New Releases by Susan Beth Pfeffer

When her best friend’s parents separate, a seventh grader struggles to keep their friendship alive When Carrie and Jill are alone together, they can be anyone in the whole world. Whether they’re pretending to be movie stars, environmental activists, or the leaders of the free world, there is one thing they don’t have to imagine: They are as close as any friends could be. Going into seventh grade, there is a lot that Carrie is afraid of, but she knows Jill will be by her side forever—until, suddenly, she’s not. When Jill’s father announces that he wants a divorce, it puts a distance between the two friends that never used to be there. As Jill’s life falls apart around her, Carrie must find a way to talk to her friend again and save her from a problem that’s anything but make-believe.

An incurable gossip tries to learn how to keep secrets to herself Sometimes Cass just can't help herself. Tell her something personal, even something embarrassing, and before you know it, the whole school will have heard. It's not that Cass doesn't want to keep secrets—she just doesn't know how. After her bad habit lands her in a fight with one of her friends, Cass asks her family for help. Mom proposes a psychological experiment. Every time Cass manages to keep a secret, she'll get a dollar—and a lesson worth far more than that. It's easy at first, but pretty soon Cass is so full of gossip, she feels like she's going to burst. When an earth-shattering secret traps her in the middle of her two best friends, she learns that sometimes it's more important not to keep your mouth shut.

Tending to a veteran's grave leads a boy on a search for his father The battlefield at Gettysburg is a landscape of rolling hills, thickly wooded forests, and monuments to men who died here long ago. When Joey looks at this peaceful landscape, he sees it through the eyes of Joshua Gibbs, a soldier from his hometown who came to Gettysburg to save the Union. Joey comes here with his stepfather hoping to learn more about the soldier whose story has captured his imagination, but he will leave obsessed with another person's history: his own. Joey doesn't know much about his biological father, who left his mother long ago, and he has never been all that curious. But during the trip to Gettysburg, his stepfather announces that he wants to adopt him. This surprising declaration sends Joey on a frantic search for his birth father—a search that uncovers truths even harder to understand than those of Gettysburg, and just as painful as any battle ever fought.

To save her business, a young entrepreneur dreams bigger than ever before When she wanted a new bike, Janie started doing odd jobs around the neighborhood for a dollar an hour. She promised her clients that no job was too big or too small—and Kid Power was born. By the end of the summer, she had regular clients, employees, and a steady stream of income—all the makings of a tiny business empire. But after Labor Day, summer work vanished, and Kid Power was no more. Janie is about to give up on the business when she realizes that there will be snow on the ground soon—snow that needs shoveling. She reinvents Kid Power as a cold-weather company, doing all the winter chores that people will pay her to do. But when the money starts rolling in, so does trouble. Kid Power may be headed for the deep freeze.

After her father moves away, Laurie sends her love by mail The scariest thing Laurie has ever seen is a half-empty house, which she discovered the day her dad moved away. The divorce was a long time coming, but that didn't make it hurt any less. To stay in touch with her father, Laurie's mom forces her to write him a letter each week, keeping him updated on everything from quizzes and tests to parties and boys. At first, the letters are a chore, a painful reminder that Dad isn't around anymore, but with every stamp she licks, Laurie finds herself growing up just a little bit more. This remarkable novel, told entirely through Laurie's letters to her father, is a powerful story of divorce and renewal that proves it's not impossible to love someone from afar.

Alison, Molly, TJ, Miranda, Rafe, and Bill have been on Hard Time High for five months—but real life is a lot more complicated than any TV script could make it seem Things are changing on the set of prime time's new hit series. For starters, the producer's daughter, bratty twelve-year-old Susie Goldstein, now has a role on the show. Sixteen-year-old Alison Blake, a former Miss Young America, has been wowing audiences since she was three . . . and supporting her family on her looks. Now she wants to be judged on her own merits. She gets a welcome reality check when her high school boyfriend, Seth Lewin, shows up on the set and announces he's moving to Los Angeles to be near her. Alison has to fight for the right to date Seth while keeping a secret that could get Molly fired from the show. Seasoned TV veteran Bill Douglas is vice president of his junior class. He wants to have it all—success, celebrity, and love. But his longtime girlfriend, Calista Hasbrouck, doesn't seem to see things his way. They're all on their way to stardom. But will the limelight translate into lasting fame—or leave them with broken dreams?

