Search results for ""Author Jessica Lee Anderson""

Fifteen-year-old Calli has just about everything she could want in life--two loving moms, a good-looking boyfriend, and a best friend who has always been there for support. An only child, Calli is excited when her parents announce that they want to be foster parents. Unfortunately, being a foster sister to Cherish is not at all what Calli expected. First Cherish steals Calli's boyfriend, then begins to pit Calli's moms against one another, and she even steals Calli's iPod. Tired of being pushed around and determined to get even, Calli steals one of Cherish's necklaces. But this plan for revenge goes horribly awry, and Cherish ends up in juvenile detention. Isolating herself from her moms, her boyfriend, and even her best friend, Calli wrestles with her guilt and tries to figure out a way to undo the damage she's caused. When her moms are asked to take on another foster child, Calli sees an opportunity to make amends for her past mistakes. Funny, moving, and emotionally rich, Calli is a portrait of an endearing young woman caught between adolescence and adulthood, striving to do the right thing even when all of her options seem wrong.

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The mixed-race son of apple pickers, Manz lives with his hard-drinking mother and her truck-driver boyfriend in the hardscrabble world of dusty Rockhill, Texas. Forced to take a summer job rebuilding fence of a cattle ranch, Manz works alongside his friend Jed and meets a girl named Vanessa -- but even among his friends, Manz suffers from an uncontrollable paranoia. As the summer wears on, Manz becomes convinced that "Operation Wetback," a brutal postwar relocation program, is being put back into effect. As the voices in his head grow louder and more insistent, Manz struggles to negotiate the difficulties of adolescence, the perils of an oppressed environment, and the terror of losing his grip on reality.

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Trudy’s parents are older than other kids’ parents. As she enters middle school, Ma and Pop are in their sixties and seventies—so old, in fact, that most people mistake them for her grandparents. As if that isn’t complicated enough, Trudy’s also having a hard time at school. Math class isn’t going so well, and Ashley—who she pinky-swore she would always be best friends with—has ditched her for a new crowd. Life at Benavidez Middle School is certainly an adjustment. As the school year goes on, she finds a new best friend, the straight-talking Roshanda; has her first serious crush on a boy; and gets used to life with lockers and class schedules. But just when things are getting better at school, Trudy and Ma notice that Pop is acting funny—he forgets to pick Trudy up from school and starts to put groceries away in the bathroom. Soon, Trudy and her mother embark on a quest to find out what is wrong. Told in a voice that is honest and pure, Trudy tells the story of an eleven-year-old girl who is growing up while her beloved Pop, diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, slips away.

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When Mum brings home a new houseguest from the exotic animal hospital, it sparks a great idea. Naomi decides to form a snake rescue club with her best friend, Emma, and her brother, Nolan. But tensions arise with her next-door neighbour Taylor, who hates snakes. Will the snakes bring them together or drive them apart? One thing is for certain: rescuing snakes leads to adventures, and even friendships, that Naomi could never have imagined! Filled with fun snake facts that will intrigue readers whether they’re fans of snakes or not, Naomi Nash Saving Snakes mixes information with an engaging, lively story, making it perfect for all readers of other animal-focused chapter book series as well as those with a particular interest in reptiles.

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