Franklin Delano Donuthead, star of Sue Stauffacher's Donuthead, is back and life continues to throw him lots of curveballs: he's now in sixth grade which means it's time for middle school, with all of its related terrors. He has to avoid whipping pony tails in the hallways, he's forced to use school bathrooms, with eighth graders, his life science teacher makes him blush like a tomato, his beloved Glynnis Powell may be moving ahead of him socially, his mother has a boyfriend, and his unlikely best friend, Sarah Kervick, once again needs more help than he thinks he can manage on his own. But thanks to his tough but kindhearted mother, the tough but kindhearted Gloria Nelots, and a little growing self-awareness, Franklin manages what it takes to pull Sarah out of another rough situation. Sue Stauffacher has crafted another laugh-out-loud middle grade novel about Franklin and Sarah that once again overflows with Franklin's distinctive voice, a touching plot, wholly original characters, and a little Mercurochrome for good measure.

Usually preoccupied with his own concerns about hygiene and safety, and with his crush on Glynnis, sixth-grader Franklin Delano Donuthead finds that he is unaccountably worried about his mother's feelings and his friend Sarah's difficult home life.

Franklin Delano Donuthead is a fifth grader with a lot of problems: For starters, his last name is Donuthead. He considers himself handicapped because one arm and leg are shorter than the other (by less than half an inch), his mother is trying to poison him with non-organic foods (like salami), he doesn’t have a father, and Sarah Kervick, the new girl, who’s mean and totally unhygienic, is attached to him, warts and all, like glue. This is a hilarious and touching novel featuring a neurotic, scared boy and a tougher-than-nails girl who each help the other in more ways than they can imagine. Sue Stauffacher has crafted characters full of wit and sensitivity, with a little anti-bacterial soap thrown in for good measure.

Harry Sue Clotkin is tough. Her mom's in the slammer and she wants to get there too, as fast as possible, so they can be together. But it's not so easy to become a juvenile delinquent when you've got a tender heart. Harry Sue's got her hands full caring for the crumb-snatchers who take up her afternoons at the day care center, and spending time with her best friend Homer, a quadriplegic who sees life from a skylight in the roof of his tree house. When Harry Sue finds an unlikely confidante in her new art teacher, her ambitions toward a life of crime are sidelined as she comes to a deeper understanding about her past--and future. Sue Stauffacher has once again crafted a fast-paced middle-grade novel filled with quirky but lovable characters, a narrator impossible to ignore, a completely original plot, and a whole lot of redemption.

When Tillie Anderson came to America, all she had was a needle. So she got herself a job in a tailor shop and waited for a dream to find her. One day, a man sped by on a bicycle. She was told "bicycles aren't for ladies," but from then on, Tillie dreamed of riding—not graceful figure eights, but speedy, scorching, racy riding! And she knew that couldn't be done in a fancy lady's dress. . . . With arduous training and her (shocking!) new clothes, Tillie became the women's bicycle-riding champion of the world. Sue Stauffacher's lively text and Sarah McMenemy's charming illustrations capture the energy of America's bicycle craze and tell the story of one woman who wouldn't let society's expectations stop her from achieving her dream.

Donut shop owner Suzanne Hart knows how to treat her customers. But sometimes life can get a bit sticky. When a spat she has with a local blacksmith—one that could have been solved with a handshake and a mixed dozen—ends with his murder, Suzanne is caught dead in her tracks. Suddenly everyone in April Springs has their eyes on her. And they're hungry with suspicion. Left with little choice but to catch the killer herself, Suzanne starts lining up suspects. But her case is full of holes. How did the killer strike in the middle of the day without a single witness to the crime? Who knew that the humble blacksmith was actually an heir to a family fortune? The heat is on as Suzanne tries to solve the case and save her business. Can she have her cake-donut and eat it too?

Greg records his sixth grade experiences in a middle school where he and his best friend, Rowley, undersized weaklings amid boys who need to shave twice daily, hope just to survive, but when Rowley grows more popular, Greg must take drastic measures to save their friendship.

An orphan grapples with her unpleasant aunt and the even more unpleasant ideaof moving to Boston in this poignant middle-grade debut that handles loss andrenewal.

Keisha and her family are just sitting down to Saturday-morning breakfast when the phone rings. Uh-oh! There seems to be a skunk at the community garden, and it's dug a hole under the shed. At the same time, Mr. Sanders can't deliver the mail to a certain house: crows keep dive-bombing him when he gets near the mailbox. Time for the Animal Rescue Team to spring into action! This time they've got two mysteries to solve: What could crows have against mail delivery? And what really dug that hole at the community garden--as Mama knows, it's too big to have been dug by a skunk. Once again, it'll take the whole team, along with help from some new friends, to sort out what, and who, is creating all this mayhem around town. Sue Stauffacher turns to her first series effort with Animal Rescue Team. With compelling plots based on actual events in her community, Sue has created a lovable cast of characters of boys and girls, kids and adults, who feel like people you'd meet at your neighborhood block party. Written in an accessible and engaging style meant to appeal to independent readers looking to be excited and entertained, and with subplots about friendship, siblings, the environment, and animal conservation, along with plenty of humor, these will be a hit with teachers and librarians, and parents, as well as kids themselves.

Eleven-year-old Cassidy has just inherited a gift from her late great-grandmother. Unfortunately, that “gift” turns out to be a summer trapped in etiquette school. What good are manners, anyway, for a girl who dreams of living life on the road as a hobo—er, “knight of the road”? As if trying to remember to keep her elbows off the table isn’t bad enough, Cassidy’s best friend, Jack, suddenly seems more interested in doing chores for the new teenage girl who’s moved in next door than in fishing with Cassidy down by the river. Not even her classic epic pranks seem to be saving Cassidy from having her worst summer ever. It’s time to face facts: growing up stinks. Veteran middle-grade author Sue Stauffacher returns with a cranky, pranky, laugh-out-loud tomboy heroine who might just learn the hard way that manners do matter, and that people can change.