River Readers

Charlie has a pretty idyllic life even if she doesn't always get the attention she craves. She has an older sister she adores who is away at college.  Her parents are attentive and interested. She has friends and a hobby she loves, Irish dancing. Even though she is afraid of the ice, Charlie goes ice fishing with her friend Drew and his grandma one day. Her world changes when she catches a fish that talks to her and grants a wish for its freedom. When her wish to not be afraid of the ice comes true, Charlie seeks out the fish and more wishes.

Frederick Frederickson is tired of being bullied by his friends and enemies at school. When a hurricane cancels his family's annual Christmas cruise, Frederick is fed up. He ends up in a boat on the river without a motor or a paddle. He comes ashore at a boys' camp for troublesome boys although he doesn't know that is what kind of camp it is at first. They assume he is Dash, a troublesome and infamous delinquent. He is assigned to cabin 13 with Nosebleed, Specs, The Professor, and Ant Bite. Frederick likes camp and the fact that he is not the flea in the food chain of life at there.

Eric Bittle is a freshman on the hockey team at Samwell University. As a former figure skater, Eric loves the ice, but isn't a big fan of checking. Enter Jack, the captain of the team who coaches Bitty in checking and not being afraid on the ice. Jack, Bitty and the other players live in the hockey house together where Bitty feeds them all and shows off his culinary skills, especially his baking of pies. The guys are an awesome group and accept Bitty as his gay self. They become a family as they move through the years of college. 

Ebo has lost his entire family. All he has left is his brother Kwame. So when Kwame leaves Ebo decides to follow. They are finally reunited and work to get enough money for passage to the coast. They have to make their way across the desert to the port city. This is a dangerous journey and very few make it. In the port they have to work for passage on a boat to Europe. Their boat ends up being a dangerous rubber dingy. They quickly run out of food and water and the boat springs a leak. They are lucky enough to be spotted by an overloaded ship heading to Europe as well.

Lana and her father return a village to help her aunt clean up after a storm. Lana discovers a sea horse like creature injured in the storm and takes care of it. From her aunt she learns of a fantastical underwater world where aquicorns and merpeople live. Her aunt used to be friendly with them until Lana's mother was killed in a storm. Lana learns that the people of the underwater world are suffering because the oceans are being polluted and the coral is dying. She has to convince her aunt and the people of the village to change their ways and protect the ocean before it is too late.

The Lumberjanes are out to get their orienteering badge in this forest adventure. Of course things go off course when they discover a mysterious compass that makes them disappear one by one. And of course there are robot butlers. 

Dietrich Bonhoeffer knew he wanted to be a preacher from a young age. He spent his life in pursuit of his faith. His faith was tested when Hitler came to power in Bonhoeffer's beloved Germany. Bonhoeffer watched his people fall under the spell of such evil power and had to reconcile his faith with what was happening around him. His faith led him to become a spy and work towards plots that would end the Nazi regime. While these plots were ultimately unsuccessful, Bonhoeffer never faltered in his faith and his desire for a better Germany. 

This is a good primer on living tiny, but I wanted more details on how to actually do it. I felt like they were trying to sell me on their services on on the products they loved a little too much. I could have also used more pictures of their house. They talked about each component in the text but didn't have pictures for all the areas. There were some good practical tips in here, but it was only partially helpful.

Lorenzo lives on a peach farm with his mom and grandpa (Double). His dad was killed in the military. The family is struggling and mom is always stressed about money. When the pig has a litter they are all sold off. Then the dog Bella also has a litter of puppies and it is discovered that the runt pig was missed. Bella raises Marty as her own and he grows up thinking he is a dog instead of a pig. He is Lorenzo's constant companion but his growing size means he gets into trouble quite a bit. 

Dan Harris is an ABC news anchor who has worked on Nightline and Good Morning America. He has a typical celebrity history with drug abuse, stress, adreneline highs, etc. When he is assigned the religion beat he starts researching different religious practices, which leads him to meditation. Harris finds that meditation and mindfulness leads to a happier life, 10% happier in fact. His practices have their ups and downs but he feels he is closer to being truly happy and more mindful in his daily life. 

Jeremy is a retrieval specialist. He gets things back that have been taken and has a booming business at his school. He has to be careful though because his arch-rival Becca is always looking for an opportunity to catch him. When Jeremy retrieves something that isn't actually stolen he causes huge issues for the school. He has to work with Becca to get it back before things go horribly wrong. 

Norah has spent the last two years battling cancer, but she is healthy now and ready to go back to school. The problem is that while Norah has been sick and homeschooled, her friends have moved on and things have changed. So it is a bit of a relief to be put in 8th grade math and science with a new group of kids who don't know her as the "cancer girl". There is also new boy Griffin to contend with. Norah and Griffin have similar interests and Norah finds herself not telling Griffin about her cancer. He treats her as a normal girl and she wants to keep it that way.

Alice and her mother Ella (real name Vanilla ugh!) have been on the run her entire life. They never stay very long in one place because bad luck always seems to find them. When Ella is kidnapped Alice decides she must find her grandmother's estate Hazel Wood. Grandmother Althea Proserpine is a reclusive author who wrote one book, Tales from the Hinterland. The book has a cult following and is extremely hard to find. Alice has only seen it once and never read it. So she teams up with schoolmate Finch who has read the book to find her mother and the Hazel Wood. 

The Civil War ends when the dead rise up and start eating their fellow soldiers at Gettysburg. Now shamblers are everywhere, but the good folks are fighting back. Slavery has been abolished and the war is over because everyone must focus on surviving. Except everything isn't sunshine and glory. There is an act of Congress that forces all Native and Black people to attend combat schools to fight the shamblers. Of course the white folks don't have to go to these forced boarding schools. The combat schools, like Ms.

Livvy hasn't been to see her grandma in Australia in five years and remembers very little about her first visit. She discovers that the reason she can't remember is Bob, a green not-zombie who has hid in the closet since she left five years ago. Livvy made Bob a chicken costume to hide him from everyone else when she was five, but it appears no one but her can see or hear him.