Books
The Dragon in the Sewer
A girl and her friend discover a dragon living in the city.
Available in the UK 8 January 2024. Collins Big Cat supports every primary child on their reading journey from phonics to fluency. Top authors and illustrators have created fiction and non-fiction books that children love to read. Book banded for guided and independent reading, there are reading notes in the back, comprehensive teaching and assessment support and ebooks available. Emerald/Band 15 books provide a widening range of genres including science fiction and biography, prompting more ways to respond to texts. Click here for more info.
No Matter the Distance
An unexpected animal companion helps a girl with cystic fibrosis learn to write her own story in this captivating novel in verse by award-winning author and disabled activist Cindy Baldwin.
Penny Rooney has cystic fibrosis, which means she has to do breathing treatments to help her lungs work. Some days, it seems like her CF is the only thing Penny knows about herself for sure. From her point of view, everyone around her can make sense of their place in the world. So why can’t Penny even begin to write a poem about herself for school? Then during spring break Penny spots something impossible in the creek behind her house: a dolphin, far from its home. Click here for more info.
The Stars of Whistling Ridge
In this new novel from the Indies Introduce author of WHERE THE WATERMELONS GROW and BEGINNERS WELCOME, an almost-thirteen-year-old with an almost-complete sentence for a name embraces her destiny to search for a forever home.
Ivy Mae Bloom, whose name is one letter away from a complete sentence, has lived her entire life on the road. Her mama is a fallen star who travels near and far to tend to the magic that underpins our world. When Ivy steals Mama’s entire supply of wish jars in the hopes of finding a forever home, a series of disasters strands the Blooms in Whistling Ridge, North Carolina, with Mama’s two star sisters. Click here for more info.
Beginners Welcome
A heartfelt novel from WHERE THE WATERMELONS GROW author Cindy Baldwin about a young girl’s journey to hope and healing after a tragic loss.
It’s been eighty-three days since Annie Lee’s daddy died, but she still sees reminders of him everywhere. Like in the bathroom sink, where his whiskers appear in the morning along with the scent of his aftershave. His record player mysteriously plays his favorite songs, and the TV keeps turning to the Duke basketball games he loved. She knows Mama notices it, too, but Mama’s been working around the clock to make ends meet. Click here for more info.
Where the Watermelons Grow
A Washington Post KidsPost Summer Book Club Selection
An Indies Introduce and Indie Next title
Stared reviews from SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL, BOOKLIST, SHELF AWARENESS, and PUBLISHERS WEEKLY.
Fans of THE THING ABOUT JELLYFISH and A SNICKER OF MAGIC will be swept away by Cindy Baldwin’s debut middle grade about a girl coming to terms with her mother’s mental illness.
Twelve-year-old Della Kelly has lived her whole life in Maryville, North Carolina. She knows how to pick the softest butter beans and sweetest watermelons on her daddy’s farm. She knows ways to keep her spitfire baby sister out of trouble (most of the time). She knows everyone in Maryville, from her best friend Arden to kind newcomer Miss Lorena to the mysterious Bee Lady. And Della knows what to do when the sickness that landed her mama in the hospital four years ago spirals out of control again, and Mama starts hearing people who aren’t there, scrubbing the kitchen floor until her hands are raw, and waking up at night to cut the black seeds from all the watermelons in the house. Click here for more info.
