Clayton Trutor examines how Atlanta’s pursuit of the big leagues invented business-as-usual in the business of professional sports.

A warm welcome isn't what greets the Smartuss family in their new hometown of Loserville. Trying to fit in, the family encounters shady characters in a series of avoidable and humorous misfortunes leading them to challenge their situation in a court battle. The family uncovers secret documents, finding thus a false hope of overcoming bankruptcy and ending the streak of bad luck once and for all.

Is being famous the key to living the life of your (tween) dreams? Find out in this modern-day fairy tale from #1 New York Times bestselling author Alyson Noël! Seventh-grade girls like guys who are cool. And Nick Dashaway . . . is not cool. When Nick makes a wish after the epic disaster that was the Greentree Middle School Talent Show, he doesn't actually think it's going to come true. But it does. Soon he has a whole new life--he's rich, he's popular, and girls laugh at all his jokes. He's famous. But when he begins to miss parts of his old life, is it too late to get it back? *** “A Hollywood blockbuster waiting to happen.”—Booklist "Perfect for readers wondering what their dream life would be like."—SLJ

Luke's best friend Derek participates in a reality show hosted by a self-proclaimed mediator between parents and America's young men, those "hard-wired, self-centered, disrespectful, atheistic, sex-crazed, indulgent bunch of losers."

In this highly-illustrated series from James Patterson, an extraordinary robot signs up for an ordinary fifth grade class . . . and elementary school will never be the same! It was never easy for Sammy Hayes-Rodriguez to fit in, so he's dreading the day when his genius mom insists he bring her newest invention to school: a walking, talking robot he calls E-for "Error". Sammy's no stranger to robots; his house is full of a colorful cast of them. But this one not only thinks it's Sammy's brother . . . it's actually even nerdier than Sammy. Will E be Sammy's one-way ticket to Loserville? Or will he prove to the world that it's cool to be square? It's a roller-coaster ride for Sammy to discover the amazing secret E holds that could change family forever . . . if all goes well on the trial run!

Editors Darien Hsu Gee and Carla Crujido bring together 131 personal narratives written by established and emerging women of color. In 300 words or less, these true stories speak to otherness, familial relationships, impossible beauty standards, ancestral heritage, coming of age, and owning one's place in the world. This singular collection, inspired by Lucille Clifton's luminous poem, "won't you celebrate with me," sings to the beauty of how these women live and thrive in the world, and how they make their lives their own. Includes author commentaries, discussion questions for further exploration, resources for additional reading, and a guide to writing micro essays.

The hilarious adventures of Danny Shine continue! What's worse than being a Loser? Being a JINX! Danny Shine doesn't care about his school's baseball team, the Woodchucks. But he's kind of having fun sitting right behind third base at the big game. He even catches a foul ball -- but that means the Woodchuck third baseman doesn't catch it, and the team loses. Suddenly, Danny finds himself back at Square One: Loserville.When the Ferris wheel at the school fair breaks while Danny's on it, he gets a new reputation as the school jinx. Can he break the curse before he ruins everything he touches -- including his relationship with the super-cool girl of his dreams, Asia O'Neill?

"When NHL commissioner Clarence Campbell announced that Atlanta had received an NHL franchise, ownership was tasked with selling a northern game that most of the city's Black residents had never experienced. The team marketed itself to upper-middle class White residents by portraying a hockey game as an exclusive event-with the whiteness of the players themselves providing critical support for that claim. In a city that had given Hank Aaron a cool reception and had effectively guaranteed the whitening of a successful Black basketball team, the prospect of a sport with White players was an inherent draw that leaders hoped would mitigate White flight from the city and draw residents of the surrounding suburbs back to the city center. The team was ultimately marketed as the Flames, a reference to William Sherman's burning of Atlanta and the city's rise from the ashes to its rightful place as a Deep South hub of culture and economy. It wasn't a name with specific racial coding, but with the city's racial history and the Lost Cause iconography that dotted its landscape, a Civil War name could only add to the impression of a White team playing to White fans in a majority Black city. Thus the politics of civic development and race combined yet again, but this time in a form foreign to most longtime sports enthusiasts in the Deep South"--

For fans of Jerry Spinelli's Maniac Magee, Gary D. Schmidt's The Wednesday Wars, and Jack Gantos's Joey Pigza Books comes a hilarious and poignant slice-of-life novel from critically acclaimed author and poet Peter Johnson. When an author comes to speak to his class in a rundown area of Providence, Houdini decides to make money by writing his own novel. Houdini chronicles his life as he and his friends start a leaf-raking business, befriend Old Man Jackson (a Vietnam War veteran with a seriously intimidating dog), and get even with the neighborhood bully, Angel. But it's hard to find a way to write about his dad losing his job or his brother, Franklin, who is first reported missing in action in Iraq and then still seems to be missing when he comes home. No matter what, Houdini and his friends rely on one another to figure out how to do the right thing. And Houdini discovers that writing and thinking about his friends and family lets him get to know them in completely new ways.

What if somebody finally wrote to his high school alumni bulletin and told...the truth! Home Land is a brilliant work from novelist Sam Lipsyte, whom Jeffrey Eugenides calls "original, devious, and very funny" and of whose first novel Chuck Palahniuk wrote, "I laughed out loud--and I never laugh out loud." The Eastern Valley High School Alumni newsletter, Catamount Notes, is bursting with tales of success: former students include a bankable politician and a famous baseball star, not to mention a major-label recording artist. Then there is the appalling, yet utterly lovable, Lewis Miner, class of '89--a.k.a Teabag--who did not pan out. Home Land is his confession in all its bitter, lovelorn glory. Winner of the Believer Book Award New York Times Notable Book of the Year