New Releases by Julie Berry

The third book in New York Times bestselling, award-winning author Julie Berry''s magically adventurous Wishes and Wellingtons series, in which Maeve Merritt and her friends encounter charmed mirrors, meddling thieves, and a lady scholar who doesn''t (yet!) believe in magic. Maeve Merritt knows all about magic. After all, she found Mermeros the djinni in a sardine can! But not even magic can give her the freedom to do the daring things she wants to do in her life—things not allowed for girls in 1897. When Maeve and her friend Alice take a summer field trip to Oxford, though, they''re amazed to see women as college students and even playing sports! But just when it seems like her dreams might one day come true, thieves looking to steal Mermeros put Maeve and her friends in danger. With the help of two charmed silver mirrors, Maeve can outwit almost any burglar, but she knows magic will continue to cause her trouble at every turn. What if it''s time to give up her djnnni once and for all? Is Maeve ready to throw away all her wishes? The perfect book for: Anyone searching for middle grade books Parents, teachers, or librarians looking for kids books ages 8 to 10 Young fantasy readers ages 8-11 Fans of historical fantasy Empowering young girls

For readers who love The Night Gardener, The Antlered Ship, and Emily Winfield Martin''s Dream Animals, this mythological, Sendak-inspired romp to the top of the world and back home again is a bedtime classic-in-the-making. Where do children go when they drift off to sleep? They float on a warm nighttime breeze over forests and peaks. They tumble down a mountain carpeted in night blossoms. They sail in silver ships over ribbons of moonlight, and arrive at a shining pavilion at the very top of the world. Now the Night Frolic can begin. From acclaimed creators Julie Berry and Jaime Zollars, this exquisite, immersive bedtime fantasy will mesmerize dreamers young and old.

We explore the role that physicians play in moderating compliance with recommended vaccinations. Using administrative data on the universe of Danish children and their healthcare providers, we first construct and validate a measure of providers'' propensities to comply with recommended vaccinations from birth to age 6 based on a two-way fixed effects model. We then show that the constructed measure of provider vaccination facilitation meaningfully affects uptake of the Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine among adolescent patients, and speeds recovery from a media-induced crisis to perceived HPV vaccine safety. We also demonstrate that providers affect decisions beyond those of their own patients, influencing uptake for patients'' younger cousins affiliated with other providers by about one-quarter as much as own patients.

Schools often track students to classes based on ability. Proponents of tracking argue it is a low-cost tool to improve learning since instruction is more effective when students are more homogeneous, while opponents argue it exacerbates initial differences in opportunities without strong evidence of efficacy. In fact, little is known about the pervasiveness or determinants of ability tracking in the US. To fill this gap, we use detailed administrative data from Texas to estimate the extent of tracking within schools for grades 4 through 8 over the years 2011-2019. We find substantial tracking; tracking within schools overwhelms any sorting by ability that takes place across schools. The most important determinant of tracking is heterogeneity in student ability, and schools operationalize tracking through the classification of students into categories such as gifted and disabled and curricular differentiation. When we examine how tracking changes in response to educational policies, we see that schools decrease tracking in response to accountability pressures. Finally, when we explore how exposure to tracking correlates with student mobility in the achievement distribution, we find positive effects on high-achieving students with no negative effects on low-achieving students, suggesting that tracking may increase inequality by raising the ceiling.

From award-winning author Julie Berry comes the second installment in the fantastically adventurous Wishes and Wellingtons series, in which our heroine, Maeve Merritt, embarks on a magic-powered and most dangerous quest to help her friends. Now that Maeve Merritt has surrendered Mermeros, the djinni she found in a sardine can, she expects her life in London will be dull as dirt. But villains from Maeve''s previous escapades are still searching for the djinni, now in the hands of Mr. Poindexter, the adoptive father of Maeve''s friend Tommy. When Mr. Poindexter tries to use one of his wishes, he and Mermeros go missing—and without a guardian, Tom will be forced back to the orphanage. With the help of magical flying carpetbags, Maeve, Tom, and their friend Alice soar off to find Mr. Poindexter and that rascal, Mermeros, before the djinni''s fabled wishes fall into the wrong hands. The perfect book for: Anyone looking for middle grade books Parents, teachers, or librarians looking for kids books ages 8 to 10 Young fantasy readers Ages 8-11 Empowering young girls

