New Releases by Dyan Sheldon

Can chasing the wrong girl lead down the right path? Witty as ever, best-selling author Dyan Sheldon maps the agonizing distance between “like” and “love.” Josh has never really thought twice about girls before. He’s usually too busy watching old movies with his friends Sal and Carver, petitioning for more vegetarian options in the school cafeteria, or flailing in yoga class with his best friend, Ramona. But when new girl Jena Capistrano walks into school, Josh loses his heart faster than he’s ever lost his balance on a double downward dog. Not that he has any real aspirations, of course: he knows Jena is completely out of his league. And then, against all odds — they become friends. The closer they get, the more infatuated Josh becomes, and the more he wonders if just maybe Jena might like him back. There’s only one way to find out. But it’s not exactly easy to put your heart on the line.

YA. Teenage Issues. ZiZi likes to think of herself as a girly girl: her wardrobe is almost exclusively pink, her daily makeup routine can take upwards of an hour and she loves a bit of a flirt. Her best friend Loretta is very different: all of her clothes are black, she doesn''t wear any makeup whatsoever and she doesn''t like the way ZiZi dumbs herself down for boys or her old-fashioned ideas about ''a woman''s place''. One day, they decide to make a bet. Can ZiZi stand looking like Loretta for longer than Loretta can bear dressing like ZiZi? As their summer unfolds often hilariously, the pair are surprised to find they have a lot to learn from each other.

What happens when a bratty teenage star and a hardworking waitress get a taste of each other’s worlds? Featuring the best-selling Dyan Sheldon at her snarky, entertaining best. Paloma Rose is sixteen and already a major TV star. She has money, franchises, adoring fans — and an agent and parents who are dependent on her success to sustain their very comfortable lives. But all that could come to an end when Paloma becomes more famous for her bad behavior than for her acting and her show’s sponsors threaten to cancel the upcoming season if things don’t improve. Meanwhile, Paloma’s worried agent happens upon Oona Ginness working in a coffee shop. Maybe she’s not as tall or as blond as Paloma, but details aside, they really might be twins. So a plan is born: What if they send Paloma to a brat camp to become a better person and put the malleable and much nicer Oona in her place? Oona thinks it’s a stupid idea, but the money is hard to resist, given her family’s dire circumstances. What does she have to lose? Of course, plans don’t always work out the way they’re supposed to. . . .

When a king discovers that there are still singing moon dragons high up on the mountainside, he offers a room full of gold to anyone who can bring one to him. The beautiful dancing dragons only reveal themselves to Alina, a young peasant girl, but she preserves the secret of their whereabouts, knowing that there are some things far more precious than a room full of gold.

Marigold Liotta, Asher Grossman and Giorgiana Shiller have got it all--money, looks and good grades. Life couldn''t get much better ... until their principal, Dr Kilpaticky, decides it''s time to burst their bubble of advantage by assigning them tough community service placements as part of their school curriculum. And so the fun begins as Marigold finds herself tutoring a moody, silent nine year-old in a deprived part of town, Giorgiana is pushed to breaking point with an extremely sarcastic octogenarian in a nursing home and Asher is swamped with crying babies, flooded basements and the unemployed at a local community centre. With Dyan Sheldon''s trademark irony and superb comic timing, Bursting Bubbles is a lively and touching story about how helping others can change you--for the better.

If this first love is true love, why can’t Hildy hang out with her friends without feeling guilty? Dyan Sheldon takes on the possessive side of summer romance with humor and insight. Hildy has only had two-and-a-half dates in her whole life, and she isn’t counting the half. It’s starting to look as if she’s never going to have a third date, or be kissed, or know a boy who is more than just a friend. Then, on an ordinary day, she meets Connor of the melt-that-ice-cap smile — and a summer that was going to be ordinary as toast turns into Hildy’s summer of love. But love for Hildy is a little more complicated than the songs and movies have led her to believe. It’s not so much girl-meets-boy-and loses-her-heart as boy-meets-girl-and-loses-his-mind. Part cautionary tale and part romantic comedy, Dyan Sheldon’s wry, diary-style novel weighs in on all ends of the relationship scale in a story of first love.

