bien lui, Holling Hoodhood. Chaque mercredi, alors que la moitié de la classe de cinquième est dispensée de cours pour se rendre à la synagogue, et que l’autre moitié va au cathéchisme à l’église de la paroisse, Holling Hoodhood, qui n’est ni juif ni catholique, est le seul et unique élève à rester en cours avec Mme Baker. Elle le lui fait payer. Cela fait plusieurs mercredis qu’il nettoie les tableaux, dépoussière les effaceurs, retire les toiles d’araignée, décrasse les fenêtres. Et voilà que Mme Baker s’est mis en tête de lui faire lire du Shakespeare ! Encore un stratagème pour le faire périr d’ennui. Pendant que Holling Hoodhood découvre La tempête et s’aperçoit que Mme Baker est moins mauvaise qu’elle n’en a l’air, l’histoire des États-Unis suit son cours. Robert Kennedy se porte candidat à la présidence, la lutte pour les droits civiques prend de l’ampleur, la guerre du Vietnam fait rage... Nous sommes en 1968, et l’Amérique s’apprête à vivre l’une des années les plus violentes de son histoire.

"- Je n''arrive pas à voir Jupiter. La lune brille trop. Je ne sais pas où elle est. - Elle est à sa place, ai-je répondu. - Non. Il s''est enveloppé de ses bras pour se réchauffer. Quand il s''est enfin retourné, j''ai vu un panache de buée s''échapper de ses lèvres dans le clair de lune. - Je la trouverai, a-t-il dit. Je ne veux pas rester seul. - Tu n''es pas seul. Il a hoché la tête de haut en bas. - Non, tu n''es pas seul. - Si. - Tu m''as, moi. Il a eu un petit rire triste, avant de répondre : - Jackie, j''ai toute une vie d''avance sur toi." Quand Jack rencontre Joseph, son nouveau frère adoptif, il sait déjà trois choses sur lui : Joseph a presque tué un professeur. Il a été enfermé en rééducation à Stone Mountain. Il a une fille. Son prénom est Jupiter. Et il ne l''a jamais vue. Ce que Jack ne sait pas, c''est à quel point Joseph est désespéré de retrouver sa petite fille. Et jusqu''où lui, Jack, sera prêt à aller pour l''aider. Mais quand de nouveaux liens se tissent, d''anciennes blessures se rouvrent, et le passé rattrape toujours ceux qui tentent de l''oublier.

Sixth-grader Carter must adjust to the unwelcome presence of a know-it-all butler who is determined to help him become a gentleman, and also to deal with burdens from the past.

Shows how the hardships of slavery, particularly the loss of her family, caused Isabella Baumfree to walk towards freedom, to re-invent herself as Sojourner Truth, and to continue walking to abolish slavery and for other reforms.

A quatorze ans, Doug Swieteck vient juste d''arriver dans une nouvelle ville, où il ne connaît personne. Son frère aîné est un crétin fini. Tout semble donc jouer contre lui. Commence alors une histoire sur le passage de l''adolescence à l''âge adulte, où comédie et tragédie jouent à part égale. 14ans et +

Per chi sa che nessuno sa tutto sull''amore Per chi sta aspettando qualcuno che gli guardi le spalle Per chi cerca le stelle nel freddo e nel buio Joseph, padre a tredici anni, non ha mai visto la figlia Juno, data in adozione alla nascita. Joseph non ha avuto una vita semplice: di sua madre sa pochissimo, il padre è alcolista e violento. Dopo un periodo in riformatorio, viene assegnato a una famiglia affidataria nel Maine: qui scopre per la prima volta cosa significa essere accolti senza pregiudizi e cosa si prova ad avere qualcuno che stia dalla tua parte. Grazie ai suoi nuovi genitori e al fratellino dodicenne ritrova se stesso e un nuovo rapporto di fiducia verso gli altri. E questo gli rende ancora più difficile stare lontano dalla piccola Juno. Questa è la storia di un ragazzo ferito, di un padre ritrovato e del suo grande amore.

The two-time Newbery Honor winner Gary D. Schmidt delivers the shattering story of Joseph, a father at thirteen, who has never seen his daughter, Jupiter. After spending time in a juvenile facility, he''s placed with a foster family on a farm in rural Maine. Here Joseph, damaged and withdrawn, meets twelve-year-old Jack, who narrates the account of the troubled, passionate teen who wants to find his baby at any cost. In this riveting novel, two boys discover the true meaning of family and the sacrifices it requires.