Sometimes we’re all cranky, and that’s okay! Cranky Right Now shows kids how to deal with those cranky days. Cranky Right Now brings a much-needed message to kids: sometimes we’re all cranky. Maybe we’re tired, we’re hungry, or we’re just feeling grumpy. Dealing with emotions can be hard. Cranky Right Now is a fun and funny ride through the ups and downs of being cranky, helping kids process difficult feelings, frustrating relationships, and things that just make them mad. Award-winning author Julie Berry talks about reasons kids can feel cranky and how to recognize those feelings and acknowledge them. She then gives simple practices for moving through crankiness. She shows that it’s okay to be in a bad mood sometimes—just not to take it out on others—and that cranky days will eventually give way to happy ones. A companion volume to Happy Right Now, with Holly Hatam’s bright and playful illustrations, Cranky Right Now helps you embrace, understand, and move through cranky in a whole new way.

Orphans Nicholas and Kate arrive in London to find help from their uncle, but his cold-hearted, cruel attitude sets the siblings on a course that will change their lives forever. Immerse yourself in this beautiful adaptation of one of Charles Dickens’ best-known novels by Julie Berry.

When governess Jane Eyre goes to work at Thornfield Hall and meets the mysterious Mr Rochester, her life finally feels like it’s going right. Until the strange woman in the attic threatens everything. Charlotte Bronte’s epic classic is beautifully retold here by award-winning author Julie Berry.

From New York Times bestselling and award-winning author Julie Berry comes a brand new middle-grade fantasy adventure full of friendship, magic, and mischief. Be careful what you wish for ... Maeve Merritt chafes at the rigid rules at her London boarding school for "Upright Young Ladies." When punishment forces her to sort through the trash, she finds a sardine tin that houses a foul-tempered djinni with no intention of submitting to a schoolgirl as his master. Soon an orphan boy from the charitable home next door, a mysterious tall man in ginger whiskers, a disgruntled school worker, and a take-no-prisoners business tycoon are in hot pursuit of Maeve and her magical discovery. It''ll take all of her quick thinking and sass to set matters right. Maeve Merritt is one feisty heroine you won''t soon forget. First published as an Audible Original in 2018 The perfect book for: Ages 8-11 Young fantasy readers Empowering young girls

A New York Times bestseller! Perfect for fans of Divine Rivals, a critically acclaimed, multi-layered romance set in the perilous days of World Wars I and II, where gods hold the fates--and the hearts--of four mortals in their hands. They are Hazel, James, Aubrey, and Colette. A classical pianist from London, a British would-be architect-turned-soldier, a Harlem-born ragtime genius in the U.S. Army, and a Belgian orphan with a gorgeous voice and a devastating past. Their story, as told by goddess Aphrodite, who must spin the tale or face judgment on Mount Olympus, is filled with hope and heartbreak, prejudice and passion, and reveals that, though War is a formidable force, it''s no match for the transcendent power of Love. Hailed by critics, Lovely War has received seven starred reviews and is an indie bestseller. Author Julie Berry has been called "a modern master of historical fiction" by Bookpage and "a celestially inspired storyteller" by the New York Times, and Lovely War is truly her masterwork.

An illustrated picture book that teaches the best way to be happy is to embrace the circumstances we find ourselves in each day Happy Right Now brings a much-needed message to kids: it’s great to feel happy, but it’s okay to feel sad sometimes too. Dealing with emotions can be hard. Children experience the same range of strong feelings as adults, but often don’t have the tools to deal with them. For children ages 4 to 8, Happy Right Now teaches emotional intelligence with fun, relatable imagery and clever rhymes. Award-winning author Julie Berry brings a playful bounce to the important lesson that kids don’t need to wait for fantastic gifts, school vacations, or sunny days to find joy in the moment. And even if they can’t find a way to choose happiness—if the blues are just too strong—Berry provides a series of quick practices to help young readers move through their sadness. Smartly illustrated by Holly Hatam, Happy Right Now is perfect for children, parents, and caregivers who want to learn how to navigate difficult emotions and embrace the bright side of any situation, rain or shine.

