The Word Eater

When their parents steal a monkey from the zoo to help them pick pockets, our heroes rush into action and return the wily animal using disguises, inventions, and old-fashioned shoe leather. They also learn what a monkey can do in 11 minutes! This is the first book in a new, funny series.

Two very different high school students discover a mutual appreciation for writing songs for the guitar. Tripp Broody has lost a lot; his father died and his best friend moved away and he doesn’t really connect with people. In contrast, Lyla Marks is perfect. She gets good grades, her teachers love her, and she plays the cello beautifully. Forced to share a music practice room on alternating days at school, they start a pen-pal-like exchange daily that leads to a musical collaboration that promises to change both of their lives forever. Many chapters are structured as Tripp’s and Lyla’s notes, giving readers a unique vantage point into their burgeoning friendship.

It all begins when Alexander H. Gory Jr. passes around a notebook in which he reveals a tantalizing secret: he has proof that their teacher, Mrs. Penrose, is a vampire. Soon the entire class is speculating and adding their opinions to the notebook until … it lands in Mrs. Penrose’s hands. It turns out that Mrs. Penrose has been keeping a secret: she is expecting a baby. But since the notebook is encouraging her students to write and improving their spelling and grammar, Mrs. Penrose allows it to continue circulating. The notebook becomes a terrific place for jokes, poems, stories and the correspondence between the students and their favorite author. 

Move over, Captain Underpants, a couple of new pranksters are in town. Narrated by fifth-grader Wilbur and featuring his third-grade brother, Orville, this funny story follows the antics of two boys with overactive imaginations and a comfortable sibling relationship. They manage to make even their daily chores a fun adventure, with games like Snarf Attack, where the goal is to make an opponent laugh so hard at dinner that milk comes out of his or her nose.

When her father begins a long-distance romance with a Washington, D.C. zookeeper, twelve-year-old Frankie sends fabricated e-mail letters to the zookeeper in an attempt to end the relationship in this story about family, friendship, and growing up.