Scholastic Book Fairs Podcast

Railroad Hank is headed up the mountain in his fine little train to see Granny Bett. She's feeling kind of blue. Along the way, he stops to talk to Missy May, Country Carl, Cinnamon Cobbler, and Reel-'Em-In Sam. Each friend offers up something to cheer Granny Bett, but Hank has bigger ideas. By the time he reaches the mountaintop, his train is bursting with crazy cargo - and Granny Bett has a great idea for what to do with it all.

The Duck says a lot of things - some of them silly, some of them wise, and all of them a lot of fun! Get ready for a high-speed chase with a chatty duck who leaves a trail of disaster everywhere he goes. Kids will laugh out loud at Duck's clueless antics and witty wordplay in this romp around the farmyard.

Dani's life will never be the same again. After a terrorist attack kills her aunt and unborn cousin, life in Argentina - private school, a boyfriend, a loving family - crumbles quickly. In order to escape a country that is sinking under their feet, Dani and her family move to the United States. It's supposed to be a fresh start, but when you're living in a cramped apartment and going to high school where all the classes are in another language, and not everyone is friendly, life in America is not all it's cracked up to be.

Dr. Kitty Cat is a talented vet - and an adorable cat. She's ready to rescue whenever help is needed. When a call comes in that Posy the puppy has hurt her leg at the Paws and Prizes field day, Dr. Kitty Cat rushes to the scene. Without Dr. Kitty Cat's help, Posy will be disqualified! Supercute photographs of real puppies and kittens combine with hand-drawn purple line art for a completely unique look.

When Charlie's brother, Joe, is called up to fight in World War II, he promises to write Charlie lots and lots of letters. It won't make up for not being there to help Charlie out with the neighborhood bullies, but it's all Joe can do. Life is tough for a soldier, and Joe tells Charlie all about it, from training in endless rain and mud to the stray dog the soldiers adopt. Charlie knew his brother was strong, but through Joe's letters he learns what Joe really is: a true hero. Joe's letters give Charlie the strength to stand up for himself and be brave, just like his brother.

In the Okefenokee Swamp grows a rare and beautiful flower with a power unlike any other. Many have tried to claim it. No one has come out alive. But fourteen-year-old Piper Canfield is desperate, and this flower may be her only chance to keep a promise she made a long time ago. Accompanied by her little brother Creeper, her friend Tad, and two local guides, Piper embarks on the quest of a lifetime. But there's a deadly predator lurking unseen in the black water, one nearly as old as the Oke itself. Some say it's a monster. Others say an evil spirit. The truth is far more terrifying. Piper's task is simple: find the flower… or die trying.

When Annie spots a dolphin trapped in fishing line in the cove near her house, she rushes to free him. Everyone cheers when she returns to shore, but only Annie knows that she and the dolphin have forged a special bond. He's become her friend, and keeps returning to the cove to visit and play! Meanwhile, out of the water, nothing is going right. Annie's best friend, Emma, has changed and keeps ditching her to hang out with snobby Morgan. At home, Annie's busy parents barely seem to have time for her, and she's stuck with her hyper younger brother always tagging along. Then a misunderstanding with Morgan makes things even worse and ultimately leaves Annie alone and in danger. Can her dolphin help her when she needs it most?

Little ballerinas have big dreams. Dreams of pirouettes and grande jetes, dreams of attending the best ballet schools and of dancing starring roles on stage. But in Harlem in the 1950s, dreams don’t always come true - they take a lot of work and a lot of hope. And sometimes hope is hard to come by. However, the first African-American prima ballerina, Janet Collins, did make her dreams come true. And those dreams inspired ballerinas everywhere, showing them that the color of their skin couldn’t stop them from becoming a star. In a lyrical tale as beautiful as a dance en pointe, this is the story of one little ballerina who was inspired by Janet Collins to make her own dreams come true.

Having lost most of his family to coal mining accidents as a little boy, Curley Hines lives with his grandfather in the Appalachian Mountains of Wonder Gap, Kentucky. Ever since Curley can remember, Papaw has been giving him a word each week to learn and live. Papaw says words are Curley's way out of the holler, even though Curley has no intention of ever leaving. When a new coal boss takes over the local mining company, life as Curley knows it is turned upside down. Suddenly, his best friend Jules is interested in the coal boss's son, and worse, the mining company threatens to destroy Curley and Papaw's mountain. Now Curley faces a difficult choice. Does he use his words to speak out against Big Coal and save his mountain, or does he remain silent and save his way of life?

Bruce the bear likes to keep to himself. That, and eat eggs. But when his hard-boiled goose eggs turn out to be real live goslings, he starts to lose his appetite. And even worse, the goslings are convinced he's their mother. Bruce tries to get the geese to go south, but he can't seem to rid himself of his new companions. What's a bear to do?

Join Blackbeard Johnson, Eyepatch Sue, Cap'n Gunderboom, Peg Leg Jones, and more as they set their sails for a rousing pirate adventure! They arrive on their pirate ships, plunder treasure, topple a table, and fire cannons during the pirate jamboree. The pirate adventures come to a close when the S.S. CLEAN YOUR ROOM arrives and playtime is over, but ahoy - tomorrow will bring another day, another tale, another pirate jamboree!

