New Releases by Erin Dionne

Being a writer can mean navigating a lonely and confusing path. Bad Choices can help make the road a little easier. Is this a craft book? Encouragement and support for those who are stuck or feeling as though they don''t have what it takes? A meditation on why write in the first place? Yes to all of those things. Bad Choices Make Good Stories is a collection of essays about craft, revision, and the community and struggles that go along with the writing life. Author Erin Dionne has taught writing for over two decades, has published seven novels and two picture books, and shares her experience--peppered with a healthy dose of humor--with readers in this honest and funny collection.

Nini loves everything about ballet--the sparkles, the costumes, the twirling! But in the spring there''s only baseball practice. Baseball is nothing like ballet. Or is it? Nini hates baseball. She hates that baseball is not ballet. She especially hates that Mom signed her up to play, but now she''s stuck with the sport. Nini just can''t bring herself to try. Her team starts to lose, but not even her teammates'' disappointment will change her feelings. A pep talk from her coach and sparkly shoelaces help--a little. When Nini makes a game-winning catch using her ballet moves, she realizes that change might not be so bad after all, and ballet and baseball have more in common than she thought.

A cool girl who''s secretly a major geek has to figure out how to be true to herself in this relatable, funny, feminist novel from Erin Dionne. Sarah Anne loves lacrosse and the MK Nightshade series that everyone was obsessed over in grade school. The problem is that she''s still obsessed, which is way too nerdy for a popular kid like her. So she hides her geekiness with a set of rules meant to keep her geek and jock selves separate.Except when she''s offered a spot in a Nightshade fandom contest, where the winner gets to see the new movie premiere in LA. No one seems to think Sarah Anne can win, since she''s up against a pair of guys in high school--but the more she''s called a fake fan, the more determined she is to wipe the floor with her competition. As long as none of her friends or anyone at school knows what she''s doing.Can she keep her geek identity a secret, win the contest, and manage to keep her friends even though she''s been living a lie? Sarah Anne is going to have to make some choices about what''s truly important to her and which rules she''s going to break to stay true to herself.

A classic snow day read-aloud for kids ages 4-7! When his Ernest Shackleton report is ironically quashed because of a snowstorm, a school cancellation-celebrating elementary schooler chronicles his adventures at home with hilarious log entries and read-aloud-friendly results. The Captain''s (our young protagonist) belongings start to go missing while homebound due to weather, and humorous attacks and pell-mell mutiny follow. After a series of snow day events, the crew (the Captain''s parents), the first mate (his trusty dog), and the scallywag (also known as the younger sibling) are freed from their snowbound home, and the Captain returns to school. Kids will laugh at the Captain''s battle with his siblings, and parents will relate to the antics that ensue when the weather prevents students from heading to class and upsets daily routines and schedules. *"Entertaining, informative--utterly delightful"--Kirkus Reviews, STARRED review

A budding filmmaker with executive function disorder figures out how to become the director of her own life in this funny, relatable middle-grade novel from Erin Dionne. Hester Greene loves making movies. With her camera in hand, she can focus, make decisions, and have the control she lacks in life, where her executive function disorder (think extreme ADHD plus anxiety) sabotages her every move.But middle school is not a movie, and if her last-ditch attempt to save her language-arts grade--and her chance to pass eighth grade, period--doesn''t work, Hess could lose her friends, her year, even her camera. It will take more than a cool training montage to get her life together, but by thinking outside the frame, she just might craft a whole new ending.Written partially in script form, with STOP/PAUSE/PLAY/REWIND moments throughout, this laugh-out-loud story will speak to any budding filmmaker, or unintentional troublemaker, in every act of their lives.

The follow-up to "Moxie and the Art of Rule Breaking." While spending two weeks at Wilderness Camp on the Boston Harbor Islands, 13-year-old Ollie must find and protect hidden pirate treasure from those who would steal it for themselves.

Edgar Award Finalist For fans of The Westing Game and From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler comes a clever, treasure-hunt mystery based on a real-life art heist. Moxie Fleece knows the rules and follows them--that is, until the day she opens her front door to a mysterious stranger. Suddenly Moxie is involved in Boston''s biggest unsolved mystery: The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum art heist. Moxie has two weeks to find the art, otherwise she and the people she loves will be in big-time danger. Her tools? Her best friend, Ollie, a geocaching addict who loves to find stuff; her Alzheimer''s suffering grandfather, Grumps, who knows lots more than he lets on; and a geometry proof that she sets up to sort out the clues. It''s a race against the clock through downtown Boston as Moxie and Ollie break every rule she''s ever lived by to find the art and save her family.

Devenir la baby-sitter de sa sœur surdouée ou avoir le droit d''exister toute seule ? Parfois, Hamlet préférerait qu''on l''oublie : à son entrée en troisième, elle doit s''occuper de Dezzie, en cours à ses côtés, et participer, qu''elle le veuille ou non, au projet théâtre de la classe. S''ensuivront d''inévitables tragédies !

From the author of Models Don’t Eat Chocolate Cookies comes a middle grade novel hailed by Linda Urban as “A perfect blend of laugh out loud funny and real-world heart.” Elsie Wyatt wants to be an orchestra superstar, like her dad and grandfather. The first step? Get into a super-selective summer music camp. In order to qualify, Elsie must “expand her musical horizons” by joining her high school’s marching band. Not only does this mean wearing a plumed hat and polyester pants, but it also means she can’t play her own instrument, can’t sit down, and can’t seem to say the right thing to anyone…let alone Jake, the cute trumpet player she meets on the first day. Plus, everything she does seems to cause a disaster. Surviving marching band is going to be way harder than Elsie thought. For fans of funny, realistic, every-girl novels like Wendy Mass’s 13 Gifts and Lisa Greenwald’s My Life in Pink & Green. “It has humor, heart, and a touch of romance that will provide ample fodder for booktalks.”—School Library Journal “Marching-band kids everywhere will enjoy this believable celebration of a life-changing, musical rite of passage.”—Kirkus

All Hamlet Kennedy wants is to be a normal eighth grader. But with parents like hers - Shakespearean scholars who actually dress in Elizabethan regalia . . . in public! - it''s not that easy. As if they weren''t strange enough, her genius seven-year-old sister will be attending her middle school, and is named the new math tutor. Then, when the Shakespeare Project is announced, Hamlet reveals herself to be an amazing actress. Even though she wants to be average, Hamlet can no longer hide from the fact that she- like her family - is anything but ordinary.

Overweight thirteen-year-old Celeste begins a campaign to lose weight in order to make sure she does not win the Miss HuskeyPeach modeling challenge, in which her mother and aunt have entered her--against her wishes.