Robin doesn't want to be perfect, but it would be nice to be more than perfectly average Robin can't believe it: Out of the thousands of girls who applied for the Image magazine summer internships, she's one of only four winners who will be spending the summer in New York City. Robin knows she'll be working hard at the popular teen magazine, but she hopes there will be plenty of time for shopping, eating out, and living the fabulous life. Her excitement is only a little dulled when she hears her cousin Annie got one of the other spots. Robin and Annie used to be close, but now that their mothers compare them to each other all the time, both girls feel like they can't win. So when they meet at their hotel, the cousins agree: All they want is to be themselves and have a perfect summer. Along with their roommates, Ashley and Torey, Robin and Annie dive into their new responsibilities—and into the parties, makeovers, and social lives they've always dreamed of. But while their friendships are getting stronger, life in the public eye is harder than it looks, and all four girls know that only one intern can be chosen for the cover of the special Image issue. Will Robin's dream of the perfect summer survive reality?

Miranda, Molly, Alison, TJ, Bill, and Rafe are becoming stars on TV’s biggest show, but with fame come responsibilities . . . Can they really have it all? Miranda is celebrating her seventeenth birthday. She can’t believe it’s been a whole year since she was cast in Hard Time High. Now she just got her own car and may finally get out from under the thumb of her family. But does she really want to move in with her costar Molly and her mother—especially since she and Molly aren’t on great terms at the moment? Miranda’s personal life starts looking up when she agrees to go on a blind date with Adam, who has a crush on the character Miranda plays on the show. The Los Angeles University senior is tall, dark, and totally un-California. And with Alison offered the chance to move beyond her beauty-queen looks as cohost of a teen talk show, Rafe wrapping a movie, and TJ’s fan base growing, it looks like they’re all getting ready for the next big thing. Will the upcoming season bring them the fame and happiness they’ve been searching for?

Leigh trades in her acting career to play a starring role in her own life Most people don't get to retire at age sixteen, but that's what Leigh is planning to do when she moves to Long Island to live with her mom and her new stepfather. Leigh has been acting all her life, most recently on a successful TV show, and she can't wait to be the kind of normal high school student she's only ever played on screen. For advice on playing the role of a normal teenager, Leigh turns to her new stepbrother, Peter. Peter has hemophilia, a medical condition that has kept him out of school for a while—but missing out on high school life has given him a good eye for what normal looks like. Together, they figure two outsiders can create one socially successful high school student. They might even be right. Peter is smart, wryly funny, and a good friend when he's not being a bad invalid. And Leigh knows she can do it—after all, acting is what she's good at. But the thing about acting is that at the end of the day you get to go back to being yourself, a luxury Leigh starts to think she might not have appreciated enough when she had it.

The darker the truth, the deeper you hide it—but what happens when you can't hide anymore? Innocence, I guess, is not my image. Sixteen-year-old Iris knows that between her bohemian playwright father who lives off the grid in the New Mexican desert and her mother, to whom getting married (but not staying married) is a full-time job, she's led an unorthodox life, which hasn't left with her with a lot of childhood illusions. So it's no surprise when her mom sends her to spend the summer with her aunt, uncle, and cousin. Iris's younger cousin Caryn is different. She's only fourteen, and much more sheltered. Aunt Elaine hopes that Iris will be good company for Caryn, and when the girls meet an appealing young man at the pool and all three become friends, it seems her plan just might be working. But for Iris, making things work means keeping secrets from Caryn. If Iris can't pretend to be someone she isn't all summer long, will she still be all right?

The truth isn't the most comfortable choice, but it's the only one with any future Sloan Fredericks can still remember the weeks she spent in the hospital when she was nine, the only survivor of the accident that killed her parents and little brother. Now she lives with her grandmother in the kind of grand old house you'd expect from a family known for both their wealth and their political prowess. It's also the kind of house that has a music room, which is where Sloan goes searching for a little peace and quiet during her gran's annual party, until an older man with a important reputation corners her long enough to say some things that Sloan doesn't want to hear. She quickly brushes past him, hoping that no one saw them. But someone did—one of Sloan's own friends—who confesses that the man did the same thing to her, only much, much worse. Although meant to be private, the confession doesn't stay that way, and soon the secret is all anyone can talk about. Can the truth save their family, or will it just dig up even uglier secrets?