Joe and Ravi might be from very different places, but they're both stuck in the same place: school. Joe's lived in the same town all his life, and was doing just fine until his best friends moved away and left him on his own. Ravi's family just moved to America from India, and he's finding it pretty hard to figure out where he fits in. Joe and Ravi don't think they have anything in common, but soon enough they have a common enemy (the biggest bully in their class) and a common mission: to take control of their lives over the course of a single crazy week.

It started as an assignment. Everyone in Caitlin's class wrote to an unknown student somewhere in a distant place. Martin was lucky to even receive a pen-pal letter: there were only ten letters and forty kids in his class. But he was the top student, so he got the first one.That letter was the beginning of a correspondence that spanned six years and changed two lives. In this compelling dual memoir, Caitlin and Martin recount how they became best friends --and better people--through their long-distance exchange. Their story will inspire readers to look beyond their own life and wonder about the world at large and their place in it.

Callum Hunt’s summer break isn’t like other kids’. His closest companion is a Chaos-ridden wolf, Havoc. His father suspects him of being secretly evil. And, of course, most kids aren’t heading back to the magical world of the Magisterium in the fall. It’s not easy for Call, and it gets even harder after he checks out his basement and discovers that his dad might be trying to destroy both him and Havoc. Call escapes to the Magisterium, but things only intensify there. The Alkahest - a copper gauntlet capable of separating certain magicians from their magic - has been stolen. And in their search to discover the culprit, Call and his friends Aaron and Tamara awaken the attention of some very dangerous foes - and get closer to an even more dangerous truth. Bestselling authors Holly Black and Cassandra Clare take readers on an extraordinary journey through one boy’s conflict - and a whole world’s fate.

Welcome to Fortune Falls, a magical town where superstitions are real. Four-leaf clovers really do bring good fortune, and owning a rabbit's foot is the secret to success. However, there aren't enough charms in the universe to help Sadie Bleeker. She can't pass a ladder without walking under it, and black cats won't leave her alone. That's because Sadie is an Unlucky. And things will only get worse as she gets older, which is why Unluckies are sent away at age twelve to protect those around them. Sadie can't stand the thought of leaving home, so she and her friend Cooper devise a plan to reverse her bad luck. But when their scheme accidentally results in a broken mirror, the situation turns dire. Can a girl who's never so much as found a single lucky penny change her fortune? Or will she be forced to celebrate her twelfth birthday by saying farewell to everyone she loves?

Deep beneath the city live five extraordinary kids: world-famous hacker Jack, gadget geek Charlie, free runner Slink, communications chief Obi, and decoy expert Wren. Orphans bonded over their shared sense of justice, the kids have formed the Urban Outlaws, a group dedicated to outsmarting criminals and handing out their stolen money through Random Acts of Kindness (R.A.K.s). But the kids find themselves in serious trouble when they're caught in an epic battle to control Proteus, a genius super-computer. Proteus can crack any code in the world - and steal top-secret documents in nanoseconds. It's down to the Urban Outlaws to use their guile, guts, and skill to destroy the computer, avert world domination… and stay alive.

Penelope (Peppi) Torres, a shy new transfer student, wants nothing more than to fit in and find a place among her fellow artistically inclined souls. The last thing she wants is to stand out. So when she bumps - literally - into quiet, geeky, friendly but friendless Jamie Thompson and is teased as the "Nerder's Girlfriend," Peppi's first embarrassed instinct is to push him away and run. Though she later feels guilty and wants desperately to apologize for the incident, Peppi always ends up chickening out. And when they find themselves on opposite ends of a school challenge, things just become more and more… awkward! Will these two opposites ever see eye-to-eye, let alone become friends?

Enter the halls of Ducard Academy in Gotham City, where a young Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman start their very own Junior Detective Agency! Young Bruce Wayne is the new kid at Ducard Academy, a prep school for gifted middle school students. Bruce learns quickly something is different. The faculty seems to encourage villainous behavior from its students. He makes friends with two other outsiders, Clark Kent and the regal Diana Prince. The three band together to find out why all of these extraordinary kids have been brought together. They'll try their best to solve their case, but just because you're faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, or an Amazonian princess, it doesn't mean you get to stay up past eleven.

When Lily's blind dog, Lucky, slips his collar and runs away across the wide-open blueberry barrens of eastern Maine, it's Salma Santiago who manages to catch him. Salma, the daughter of migrant workers, is in the small town with her family for the blueberry-picking season. After their initial chance meeting, Salma and Lily bond over painting bee boxes for Lily's grandfather, and Salma's friendship transforms Lily's summer. But when Salma decides to run in the upcoming Blueberry Queen pageant, they'll have to face some tough truths about friendship and belonging. Should an outsider like Salma really participate in the pageant - and possibly win?

Jeremiah is the world’s biggest baseball fan. He really loves baseball and he knows just about everything there is to know about his favorite sport. So when he’s told he can’t play baseball following an operation on his heart, Jeremiah decides he’ll do the next best thing and become a coach. Hillcrest, where Jeremiah and his father Walt have just moved, is a town known for its championship baseball team. But Jeremiah finds the town caught up in a scandal and about ready to give up on baseball. It’s up to Jeremiah and his can-do spirit to get the town, and the team, back in the game.