It’s no ordinary day at the castle! This beautifully illustrated, picture book is a fun introduction to the medieval world and the illuminated bestiary. Young Godfrey and his family toil for the lord and lady of the castle. But when Godfrey stumbles upon an unfinished Book of Beasts, its splendid pictures of animals make him forget his chores. He invents the story of a brave knight, Sir Godfrey the Glorious, who battles a lion, tames a unicorn, defeats a griffin, conquers a bonnacon, and triumphs over a dragon. Godfrey does not realize that each time he says the name of an animal, it magically emerges from the book, causing mayhem and inadvertently accomplishing his chores. Written by award-winning author Julie Berry, and featuring fantastical illustrations by April Lee, this children’s book also contains engaging back matter with information on life in the Middle Ages and a mini-bestiary showing animals from original thirteenth-century manuscripts. Don’t Let the Beasties Escape This Book! brings the Middle Ages, legendary beasts, and the medieval imagination to life. Ages 5 and up.

The miracle of Christmas comes alive in this luminous celebration of unconditional love and the joy and hope and promise in every child from Printz Honor receipient Julie Berry! Long ago, in a dusty barn, a mother took a child in her arms, wrapped him snug, made his bed in the hay. He was her gift that Christmas Day. There''s no sweeter gift than a life so new. My best gift, little one, is you.In this poignant and lyrical story by Printz Honor recepient Julie Berry, the miracle of Christmas and the promise in every new child come together in a luminous celebration of unconditional love and hope. With tender, incandescent illustrations by Annie Won, the wonder of the nativity story and the marvel of every baby come alive in a wholly extraordinary book for families everywhere.A special, beautiful keepsake storybook to read, share, and cherish every Christmas season with the ones you love.

How do we handle adversity, confusion, and even anger when we''re walking through a difficult time? This book shares the journey of a family as they trusted God in the midst of what seemed an insurmountable diagnosis.

As young dairymaid Begonia tries to find her lost cow, Alfalfa, using a magical map, the Emperor goes missing from the royal palace and Begonia must use her wits to save the empire and get Alfalfa home safely.

A Printz Honor Book "Gorgeous and evocative . . . magnificent."--The New York Times Medieval France: Dolssa is an upper-crust city girl with a secret lover and an uncanny gift. Branded a heretic, she’s on the run from the friar who condemned her mother to death by fire, and wants Dolssa executed, too. Botille is a matchmaker and a tavern-keeper, struggling to keep herself and her sisters on the right side of the law in their seaside town of Bajas. Their lives collide when Botille rescues a dying Dolssa and agrees to conceal her in the tavern. Aided by her sisters and Symo, her surly but loyal neighbor, Botille nurses Dolssa back to health and hides her from her pursuers. But all of Botille’s tricks, tales, and cleverness can’t protect them forever, and when the full wrath of the Church bears down upon Bajas, Dolssa’s passion and Botille’s good intentions could destroy the entire village.

Firms and other organizations establish the criteria under which employees will be judged and the performance measures made available to supervisors, the board of directors and other stakeholders, and these structures almost certainly influence behavior and organization outcomes. Any divergence of the chosen performance metric from an ideal measurement of productivity may lead to suboptimal outcomes, particularly in the public sector where outside interest groups may rely more heavily on easily accessible ratings than better-informed insiders. In the case of public education, federal and state accountability systems provide considerable information about student outcomes and rate schools on that basis. However, the No Child Left Behind accountability legislation’s focus on pass rates rather than learning and achievement growth introduces the possibility that inadequate information and a flawed structure each compromise public school quality. This study of school principal labor market outcomes investigates the relationship between principal labor market success and a set of performance measures that differ on the basis of accessibility to stakeholders and link with true principal productivity. The results from the empirical analysis provide evidence that information and design deficiencies introduce a lack of alignment between incentives and principal productivity and adversely affect the quality of education in Texas public schools.