When Paula falls for the bad boy down the street, what she thought would be a silly summer romance becomes anything but It's Paula's last summer at home, and in need of an affectionate distraction, she decides now is the perfect time to get involved with one of the two brothers from down the road, Jonny and Jordon. But which one? Likable, well-mannered Jonny? Or Jordon, who's been kicked out of every school that would take him and who tells her up front that he wants her to have to choose—and wants her to choose him? Who can say no to a bad boy? Underneath it all, Paula knows Jordon is the kind and gentle person she's falling in love with—something his parents can't, or won't, see. And better yet, Jordon says he loves her back and promises to always be honest with her. But sometimes the truth isn't what we want to hear . . .

When Melodie’s glamorous parents split up, all she needs is a friend—but can Elaine be there for her? Elaine Zuckerman’s parents are definitely not glamorous—her dad does something boring with computer chips, and her mom is a dentist whose office is in their house. They’re nothing like her friend Melodie’s family. Melodie’s mom, Constance King, is a beautiful Broadway star, and her dad, Trevor Ashford, has a thrilling British accent. Even Melodie’s name is glamorous! And Elaine would trade her oblivious older brothers for Melodie’s little sister in a heartbeat. But glamour won’t keep Constance and Trevor’s marriage together or make them stop fighting in front of their daughters. And Elaine isn’t sure how to help the friend who’s always had everything, especially when the Zuckermans get caught in the middle. What will it take for Melodie’s parents to behave like the grown-ups they’re supposed to be?

You can buy a lot of things with enough money, but you can’t buy the truth After Val skips one Sunday dinner with her cousin Michelle’s family, everything changes. Val and Michelle’s fathers aren’t getting along, and she just wanted to avoid the tension that she knew would be on the menu. Val’s mom died of cancer two years ago, and now her father’s love and her mother’s memory are all she has. But Michelle can’t let it go, and in her anger she drops a bombshell: “You’re not really family. You don’t really count.” Is it true? How come no one—not her teachers, not her classmates, not their parents—seems surprised? Other kids at school are adopted; it’s not a secret. So why hasn’t anyone told Val? Slowly Val starts to see that things are different for her. Other kids don’t have bodyguards or a dad who gives them whatever they want with his piles of money. Up till now, Val has repaid her father’s love by being the obedient daughter he expects, but now she needs something else: She needs the truth.

Sometimes you just have to pack a suitcase and walk out the door Marly knows her older sister, Kit, is tall, beautiful, and outspoken—everything Marly isn't. But does everyone have to remind her of it all the time? Since her parents' divorce, her mom hasn't had a single nice thing to say—and even if she did, she's always working. So Marly packs her bags and catches the bus to stay with her dad. She knows he'll want her, and hopefully his new wife will too. Ed and Sally are surprised to find Marly on their doorstep but excited to take her in and become a family. They cook together and laugh together, and no one ever shouts at anyone else, a big difference from Marly's life with her mom. Marly has kept quiet up until now, which has given her a reputation for being well behaved. But once she starts getting used to being treated like an actual person, she begins talking about what's important to her. She may not be able to stop—and she may not want to.

"The right thing never just happens; you have to make it happen." Morgan knows her parents left her in boarding school so they could travel the world, which is why hardly anything changes when they're killed in an accident during her freshman year at Fairfield. But every orphan needs a guardian, and Morgan's is her uncle Tom, a famous and somewhat eccentric author. Tom's New York City apartment has plenty of space for Morgan, and her room is the nicest one she's ever seen, but her uncle, uncomfortable suddenly raising a fourteen-year-old girl, seems distant and preoccupied. Alone in an unfamiliar world, Morgan imagines what her school roommate, the popular and sarcastic Trinck, would think of everything. Would she approve of Morgan's newly discovered love of reading or the friends she makes in New York? Slowly, Morgan makes a place for herself that is all her own and reflects on the person she is becoming—whether Trinck would like it or not.

There’s nothing wrong with lying—until the truth comes out For her sixteenth birthday, Evvie Sebastian got her own room—a room she doesn’t have to share with her three sisters. There’s only one problem: It’s a dump, just like the rest of the family’s new house. Evvie has hardly moved in when her dad, Nicky, asks her to spend the summer at the seaside with her great-aunt Grace, who’s had a bad fall and needs cheering up—and who is snobbish, ill tempered, and very, very rich. Evvie reluctantly agrees. When she arrives at Eastgate, she finds Aunt Grace just as fierce as she remembered, but she has to admit that the place has some redeeming qualities. Like the handsome and charming Schyler Hughes . . . and Sam Steinmetz, who works in the town bookstore and makes smart jokes about the local culture of conformity. But it’s not all romantic sailing trips and walks on the beach. Evvie soon finds that some people like to tell old stories and share old secrets a little too much—and some of those secrets may hit closer to home than Evvie expected.

