New Releases by Priscilla Cummings

Chadwick the Crab is back You''re invited to explore a variety of puzzles, mazes, and coloring pages that will encourage you to draw or use stickers to create a Chesapeake Bay scene, learn about things that don''t belong in the bay, and discover some fun facts along the way. This is so much more than a coloring book. It''s the Chadwick the Crab Chesapeake Bay Academy, and all are welcome

Chadwick the Crab and his friends--Bernie the Seagull, Hector Spector Jellyfish, Baron von Heron, Toulouse the Canada Goose, and Matilda Egret, to name a few--live in the Chesapeake Bay and share many adventures. Snuggle up with your youngest "readers" and introduce them to the Bay''s most endearing crab and his buddies with fun rhymes and flaps that lift to reveal who''s who. This delightful board book will increase language and identification skills, along with developing small motor skills and hand-eye coordination.

High school freshman Kate has a lot on her mind, what with taking care of her heartbroken mother and looking after the family chicken farm in Maryland, but she promised her dying father to look after her older brother who is just back from juvenile detention--and this year that seems to involve paying off the bullies at school by doing their school work.

A teenage boy faces his past and seeks redemption in the gripping companion book to Red Kayak Nine months in a juvenile detention facility was the punishment for his crime. After just a month he makes a bold escape that nearly kills him and soon an angry fourteen-year-old Digger is on the run. When injuries stop him, Digger hides at a riverside campground, where he befriends a young boy and a girl his own age. New friends, a job caring for rescued horses, and risking his life to save another make Digger realize that the journey back is not just about getting home. But he come to terms with his troubled past and face what he''s really running from?

Ages 5 to 8 years. Chadwick the Crab and Bernie the Sea Gull are worried that they are going to lose a good friend forever. Hester, a Delmarva fox squirrel, has discovered a book telling her she is on the endangered species list. Not only that, a mysterious monster is lurking around Shady Creek. All this happens just when Chadwick and Esmerelda are getting ready to welcome their family home.

Fourteen-year-old Natalie O''Reilly''s world is turned upside down with the news that she will soon go blind. As if this weren''t shocking enough, she is forced to face the fact that she must now attend a school for the blind to learn Braille and how to use a cane. As Natalie tackles the skills that will help her to survive in a sighted world, she inwardly hopes for a miracle that will save her sight. But will that miracle come, or will she need to learn to embrace her new life?

Cuddle with the Chadwick the Crab plush toy as you read one of the nine books from the Chadwick series by Priscilla Cummings! First published in 1986, Chadwick the Crab introduces young readers to this charismatic crustacean and a host of other Chesapeake Bay wildlife friends as they learn how to fight pollution in the bay, pursue their dreams, and become better friends. Praise for Chadwick the Crab... "Move aside, Babar, Paddington, Pooh-Bear...make room for Chadwick." --Attraction

A blue crab is getting married in this rhyming story, and discovers the scope of his love after his bride disappears. Wedding shells are ringing! Chadwick the Crab is getting married, and everyone is preparing for the big event! Esmerelda is choosing her bridesmaids. Baron von Heron is writing the ceremony (in rhyme, of course). Toulouse, the gourmet goose, is baking a corn and eelgrass cake. Then Chadwick begins to have second thoughts about marriage, and as if that weren''t bad enough, Esmerelda disappears! Suddenly, the wedding is off and the search is on. Only then does Chadwick realize how much he loves the prettiest girl crab in all of Shady Creek.

Rhyming text identifies items of every color of the rainbow found in or near the Chesapeake Bay.

In Chesapeake 1-2-3, companion book to Chesapeake ABC, the bay comes alive for preschoolers and toddlers learning to count. Pages and scenes grow more crowded as readers approach "ten," then see all the numbers once again. One girl went out to fish; two ospreys fly up high; three sails are on each boat; learn to count--the Chesapeake Way! This book will delight youngsters with its clever rhymes and whimsical drawings. Picture book-ages 0-6.

A crab leaves his home at the National Aquarium in Baltimore to help clean up the pollution in the Chesapeake Bay which is threatening the lives of his animal friends.

Brady loves life on the Chesapeake Bay with his friends J.T. and Digger. But developers and rich families are moving into the area, and while Brady befriends some of them, like the DiAngelos, his parents and friends are bitter about the changes. Tragedy strikes when the DiAngelos’ kayak overturns in the bay, and Brady wonders if it was more than an accident. Soon, Brady discovers the terrible truth behind the kayak’s sinking, and it will change the lives of those he loves forever. Priscilla Cummings deftly weaves a suspenseful tale of three teenagers caught in a wicked web of deception.

An underwater holiday adventure with a surprise visit from Santa

Three junior high school girls accuse their music teacher of inappropriate actions. The story is told through the eyes of one of the accusers, Claire, who lives in the shadow of a disabled younger brother, and the teacher’s daughter Melody. Interwoven in the story are the problems the three accusers face in their own lives and the work Melody does at a horse farm where she helps disabled children – one of whom turns out to be Claire’s brother.

After a catastrophic automobile accident, twelve-year-old Kelley wakes up to find her face and body severely burned. To recover, she must suffer through skin-graft operations, painful dressings, and hand exercises that seem akin to torture. Worst of all, she must wear a plastic mask so that her facial skin won''t grow back puffy and hard. How will she ever face the world again?

Priscilla Cummings''s Chadwick the Crab series has been a staple of Chesapeake juvenile literature for more than a decade. Now Ms. Cummings turns her hand to another classic genre -- the ABC book -- this one with a Chesapeake regional flavor. From "A is for anchor" to "Z is for a zephyr, " the sights, sounds, and feel of the Bay area come through to the youngest of readers, the picture book set. This is a perfect way to introduce toddlers and preschoolers to the wonders of the alphabet and at the same time instill in them a love of the Chesapeake. Whimsical drawings by David Aiken illustrate the verses about Chesapeake animals and things: C is for a crab, For its claw, and for a creek. You''ll find them in the Bay We call the Chesapeake.

Introduces Chadwick, a blue crab, and his various animal friends who live in and near the Chesapeake Bay.

When his family comes to live on his grandfather''s farm in Pennsylvania while his father is out of work, eleven-year-old Will must deal with his father''s distant behavior, his grandfather''s heart attack, and caring for a goose he has shot.

On his first fall migration to Maryland, a Canada goose becomes separated from his family and finds his way south in the company of a snow goose who becomes a special, lifelong friend.

Here is the story of a great blue heron, with a great big problem. Oswald can''t straighten his long neck into the up position. When Oswald''s turn comes to guard the marsh, he''s unable to see over the tall grass, so he turns to his favorite pastime and is happily reading a book about weather when a fox nearly nabs his cousin Ophelia. Poor Oswald is banished to a far corner of Shady Creek. There he meets some friendly little birds, the timberdoodles, who recognized his special talent: forecasting the weather. Only after Oswald''s timely warning about a tornado do the other herons finally accept, and cherish, Oswald for who he is.