Abstract: Improving public sector workforce quality is challenging in sectors such as education where worker productivity is difficult to assess and manager incentives are muted by political and bureaucratic constraints. In this paper, we study how providing information to principals about teacher effectiveness and encouraging them to use the information in personnel decisions affects the composition of teacher turnovers. Our setting is the Houston Independent School District, which recently implemented a rigorous teacher evaluation system. Prior to the new system teacher effectiveness was negatively correlated with district exit and we show that the policy significantly strengthened this relationship, primarily by increasing the relative likelihood of exit for teachers in the bottom quintile of the quality distribution. Low-performing teachers working in low-achieving schools were especially likely to leave. However, despite the success, the implied change to the quality of the workforce overall is too small to have a detectable impact on student achievement

"Seven very proper Victorian young ladies conspire to hide a murder from the authorities at their boarding school" --

From the Printz honor winning author of The Passion of Dolssa, a mesmerizing story about fear, love, and the power of a young woman''s voice. "All the Truth That’s In Me is that rare magical thing—a beautiful love story told in spare, riveting prose.”—The New York Journal of Books “The love story and the mystery . . . are mesmerizing. Berry’s language undulates and flows. . . . Worthy of multiple reads.”—The Boston Globe Four years ago, Judith and her best friend disappeared from their small town of Roswell Station. Two years ago, only Judith returned, permanently mutilated, reviled and ignored by those who were once her friends and family. Unable to speak, Judith lives like a ghost in her own home, silently pouring out her thoughts to the boy who''s owned her heart as long as she can remember--even if he doesn''t know it--her childhood friend, Lucas. But when Roswell Station is attacked, long-buried secrets come to light, and Judith is forced to choose: continue to live in silence, or recover her voice, even if it means changing her world, and the lives around her, forever. The paperback edition includes an exclusive interview with the author and a list of discussion questions for book clubs. Shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal Edgar Award nominee for YA YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults Top Ten title Junior Library Guild Selection Kirkus Reviews Best Teen Book Horn Book Fanfare title TAYSHAS Top Ten Pick

It''s a squid invasion! The boys uncover an old forgotten swimming pool hidden away below the floor of the school''s gymnasium?-and below the surface they discover a whole undersea world that might just provide them with a way to finally escape from Splurch Academy. However, they soon realize that the pool is overflowing with evil monstrous squids.

Headmaster Farley''s back and he''s ready for revenge, but an unexpected visit from his estranged sister brings monstrous results as she takes over Splurch Academy. Forced to retreat to his laboratory, he hatches a plan to reclaim the school. Meanwhile, Cody Mack and the other boys are pitted against their new classmates-the girls of Priscilla Prim Academy for Precious and Proper Young Ladies.

Abstract: Beginning in 1998, all students in the state of Texas who graduated in the top ten percent of their high school classes were guaranteed admission to any in-state public higher education institution, including the flagships. While the goal of this policy is to improve college access for disadvantaged and minority students, the use of a school-specific standard to determine eligibility could have unintended consequences. Students may increase their chances of being in the top ten percent by choosing a high school with lower-achieving peers. Our analysis of students'' school transitions between 8th and 10th grade three years before and after the policy change reveals that this incentive influences enrollment choices in the anticipated direction. Among the subset of students with both motive and opportunity for strategic high school choice, as many as 25 percent enroll in a different high school to improve the chances of being in the top ten percent. Strategic students tend to choose the neighborhood high school in lieu of more competitive magnet schools and, regardless of own race, typically displace minority students from the top ten percent pool. The net effect of strategic behavior is to slightly decrease minority students'' representation in the pool

On her journey to the royal university to become a doctor, fifteen-year-old Evie, wearing potent gypsy charms, learns of her monstrous inheritance.

When Cody Mack is called to the principalÕs office yet again, he finds something far worse than detention awaiting him: Splurch Academy, a frightfully sinister boarding school for disobedient children run by a group of monstrous teachers.

With CodyÕs archnemesis, Headmaster Farley, banished from the school, Cody should be celebrating . . . but something is bothering him, eating at him . . . literally gnawing on him. Dark forces are on the rise at Splurch Academy and Cody Mack isnÕt sure which side of the battle heÕs on.

Orphaned at age five, Lucinda, now fifteen, stands with courage against the man who took everything from her, aided by a thief, a clever goat, and a mysterious woman called the Witch of Amaranth, while the prince she knew as a child prepares to marry, unaware that he, too, is in danger.