When Claire fears her family might be falling apart, she knows she’ll have to fight her own battles—and she plans to win Always the beauty of the family and often the most ambitious, Claire Sebastian doesn’t feel sixteen, and she doesn’t dream of romance—she dreams of diamonds. Diamonds and emeralds and anything else that will pay for the best doctors to treat her sister Sybil, now an invalid after a terrible accident. Claire knows that her cheekbones and charm are her best assets, but she’ll also need a shrewd strategy if she’s going to save her family from their financial troubles. And she’s on her own: Her parents, Nicky and Megs, are completely wrapped up in Sybil’s recovery, and Claire’s sisters just aren’t as ruthless as she is. A visit with Aunt Grace and a chance look at an old photograph give Claire the ammunition she needs to pull off her plan. But as it starts to unfold, she realizes that people are going to get hurt . . . and one of them may be her.

The eagerly awaited addition to the series begun with the New York Times best-seller Life As We Knew It, in which a meteor knocks the moon off its orbit and the world changes forever. It's been more than two years since Jon Evans and his family left Pennsylvania, hoping to find a safe place to live, yet Jon remains haunted by the deaths of those he loved. His prowess on a soccer field has guaranteed him a home in a well-protected enclave. But Jon is painfully aware that a missed goal, a careless word, even falling in love, can put his life and the lives of his mother, his sister Miranda, and her husband, Alex, in jeopardy. Can Jon risk doing what is right in a world gone so terribly wrong?

Willa seems to have a perfect life as a member of a loving blended family until the estranged father she barely remembers murders his wife and children, then heads toward Willa and her mother.

The highly anticipated follow-up to Life As We Knew It and The Dead and the Gone

New York Times bestseller! A heart-stopping post-apocalyptic thriller that's "absorbing from first to last page."* When a meteor knocks the moon closer to earth, Miranda, a high school sophomore, takes shelter with her family. Told in a year’s worth of journal entries, Life as We Knew It chronicles the human struggle to hold on to the most important resource of all—hope—in an increasingly desperate and unfamiliar world. As August turns dark and wintery in northeastern Pennsylvania, Miranda, her two brothers, and their mother retreat to the unexpected safe haven of their sunroom, where they subsist on stockpiled food and limited water in the warmth of a wood-burning stove. I guess I always felt even if the world came to an end, McDonald’s still would be open. Like one marble hitting another, when the moon slams closer to earth, the result is catastrophic. Worldwide tsunamis wipe out the coasts, earthquakes rock the continents, and volcanic ash blocks out the sun. Life as We Know It is an extraordinary series debut. The companion novels are: The Dead and the Gone, This World We Live In, and The Shade of the Moon. (*Publishers Weekly, starred review)

In 1923, Alicia Martinez is thrilled to be cast in an epic film being produced in Hollywood by her best friend¿s father, but then mysterious events occur that threaten the completion of the movie as well as her safety. Includes black and white photographs and an author profile.

Relates ten-year-old Beth's exciting trip to pre-Civil War New York City with Marmee and Father.

Each of the March sisters tries to spend her tenth birthday in her own special way, and learns that growing up sometimes means putting others first.

In a heavily illustrated, scrapbook format, readers will learn about the real-life people behind the beloved book characters they've come to know. From Christopher Robin and Peter Rabbit to Peter Pan's Lost Boys and Alice in Wonderland, award-winning author Susan Beth Pfeffer explores the real lives of the real people who inspired the creation of literature's greatest characters. There are even a few surprises about Mother Goose!

Amy encourages the attentions of Robert, a well-to-do classmate, but when he surprises her with an expensive gift, she must face her true feelings.

When Meg receives a bolt of exquisite lace to be used on her wedding day, she struggles to safeguard it from her covetous sister Jo.

Exuberant Jo March never sits still. Whether she's racing against boys or scribbling and acting in her latest play, Jo is always active and creative. So when Aunt March asks her to befriend Pauline Wheeler, Jo can't believe that the girl spends every day cooped up in her bedroom. True, Pauline is blind and utterly dependent on her governess, but her fear of life exhausts Jo's patience. The two girls simply have nothing in common--until they're caught in a snow squall that changes their lives.