New Releases by Kate Messner

In this historical adventure novel for middle grade readers, a dog travels through time to join the allied forces in the Battle of Normandy. Ranger, the time-traveling golden retriever with search and rescue skills, heads to Normandy on the morning of the D-Day invasion and finds himself in the middle of one of the fiercest battles of World War II. Ranger meets Leo, a Jewish boy who is hiding with a local farmer, and Walt, a young African-American soldier fighting to free France from the Nazis. It''s pure chaos, with thundering warplanes, falling bombs, and exploding land mines. Will Ranger, Leo, and Walt survive?

When the mysterious first aid kit takes golden retriever Ranger to New Orleans shortly before Hurricane Katrina hits, he finds himself helping Clare Porter and her grandmother, who are waiting for Clare''s father at their home in the Lower Ninth Ward--and when the levees break and Clare is separated from Nana, Ranger must somehow get her to the relative safety of the Superdome, and reunite her with her family.

Kate Messner''s debut novel gets an exciting new look! Readers will fall for Gianna Z. in this middle-grade novel full of humor and heart.

Kate Messner pens a new moving tale of family and friendship about a tech-savvy boy searching for his father during tough times. No one is ever too lost to be found. Kirby "Zig" Zigonski lives for the world of simple circuits, light bulbs, buzzers, and motors. Electronics are, after all, much more predictable than most people--especially his father, who he hasn''t seen in over a year. When his dad''s latest visit is canceled with no explanation and his mom seems to be hiding something, Zig turns to his best friend Gianna and a new gizmo--a garage sale GPS unit--for help. Convinced that his dad is leaving clues around town to explain his absence, Zig sets out to find him. Following one clue after another, logging mile after mile, Zig soon discovers that people aren''t always what they seem . . . and sometimes, there''s more than one set of coordinates for home.

Ranger, the time-traveling golden retriever with search-and-rescue training, helps two new friends survive the Great San Francisco Earthquake! Ranger travels to San Francisco and meets Lily Chen. She was sent from China to America to work as a young servant, but she dreams of studying to be a doctor. When the Great Earthquake hits, Ranger arrives in time to rescue Lily from falling beams in the mission house where she lives. Together they flee to safety, stopping to help another girl, May Wong, save her little brother from the family''s collapsed market. Lily and May try to make their way through the ruined city with Ranger at their side. But can they escape crumbling buildings and raging fires, all while facing anti-Chinese discrimination?

Sur l''eau je glisse, je me faufile à travers les nénuphars et les roseaux. Ma maman me fait découvrir le monde invisible des animaux qui vivent sous l''eau, les petits poissons et les écrevisses, les tortues et les grenouilles. Je suis émerveillé de découvrir ce monde mystérieux qui se cache, au fond de l''étang. Veux-tu me suivre à la découverte des animaux qui vivent sous l''eau ?

In this gorgeous companion to the acclaimed Over and Under the Snow and Up in the Garden and Down in the Dirt, Kate Messner and Christopher Silas Neal bring to life a secret underwater world. In this book, readers will discover the plants and animals that make up the rich, interconnected ecosystem of a mountain pond. Over the pond, the water is a mirror, reflecting the sky. But under the pond is a hidden world of minnows darting, beavers diving, tadpoles growing. These and many other secrets are waiting to be discovered...over and under the pond.

Kate Messner dazzles readers with another magical middle grade novel perfect for fans of Lisa Graff or Wendy Mass.

Once again the mysterious box takes the golden retriever Ranger back in time, and he finds himself on Robert Falcon Scott''s ship, the Terra Nova, headed for Antarctica, where his mission is to save Jack Nin, a Chinese-Maori stowaway from New Zealand, from the blizzards, unstable ice, and the other hazards that lie ahead for the doomed expedition.

Thrilling adventure series for middle-grade tastes. Ranger is a golden retriever with search-and-rescue training. In this adventure, he travels to a Maryland plantation during the time of American slavery, where he meets a young girl named Sarah. When Sarah learns that the plantation owner has plans to sell her little brother, Jesse, to another plantation in the South, it means they could be separated forever. Sarah takes their future into her own hands and decides there''s only one way to run -- north.

The mysterious box that Ranger the golden retriever found in the garden transports him back to first century Rome, where he must rescue Marcus, a young servant boy, and Quintus, a volunteer gladiator, from the brutal world of the Colosseum.

"A picture book celebration of the act of exploring--and sharing--a book"--

Meet Ranger! He''s a time-traveling golden retriever who has a nose for trouble . . . and always saves the day! Ranger has been trained as a search-and-rescue dog, but can''t officially pass the test because he''s always getting distracted by squirrels during exercises. One day, he finds a mysterious first aid kit in the garden and is transported to the year 1850, where he meets a young boy named Sam Abbott. Sam''s family is migrating west on the Oregon Trail, and soon after Ranger arrives he helps the boy save his little sister. Ranger thinks his job is done, but the Oregon Trail can be dangerous, and the Abbotts need Ranger''s help more than they realize!

After a concussion that affects her balance, memory, and other abilities, twelve-year-old Kat goes to I-Can, the "Miracle Clinic in the Swamp," where she joins forces with other patients to expose a plot that endangers them all.

Being kind is a big job, but nothing''s too big for a sea monster. Not even taking on the new fish in school, who''s great...except when he''s pushing people around. This funny, charming twist on dealing with a bully will reassure and delight the smallest children and the biggest sea monsters alike.

Jaden''s summer visit with her meteorologist father, who has just returned from spending four years in Russia conducting weather experiments not permitted in the United States, fills her with apprehension and fear as she discovers that living at her father''s planned community, Placid Meadows, is anything but placid.

Over the snow, the world is hushed and white, but under the snow is a secret world of squirrels and snowshoe hares, bears and bullfrogs, and many others who live outside in the woods during the winter.

All she wanted was to skate, but when her dreams come true, what happens when she''s thrown into the cutthroat world of figure skating competition? For Claire Boucher, life is all about skating on the frozen cow pond and in the annual Maple Show right before the big pancake breakfast on her family''s farm. But all that changes when Russian skating coach Andrei Grosheva offers Claire a scholarship to train with the elite in Lake Placid. Tossed into a world of mean girls on ice, where competition is everything, Claire realizes that her sweet dream come true has sharper edges than she could have imagined. Can she find the strength to stand up to the people who want to see her fail and the courage to decide which dream she wants to follow? From bestselling author Kate Messner comes a heartfelt novel about the fun and frigid sides of figure skating.

Desperate to find her uncle, twelve-year-old Abigail Smith disguises herself as a boy, steals a leaky row- boat, and sets out to join the American Fleet on Lake Champlain. Recipient of the Adirondack Literary Award for Best Children''s Book.