Making Americans is a study of a time when the authors and illustrators of children''s books consciously set their eyes on national and international sights, with the hope of bringing the next generation into a full sense of citizenship. Schmidt examines the literature for young people published during a momentous period in our nation''s past, and documents in detail its role as an instrument of nation-building and social reform. A thought-provoking contribution to our understanding of children''s books as cultural transmitters and transformers.

2013 Pura Belpre Award for Illustration As the illegitimate son of a Spanish nobleman and a former slave, Martin de Porres was born into extreme poverty. Even so, his mother begged the church fathers to allow him into the priesthood. Instead, Martin was accepted as a servant boy. But soon, the young man was performing miracles. Rumors began to fly around the city of a strange mulatto boy with healing hands, who gave first to the people of the barrios. Martin continued to serve in the church, until he was finally received by the Dominican Order, no longer called the worthless son of a slave, but rather a saint and the rose in the desert.

In a desperate attempt for survival, a peaceful civilization on a faraway planet besieged by a dark lord sends its most precious gift across the cosmos into the lunchbox of Tommy Pepper, sixth grader, of Plymouth, Massachusetts.

2011 National Book Award Finalist As a fourteen-year-old who just moved to a new town, with no friends and a louse for an older brother, Doug Swieteck has all the stats stacked against him. So begins a coming-of-age masterwork full of equal parts comedy and tragedy from Newbery Honor winner Gary D. Schmidt. As Doug struggles to be more than the “skinny thug” that his teachers and the police think him to be, he finds an unlikely ally in Lil Spicer—a fiery young lady who “smelled like daisies would smell if they were growing in a big field under a clearing sky after a rain.” In Lil, Doug finds the strength to endure an abusive father, the suspicions of a whole town, and the return of his oldest brother, forever scarred, from Vietnam. Together, they find a safe haven in the local library, inspiration in learning about the plates of John James Audubon’s birds, and a hilarious adventure on a Broadway stage. In this stunning novel, Schmidt expertly weaves multiple themes of loss and recovery in a story teeming with distinctive, unusual characters and invaluable lessons about love, creativity, and survival.

“Henry Smith’s father told him that if you build your house far enough away from Trouble, then Trouble will never find you.” But Trouble comes careening down the road one night in the form of a pickup truck that strikes Henry’s older brother, Franklin. In the truck is Chay Chouan, a young Cambodian from Franklin’s preparatory school, and the accident sparks racial tensions in the school—and in the well-established town where Henry’s family has lived for generations. Caught between anger and grief, Henry sets out to do the only thing he can think of: climb Mt. Katahdin, the highest mountain in Maine, which he and Franklin were going to climb together. Along with Black Dog, whom Henry has rescued from drowning, and a friend, Henry leaves without his parents’ knowledge. The journey, both exhilarating and dangerous, turns into an odyssey of discovery about himself, his older sister, Louisa, his ancestry, and why one can never escape from Trouble.

In 1911, Turner Buckminster hates his new home of Phippsburg, Maine, but things improve when he meets Lizzie Bright Griffin, a girl from a poor, nearby island community founded by former slaves that the town fathers--and Turner''s--want to change into a tourist spot.

While serving as a British Fencible to maintain the peace in eighteenth-century Ireland, Anson finds that his sympathy for a hedge master places him in conflict with the law of King George II.

As they are pursued by greedy villains, two boys on a quest to save innocent lives meet the banished queen whose son was stolen by Rumpelstiltskin eleven years earlier, and she provides much more than the answer they seek.

Each evening, in one of the barracks of a Nazi death camp, a woman shares stories that push back the darkness, cold, and fear, bringing hope to the women and children who listen. Reprint.

National Book Award finalist and two-time Newbery Honor-winning author Gary D. Schmidt recaptures the classic tale of one man''s spiritual journey in this contemporary retelling of John Bunyan''s Pilgrim''s Progress, masterfully illustrated with watercolors by artist Barry Moser. Here again is the tale of Christian''s epic trek from the City of Destruction to the Heavenly Palaces - of the pitfalls that threaten to waylay him and the graces that strengthen him along the way. Matching Bunyan''s flare for storytelling and vivid imagery, Gary Schmidt''s new narrative also echoes the style of writers like J.R.R. Tolkien, Dante, Sir Thomas Browne, E.M. Forster, and Nathaniel Hawthorne. Even after three centuries, this odyssey of faith and human perseverance continues to inspire readers today - and now Schmidt''s engaging retelling will delight and stir the imaginations of a new generation of pilgrims.