New Releases by Susan Beth Pfeffer

Winner of the Dorothy Canfield Fisher Award and the Sequoyah Children''s Book Award: To save money for a bike, a young girl becomes a business tycoon Janie is desperate for a new bike, but her parents won''t buy her one unless she can pay for half of it herself. She''s too young to babysit and it''s too late to get a paper route, so Janie decides to open her own business. She calls it Kid Power and promises her customers that there is no problem too big or too small for her to handle—but this budding entrepreneur will soon find that running a company isn''t as easy as it looks. As Janie begins walking dogs, feeding cats, cleaning gutters, and pulling weeds, she gets closer and closer to her bike. But as Kid Power grows bigger than Janie can handle, she learns that there are some problems money can''t solve, and some things even more important than getting a new bike.

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.

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.

After saving a young boy’s life, a girl finds that fame can be a real headache On the last warm day of autumn, Dana and her best friend eat ice cream, gossip, and complain about school. It’s just like any other afternoon until Dana walks home and sees a toddler break away from his mother and sprint into the street. Without thinking, she chases after him, pushing him onto the sidewalk just before a giant blue car would have run them both down. She didn’t mean to do it, but Dana has become a heroine—and her life will never be the same. Saving the boy makes her the darling of the entire town. She gets a story written about her in the paper, praise from strangers—even a beautiful Persian kitten as a gift from the boy’s mother. At first she loves the attention, but she soon learns that being a celebrity brings hardship, too—and a challenge that will require her to show courage in a whole new way.

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.

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.

On their first hiatus from TV''s cool new prime-time series, Bill, Miranda, TJ, Alison, Rafe, and Molly are looking forward to getting back to the real world—but will they ever be normal teenagers again? The first season of Hard Time High is over, and Bill, Miranda, TJ, Alison, Rafe, and Molly have three whole weeks to themselves. It''s back to high school for Bill—no more cramming in homework between takes—and spending quality time with his girlfriend, Calista. After years of acting on the road, Molly can''t wait to share a real Thanksgiving with Miranda and her family in New England. Between a commitment to a holiday parade and a spread for a fashion magazine, Alison won''t have much time for herself. Rafe is taking his parents on an all-expenses-paid trip to Hawaii. And TJ''s headed to Indiana to visit his mom. Then it''s on to New York to meet his East Coast fan club before he strikes out for London and Paris. But it seems that Rafe, Molly, and TJ are keeping major, scandal-worthy secrets. In between reuniting with old friends and doing normal stuff like attending football games, they''re all trying to cope with their new celebrity and wondering what the new season has in store.

A cast member of TV’s number-one show is about to be fired—how will Alison, Bill, TJ, Rafe, Molly, Miranda, and Susie handle the possibility of being unemployed? A bombshell has just been dropped on the cast of TV’s Hard Time High: A major new storyline is being introduced. But it means someone is going to get canned from the show. Former childhood star TJ has lived through this before, when his previous hit TV show was canceled. Used to the steady paycheck after a life on the road, Molly makes a list of her options. Left with a mountain of debt if he gets axed, Rafe’s only hope is the movie he just filmed. If ex–teen beauty queen Alison loses her job, how will she go on supporting her family? After years of commercials and made-for-TV movies, Bill doesn’t want to lose his chance at a real career. Miranda can’t imagine being let go when she’s still learning the acting ropes. And Susie worries that she was only cast in the first place because she’s the producer’s daughter. But one of the seven is going to be kicked off the show. The bigger surprise is what will happen next.

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?

Playing the role of a happy pageant winner is not exactly the acting career Kit had in mind Kit Carson keeps trying to tell people that she didn’t do anything. All she did was put on a bathing suit in front of the judges, and suddenly she’s a beauty contest winner. It’s true that the money will come in handy—new dresses and college educations don’t grow on trees when your mom is a nurse and your dad doesn’t always remember to help out—but all Kit really wants is to try out her dream of being an actress. Not a famous one, just successful enough to have a career in a modest theater and make a living doing what she loves. But now that Kit’s a beauty queen, people seem to expect a lot from her. Above all, they seem to think she should gratefully accept the limited roles she’s being offered, which are mostly those of beautiful, not-too-independent, all-American girls. Between pageant ambitions and romantic interests, Kit gets the sense that there could be plenty of opportunities in her future—as long as she’s willing to play the part.

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.

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?

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?

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.

