Akron Public Library

As she turns twelve during the summer of 1953, Penny gains new insights into herself and her family while also learning a secret about her father's death. It's1953 and 11-year-old Penny dreams of a summer of butter pecan ice cream, swimming, and baseball. But nothing's that easy in Penny's family. For starters, she can't go swimming because her mother's afraid she'll catch polio at the pool. To make matters worse, her favorite uncle is living in a...

Ty can't believe it when Coach V recruits him for the football team. But Ty's guardian won't let him play. Desperately worried, Ty must come up with a plan to save Than's football career - and ultimately, his life. When twelve-year-old Ty's brother Thane is recruited out of college to play for the New York Jets, their Uncle Gus uses Ty to get insider information for his gambling ring, landing Ty and Thane in trouble with the Mafia.

Seventeen-year-old Mira lives in a small island beach town off the coast of New Jersey year-round, and when a devastating superstorm strikes she will face the storm's wrath and the destruction it leaves behind alone.

Although twelve-year-old Cassidy Bean keeps a book of bad things, she did not expect her summer with the Tremont family in rural New Jersey to be one of them--but this year Ursula, a local hoarder, has died under mysterious circumstances, and Cassidy finds that there a great many bad and dangerous things hidden in her house, including, perhaps, her vengeful ghost.

"Zoe thought that being cut from her ballet program was the worst thing that could happen, but when her best friend Olivia is diagnosed with a life-threatening disease, Zoe quickly learns that not being able to dance is the least of her problems" --

Mike lives for baseball and hopes to follow his idol into the major leagues one day, but he is distracted by a new player who might take his place in center field, an ankle injury, problems at home, and a growing awareness that something sinister is happening at school.

Although Jeff and Tad, encouraged by a new friend, Lindsey, make a deal to help one another overcome aftereffects of their cancer treatments in preparation for eighth-grade graduation, Jeff still craves advice from his older brother Stephen, who is studying drums in Africa.

Dealing with family problems, girls, and their own competitive natures, high school seniors Ivan Korske and Bobby Zane face each other in the final match of the New Jersey State Wrestling Championship.

New Jersey girl Zora Emerson is attending her pre-college prep at Halstead University, where the incredibly wealthy and stuck-up students go, and after only a week she is feeling academically confident but socially out of place; then an awkward mix-up of cell phones brings her into closer contact with Owen Whittelsey (prince of a small European country) and his security guards--but it is when Owen asks her to be his date at his brother's royal wedding...

While walking down the street one day in his simple town in New Jersey, Mel stumbles into another dimension where there isn't a single smooth side to be found, but when his friends dismiss his tales about his pointy adventure, Mel finds a way to prove to all that what he has been saying is true.