The cookies are baked, the shopping done. The tree is up, the balls are hung. There are cards, and sweets and baubles bright. Everything''s ready for Christmas night. It''s Christmas Eve! Follow Dottie-small as she discovers the magic of Christmas in this timeless, enchanting picture book.

It''s Christmas Eve! Follow Dottie Sue as she discovers the magic of Christmas.

In a new comedy from the best-selling author of CONFESSIONS OF A TEENAGE DRAMA QUEEN, two popular girls vie to out-green each other to snare a boy. Fashion-crazy Sicilee is a poster child for over-consumption. Her archrival, Maya, wears arty vintage clothes but hasn’t a clue what’s in the food she eats. So when drop-dead gorgeous new student Cody Lightfoot sets out to spread his eco-ways--and spur the Environmental Club toward an all-out Earth Day bash--Sicilee and Maya have their work cut out to attract his attention. What if Sicilee trades her fur boots for walking shoes (even if she can’t find the school when she’s not inside a car)? What if Maya dresses in plastic bottles and bags to preach in front of the supermarket (until security is called)? Or could it be that Cody isn’t all he’ s cracked up to be, and that saving the planet really is more important than impressing a boy? With her trademark quick-fire wit, Dyan Sheldon shows just what girls will do for love--and what earth-changing realizations they might have along the way.

The only thing Gabriela and Beth have in common is that they are in LA for the weekend. Gabriela is there for frivolity, fashion and fun, Beth for lectures, learning and literature. But what neither girl knows is that they are not alone.

The best-selling author of CONFESSIONS OF A DRAMA QUEEN takes a smart, funny look at friendship, staying true to your identity, and moving on. (Ages 12 and up) Gracie and Savannah are best friends --and utterly unalike. Savannah is beautiful, outrageous, and irresistible to the opposite sex. Gracie is shy, smart, and would rather be studying lizards than meeting boys. Still, they’ve made a surprisingly great team, and (until now) it seemed as if nothing could come between them. But lately, Savannah’s talent for lying and manipulating is becoming harder to ignore. She’s fallen head over heels for an elusive college boy, and Gracie can’t help wondering: is her friend as confident as she seems? When Savannah gets between Gracie and her crush, the line separating best friend from worst friend is crossed.

Dyan Sheldon''s vain, melodramatic, and utterly lovable Lola will appeal to any young reader who has angled for acceptance. Mary Elizabeth Cep (or Lola, as she prefers to be called) longs to be in the spotlight. But when she moves to New Jersey with her family and becomes a student at Dellwood "Deadwood" High, Lola discovers that the role of resident drama queen is already filled--by the Born-to-Win, Born-to-Run-Everything Carla Santini. Carla has always gotten everything she wants-that is, until Lola comes along and snags the lead in the school play. Can Lola survive Carla''s attempts at retaliation? Will Lola and her best friend, Ella, find a way to crash their favorite band''s concert hall and farewell party in New York City--to which Carla has already gained entrance? And once the curtain goes up on the school play, which drama queen will take center stage?

YA. Issues. A sharply observed, bittersweet tale of the trials of teenage pregnancy. Lana Spiggs is fed up with everyone telling her what to do. If it isn''t her mother nagging and shouting, it''s her teachers nagging and shouting. What Lana wants is to be grown-up. She wants her own flat, her own husband and her own children - and then no one will be able to boss her around any more. When Lana meets Les on her fifteenth birthday, she knows he is The One. And when she gets pregnant without even trying, she knows it''s her ticket to freedom - even though everyone else calls it a prison sentence. But can her dream of Happy Families stand up to reality?

