New Releases by Marsha Qualey

Gracie LaRoo''s synchronized swimming team trades out water for snow when they meet up with a top ski ballet team. They''ll train the skiers, and the skiers will train them-all in front of TV cameras! But Gracie''s afraid of heights. Can she overcome her fear in time to shine, or is this trip going downhill-fast?

Training camp has opened, and Gracie LaRoo is excited to be back with her synchronized swimming team, the Water Sprites--but the other members of the team seem strangely uninterested in training, and it will be up to Gracie to set an example with a perfect triple spin.

Colorful flowers fill the farmers'' market, and Beatrice "Bumble B." Flinn is thrilled! Where there are flowers, there are bugs. And B. loves bugs! She can''t wait to help Kalia at her family''s flower stand. But when her job is to get rid of all the bugs on the flowers, B. doesn''t know what to do. Her mission of the day is clear -- she must save the bugs! Easy-to-read text, short chapters, fun illustrations, a glossary, discussion questions, and writing prompts add to the book. The Bumble B. early chapter books will inspire young readers to think outside the box.

The after-school science club is just starting, and Beatrice Honey Flinn, who is called Bumble B, and her best friends are joining, but when Mr. Dan separates the students into teams, Bumble B finds herself paired off with two children she does not know, Jasmine and Otto, instead of her friends--and their assignment is to make a list of all the animals, insects, plants, and rocks they find in the playground.

Beatrice "Bumble B." Flinn loves a lot of things, but she loves drawing the most. When her friend Rosa''s cat goes missing, B. offers to make a poster for her. Mission lost cat is under way! But when no cat is found, Rosa blames B. and her poster. B. is positive her poster will work, and she does not give up! The Bumble B. early chapter book series will inspire young readers to have confidence and a positive attitude. Easy-to-read text, short chapters, fun illustrations, a glossary, discussion questions, and writing prompts complete the book.

Beatrice "Bumble B." Flinn has announced her Halloween costume, and it''s perfect for her. She is going to be a Super Bee! But when her cape causes issues, B. feels less than super. She is on a mission to find her superpower, with or without her pesky cape! The Bumble B. early chapter book series will inspire young readers to never give up. Easy-to-read text, short chapters, fun illustrations, a glossary, discussion questions, and writing prompts complete the book.

"Beatrice "Bumble B." Flinn is funny, smart, and creative. Beatrice is also very clumsy and tends to bumble her way through life, which is how she got the nickname Bumble B. But clumsiness doesn''t damper her confidence! Every day she tackles a self-assigned mission, and every mission is a new opportunity for success."--Copyright page.

In this compilation of four separately published works, Gracie Laroo, the youngest pig on the Water Sprites, a medal-winning synchronized swimming team, gets a chance to perform at the Pig Jubilee, in a movie, on a cruise ship, as well as giving a motivational speech at her former school--all things which test her confidence and abiltiy to perform in the clutch.

Piggywood! Gracie LaRoo had long been starstruck with the town where glamorous movie stars work on thrilling films. But now it''s her turn as a famous director asks Gracie to be a part of her next film. Gracie is thrilled! That is, until she gets there. Her part is not at all what she thought it would be and she can''t seem to find her voice to speak up. Plus, her idol, Tilda Swinetune, is unhappy with the way the movie is going, too. But Gracie figures out a way to save the day and in the process finds her voice.

It is Gracie''s first time at the Pig Jubilee with her synchronized swimming team, the Water Sprites, and she is the youngest pig with a chance to win a gold medal--the trouble is that she keeps getting distracted and missing her solo part, a triple spin dive.

Gracie LaRoo is famous--especially to her alma mater! But when they ask her to come speak to the students, Gracie is more than a little nervous. Sure enough, the minute she arrives she encounters the tough principal that used to be hard on her back in her schooldays and then a coach who thinks synchronized swimming is a joke. The worst, though, is finding out she has to speak in front of an entire auditorium of unruly piglets. Will Gracie be able to keep her cool, remember she''s a star, and make it through the day?

The Water Sprites are supposed to perform their medal-winning synchronized swimming routine aboard a cruise ship, but everything goes wrong when the piglets aboard start throwing things at the swimmers--so Gracie enlists the help of famous Rita Sinclair and her dancers to help impose order on the unruly passengers.

In 1969 the Vietnam War protest movement brings together two Minnesota teenagers.

A tragic accident ending with the death of two people her own age changes life forever for an eighteen-year-old woman.

Astronauts have taken the very first steps on the moon, yet Brady Callahan feels anything but hopeful. Her brother, an army private, is missing in Vietnam and she''s stuck at home in Minnesota, worrying about him and not knowing how to make a difference. Two newcomers in her life will help her find her path, though. There''s the outspoken, charismatic Sally, who becomes entangled in a dangerous underground rebellion. Sally challenges Brady''s practical nature and pulls her out of her shell enough to act on her attraction toward Mark, a young Vietnam vet who is as quiet and sensible as Sally is brash and risk-seeking. Through these relationships, Brady will find a way to feel at home in the storm of her troubled times&150to feel hopeful and to claim some happiness for herself. An absorbing picture of the complicated Vietnam War era, Too Big a Storm is also a moving portrait of the healing power of family and friends, and of one exceptional young woman''s self-discovery.

Nineteen-year-old Kelly, ex-addict niece of a nationally-renowned Minnesota talk show host, has an unexpected adventure with the visiting prince of a war-torn Eastern European country.

Seventeen-year-old Arden has been raised by her older brother, Scott, since their parents died when she was just six years old, so when Scott is presumed drowned in a snowmobile accident, Arden is convinced he''s really run away.

Two prominent city residents have been murdered, and Barrie knew both of them. But does she know their killer? The police have connected both victims to her mother''s hair salon, and the obvious focus has become Barrie''s mom and the other stylists, all of whom happen to be convicted killers who met in prison vocational school. Amidst intriguing people whom she can''t quite trust, and forced into living with the mother she can''t forgive, Barrie tries to ignore the uproar by immersing herself in her writing. But when she shares a troubling suspicion with the homicide detective, she suddenly finds herself pulled deeper into a situation that''s growing more frightening every day.

Just before the 1991 Gulf War begins, sixteen-year-old Border Baker moves to a small town with his father, a Vietnam War draft resister.

Unable to decide between two attractive boys, seventeen-year-old Beamer is forced to examine how growing up in a commune in the north woods of Minnesota has shaped her personality.