In this book series, follow 5 different adventures from river raft camping & fishing to trying to win the ice fishing contest money in order to save the family bait shop. These books captivate kids to want to read more and get them excited about the outdoors! Each book contains a new main character, and life learning lesson for kids to take with them as they finish their read.Lane Walker aims to help kids get back into reading and off video games and technology, while giving them content they can relate to, keeping them interested in reading.

Louis Edmonds was well known for his TV soap opera roles as Dark Shadows Roger Collins and ,All My Children's Langley Wallingford, but his career was not limited to these characters. Working with such performers as Charlton Heston, Kaye Ballard, Joan Bennett, and Carol Burnett, he was a pioneer actor on live television in the 1950s and played numerous critically acclaimed roles on and off Broadway and on TV for five decades. Throughout his life, the gay actor battled?and conquered?depression, alcoholism, and cancer. Author Craig Hamrick chronicles the life and career of this remarkable man in the revealing biography, Big Lou: The Life and Career of Actor Louis Edmonds. "Craig Hamrick is a wonderful, gifted young writer with a heart-breaking story to tell. Big Lou is an insightful look at the theater world, crafted with warmth, humor and just the right dash of cynicism."- Craig Lucas

From the author of the acclaimed Roll with It comes a moving novel about a girl with a sensory processing disorder who has to find her own voice after her whole world turns upside down. Lou Montgomery has the voice of an angel, or so her mother tells her and anyone else who will listen. But Lou can only hear the fear in her own voice. She’s never liked crowds or loud noises or even high fives; in fact, she’s terrified of them, which makes her pretty sure there’s something wrong with her. When Lou crashes their pickup on a dark and snowy road, child services separate the mother-daughter duo. Now she has to start all over again at a fancy private school far away from anything she’s ever known. With help from an outgoing new friend, her aunt and uncle, and the school counselor, she begins to see things differently. A sensory processing disorder isn’t something to be ashamed of, and music might just be the thing that saves Lou—and maybe her mom, too.

"If this book were a house, the rooms would be filled with warmth, family, and friendship." --Erin Entrada Kelly, author of the Newbery Medal winner Hello, Universe; The Land of Forgotten Girls; and Blackbird Fly A coming-of-age story that explores culture and family, forgiveness and friendship, and what makes a true home. Perfect for fans of Wendy Mass and Joan Bauer. Lou Bulosan-Nelson has the ultimate summer DIY project. She's going to build her own "tiny house," 100 square feet all her own. She shares a room with her mom in her grandmother's house, and longs for a place where she can escape her crazy but lovable extended Filipino family. Lou enjoys her woodshop class and creating projects, and she plans to build the house on land she inherited from her dad, who died before she was born. But then she finds out that the land may not be hers for much longer. Lou discovers it's not easy to save her land, or to build a house. But she won't give up; with the help of friends and relatives, her dream begins to take shape, and she learns the deeper meaning of home and family. AN NPR BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR A KIRKUS REVIEWS BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR "Equal parts girl-heart, muscle and know-how for today's reader. Endearing to the end." --Rita Williams-Garcia, Newbery-Honor-and-Coretta-Scott King -Award-winning author of the National Book Award Finalist Clayton Byrd Goes Underground "Warm, funny and affirming. As we get to know Lou, her extended Filipino family, and friends, the door opens into her life and, ultimately, her home." --Lisa Yee, author of the Millicent Min trilogy, The Kidney Hypothetical, the DC Super Hero Girls series, and other books "There couldn't be a hero more determined, resourceful or lovable than Lucinda Bulosan-Nelson. Her big dream of a tiny house is irresistible." --Tricia Springstubb, author of Every Single Second, What Happened on Fox Street, Moonpenny Island, and the Cody series "I fell in love with Lou and her wonderful extended family. This story may be about a tiny house, but it has an enormous heart." --Kate Messner, author of The Exact Location of Home

Don't miss this humorous and heartwarming picture book by debut creator Breanna Carzoo about an unlikely everyday hero: a fire hydrant! Perfect for fans of The Good Egg and The Bad Seed. Meet Lou. Lou has an important job . . . as the neighborhood toilet for dogs on their walks. Useful as he may be, he gets the feeling that deep down inside, there might be more to him than that. He just doesn't seem to know exactly what yet. When disaster strikes, will Lou find out what he's made of and save the day? From debut creator Breanna Carzoo comes a charming and funny story that reminds us to never let anyone--including yourself--hold you back from sharing your gifts with the world. Kids will fall in love with Lou and his journey of self-discovery as he saves the day from a fire that breaks out in an apartment building nearby. You'll never be able to look at a fire hydrant the same way again!

Zoey Lyndon has just started the fourth grade in a brand new school. She thought making new friends would be easy, but moving from Philadelphia to Saint Louis has proven to be a lot harder than she originally thought. Feeling rejected and alone, Zoey begins to dread the cafeteria, because this is where she begins to feel like the fourth grade reject. After a chance encounter with Tomasina aka Tommi, a very friendly and fellow science loving classmate, things begin to look up for Zoey. Her love for all things STEM, causes her to join the school Science Club where other friendships blossom. Before the year is over Zoey learns to navigate fourth grade like a rock star and makes some pretty cool friends along the way.

Summertime is here! But there's no sun, surf, or sand for Lou. Instead, it's Brussels sprouts, mud, and mosquitoes. Lou and her mom are off to spend the summer with Memaw in the most boring town on earth. Lou's mom keeps busy by exchanging love letters with her new sweetheart, Richard, but Lou's crush, Tristan, only sends her a lousy postcard. Will meeting a new boy chase Lou's blues away? Paul's not exactly a heartthrob, but he's sweet and . . . unusual. He's nothing like Tristan, but could he be just as crush-worthy?

Rock Conrad was set to begin the best and final year of his high school education, but a freak accident changes everything, including Polk High's fishing dream tream. Aligned to Common Core Standards and correlated to state standards. Chapter Books is an imprint of Spotlight, a division of ABDO.

Once upon a time there was a war . . . and a young American who thought of himself as the Quiet American and the Ugly American, and who wished to be neither, who wanted instead to be the Wise American, or the Good American, but who eventually came to witness himself as the Real American and finally as simply the Fucking American. That’s me. This is the story of Skip Sands—spy-in-training, engaged in Psychological Operations against the Vietcong—and the disasters that befall him thanks to his famous uncle, a war hero known in intelligence circles simply as the Colonel. This is also the story of the Houston brothers, Bill and James, young men who drift out of the Arizona desert into a war in which the line between disinformation and delusion has blurred away. In its vision of human folly, and its gritty, sympathetic portraits of men and women desperate for an end to their loneliness, whether in sex or death or by the grace of God, this is a story like nothing in our literature. Tree of Smoke is Denis Johnson’s first full-length novel in nine years, and his most gripping, beautiful, and powerful work to date. Tree of Smoke is the 2007 National Book Award Winner for Fiction.