Adventure fiction. Science fiction. Trish is scared of her mother''s rages while timid Kiki is scared of the teen gang who terrorize the inner-city estate where they live. In their different ways, they both feel helpless and alone. But then they meet the mysterious Betty Friedman, and old lady with a secret to protect. Before they know it, Trish and Kiki are plunged into a time-travelling quest to save a historic church - and the buried treasure beneath it. Going undercover as servants in Victorian London, their cunning and bravery are put to the test, and they learn that they are more courageous than they could ever have imagined.

The exchange of daughters that began in "Sophie Pitt-Turnbill Discovers America" continues in this companion about a bohemian Brooklyn teen, who crosses the pond to visit an uptight English family.

"Sheldon has lots of fun with mutual stereotypes and prejudices, not only about nationality but also about race and class...Hilarious." — Booklist The summer her mother announces that they won’t be taking their usual holiday in France, sixteen-year-old Sophie Pitt-Turnbull is aghast — so much so that when Mummy’s old art-school chum in New York suggests they trade daughters for the summer, Sophie feels her prayers have been answered. Unfortunately, there are a few details Mummy neglects to tell her. . . . Get ready for a comical case of culture clash as an uptight British teen finds herself deep in the heart of working-class Brooklyn — and finally dares to have an adventure worth writing home about.

From Dyan Sheldon, author of the best-selling Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen, two hilarious diaries in one satisfying volume! "The fast-paced, clever writing will keep teens eagerly reading and sharing passages with each other to the end." — Booklist "Funny dialogue and a wacky setting, while still delivering a smart story." — Kirkus Reviews With a Mad Cow for a mother, an eccentric psychotherapist for a father, and a dweeble for a brother, thank goodness sixteen-year-old Janet Foley Bandry can confide in her diary. After all, she needs someone to talk to about entering the Dark Phase of her life. With a year so full of Turmoil and Suffering, only a Creative and Artistic Soul (and one trusty diary) can keep Janet''s planet from spinning out of orbit!

Lola has plans to become a Broadway star until a movie starts filming in her hometown of Dellwood New Jersey.

When she goes shopping with her mum, Mona wants everything she sees. But when her widest dreams come true, Mona discovers that is possible to have too much...

Elmo is caught in the middle of a feud between her environmental activist mother and property developer Mr Bamber, who lives over the road. When the Bambers adopt Kuba, an angel undercover as a South American orphan, Elmo''s life will never be the same.

Sixteen-year-old Janet Bandry keeps a diary as she deals with an annoying family, school, a quirky best friend, and trying to find herself through vegetarianism, literature, romance, and her "Dark Phase."

The smallest Angel rushes to witness the birth of Jesus.

A diary chronicle of a teenage girl''s changing family and romantic relationships.

Twelve-year-old Elmo Blue just wants to fit in. But his angel friend, Kuba, seems to have other ideas. Thanks to Kuba''s promptings, Elmo soon finds himself embroiled in a war against bully Eddie Kilgour.

Elena really wants to be the princess in the dance-school ballet, dressed in the beautiful coral-coloured tutu with silver stars, but nasty, vain Sylvie gets the part, while Elena has to be ... a frog What chance has she got to sparkle now?

This first picture book for parents to share with their children features a story about the friendship between a dog and a cat. Illustrations.

A fast-paced, action pack sequel to Lizzie and Charley Go Shopping. When Lizzie goes to see a sci-fi movie with her best friend Charley, she''s not expecting adventure, just some light entertainment. But as soon as they go into Screen Six they''re transported to another world; a world in the midst of an intergalactic battle. One moment they''re chomping their popcorn, the next they''re mingling with the stars But can Lizzie and Charlie help save the rebel leader Flyed before the credits roll?

Lizzie can''t wait to go shopping with her best friend Charley. When her strange neighbour, Mrs Moscos, warns them not to go into Happy Burger they don''t listen. One minute they''re looking at the menu the next they find themselves on another planet trying to thwart an alien invasion