Sometimes Abby thinks the most important event in her life happened before she was even born Abby''s not dying; in fact she''s perfectly healthy. If she were dead, maybe her father would grieve for her the way he''s still grieving for Johnny, who would have been Abby''s older brother if he hadn''t died when he was only two. Probably not though. The only time her dad even notices her is when he''s pushing her into an Ivy League college. And now that Abby''s oldest sister, Jocelyn, has left for med school, and Jess, the middle sister, has run away to pursue a major in drug and alcohol addiction, her mom is rarely home. Living among strangers, Abby writes letters and makes up imaginary dialogues with a boy that she''s too shy to approach. And she draws up her will over and over, trying to decide who should inherit her teddy bears and who should get all the guilt and recrimination that have accumulated in her family. Left alone—as always—Abby figures her choices are to be physically dead, emotionally dead, or really alive. But living means shaking things up, taking chances, and saying all those things her family would rather keep covered up. It might not end well, but what does she have to lose?

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.

Young Margaret Winslow had beauty and a family name, but inside she felt empty . . . until Nick Sebastian gave her his heart and the strength to stand up for herself The Sebastian women grew up on the story of their parents’ great love—how their mother had been an orphan, raised by a forbidding aunt, and then, contrary to all expectations, danced with the love of her life at her sixteenth birthday party. Her aunt Grace called her Margaret, and her daughters would call her Megs, but to her loving parents and her cherished Nicky, she would always be Daisy. Nicky and Meg’s love never faltered—in sickness and in health, for richer or for poorer, through dingy apartments that Meg always made beautiful, joined by family, stricken by tragedy, through it all: Nicky and Meg had each other, and that was more than enough. This is their love story.

Always the youngest but never the baby, Sibyl sometimes wonders, What good is inner strength if only you know it’s there? Sybil loves Aunt Grace’s dark, old house, even if the upkeep is a burden the Sebastians can’t entirely afford. It feels like home, and after years of surgeries and therapy, all Sybil wants for her sixteenth birthday is to be surrounded by her crazy family in a place of their own. But Evvie’s been keeping a secret, one that puts her at risk, and when the truth finally comes out, it throws the whole family into turmoil as they struggle to face the facts. Sybil may not have Evvie’s charm, Thea’s patience, or Claire’s beauty, but she does have herself: quiet, perceptive, and absolutely determined. When her father, Nicky, declares that he’s found a solution to their troubles, Sybil faces a difficult choice—and her heart tells her there are some betrayals that can never be forgiven.

In this eagerly awaited addition to the series begun with "New York Times" bestseller "Life As We Knew It, " Jon Evans is one of the lucky onesNuntil he realizes that escaping his safe haven may be the only way to truly survive.

Best-selling author, Susan Beth Pfeffer, delivers a riveting companion to Life As We Knew It in this enthralling tale that follows seventeen-year-old Alex Morales as he fights to survive in the aftermath of apocalyptic events in New York City. Alex Morales is an average high schooler focused on his after-school job, helping his dad out with building superintendent responsibilities, and getting good grades so he can make it into an Ivy League college. But when the moon alters its gravitational pull and catastrophic events ensue, everything changes. Now, he has to care for his younger sisters, decide whether it’s ethical to rob the dead, and keep the hope alive that their lost parents will return. Bone-chilling and harrowing, Susan Beth Pfeffer investigates what it takes to survive when the odds are stacked against you in this captivating story about sacrifice and humanity.

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

I guess I always felt even if the world came to an end, McDonald''s still would be open. High school sophomore Miranda''s disbelief turns to fear in a split second when an asteroid knocks the moon closer to Earth, like "one marble hits another." The result is catastrophic. How can her family prepare for the future when worldwide tsunamis are wiping out the coasts, earthquakes are rocking the continents, and volcanic ash is blocking out the sun? 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. Told in a year''s worth of journal entries, this heart-pounding story chronicles Miranda''s struggle to hold on to the most important resource of all--hope--in an increasingly desperate and unfamiliar world. An extraordinary series debut Susan Beth Pfeffer has written several companion novels to Life As We Knew It, including The Dead and the Gone, This World We Live In, and The Shade of the Moon.

In 1923, fourteen-year-old Alicia Martinez is cast in an important silent movie role by her best friend''s father, but near-disasters on the Hollywood set seem to be directed at her, and almost anyone could be responsible.

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

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.

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!

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.

When she refuses to let her friend''s death be called an accident, eleven-year-old Emily, an orphan, encounters the ingrained prejudices of the "best" families in town

When a wealthy aunt offers to adopt one of the March girls, ten-year-old Jo decides the best thing to do is sacrifice herself.