Best Selling Books by Susan Beth Pfeffer

Since her older brother always wins at ping pong, checkers, and everything else, Amy decides to learn riddles in hope of finding some way she can beat him.

When a wealthy aunt offers to adopt one of the March girls, ten-year-old Jo decides the best thing to do is sacrifice herself.

Winner of the Dorothy Canfield Fisher Award and the Sequoyah Children’s Book Award:To save money for a bike, a young girl becomes a business tycoon Janie is desperate for a new bike, but her parents won’t buy her one unless she can pay for half of it herself. She’s too young to babysit and it’s too late to get a paper route, so Janie decides to open her own business. She calls it Kid Power and promises her customers that there is no problem too big or too small for her to handle—but this budding entrepreneur will soon find that running a company isn’t as easy as it looks. As Janie begins walking dogs, feeding cats, cleaning gutters, and pulling weeds, she gets closer and closer to her bike. But as Kid Power grows bigger than Janie can handle, she learns that there are some problems money can’t solve, and some things even more important than getting a new bike.

Tracy’s favorite TV star is coming to town, and she will do anything to meet him face to face The two people Tracy loves most are Rabbit O’Shea, a smooth-talking bad boy, and Ross Perlman, an innocent young man with a golden voice. She could never choose between them, and she’ll never have to, because Rabbit is a TV character, and Ross is the actor who plays him. When Ross announces a concert in Tracy’s hometown, she pledges to do whatever it takes to meet the real-life Rabbit—a decision that could cost her everything she holds dear. She and her best friend, Andrea, make a pact that they will meet Ross together or not at all. But when one of them gets the chance to meet him alone, it threatens to tear their friendship apart. Suddenly, Tracy finds herself longing for the days when Ross Perlman was just another poster on her wall.

Amy encourages the attentions of Robert, a well-to-do classmate, but when he surprises her with an expensive gift, she must face her true feelings.

Willa seems to have a perfect life as a member of a loving blended family until the estranged father she barely remembers murders his wife and children, then heads toward Willa and her mother.

There’s nothing wrong with lying—until the truth comes out For her sixteenth birthday, Evvie Sebastian got her own room—a room she doesn’t have to share with her three sisters. There’s only one problem: It’s a dump, just like the rest of the family’s new house. Evvie has hardly moved in when her dad, Nicky, asks her to spend the summer at the seaside with her great-aunt Grace, who’s had a bad fall and needs cheering up—and who is snobbish, ill tempered, and very, very rich. Evvie reluctantly agrees. When she arrives at Eastgate, she finds Aunt Grace just as fierce as she remembered, but she has to admit that the place has some redeeming qualities. Like the handsome and charming Schyler Hughes . . . and Sam Steinmetz, who works in the town bookstore and makes smart jokes about the local culture of conformity. But it’s not all romantic sailing trips and walks on the beach. Evvie soon finds that some people like to tell old stories and share old secrets a little too much—and some of those secrets may hit closer to home than Evvie expected.

Twelve-year-old April has trouble making friends at her new middle school, until her father''s friendship with a missing rock star catapults her into the news and suddenly makes her popular.

Exuberant Jo March never sits still. Whether she''s racing against boys or scribbling and acting in her latest play, Jo is always active and creative. So when Aunt March asks her to befriend Pauline Wheeler, Jo can''t believe that the girl spends every day cooped up in her bedroom. True, Pauline is blind and utterly dependent on her governess, but her fear of life exhausts Jo''s patience. The two girls simply have nothing in common--until they''re caught in a snow squall that changes their lives.

“The right thing never just happens; you have to make it happen.” Morgan knows her parents left her in boarding school so they could travel the world, which is why hardly anything changes when they’re killed in an accident during her freshman year at Fairfield. But every orphan needs a guardian, and Morgan’s is her uncle Tom, a famous and somewhat eccentric author. Tom’s New York City apartment has plenty of space for Morgan, and her room is the nicest one she’s ever seen, but her uncle, uncomfortable suddenly raising a fourteen-year-old girl, seems distant and preoccupied. Alone in an unfamiliar world, Morgan imagines what her school roommate, the popular and sarcastic Trinck, would think of everything. Would she approve of Morgan’s newly discovered love of reading or the friends she makes in New York? Slowly, Morgan makes a place for herself that is all her own and reflects on the person she is becoming—whether Trinck would like it or not.

After her father moves away, Laurie sends her love by mail The scariest thing Laurie has ever seen is a half-empty house, which she discovered the day her dad moved away. The divorce was a long time coming, but that didn’t make it hurt any less. To stay in touch with her father, Laurie’s mom forces her to write him a letter each week, keeping him updated on everything from quizzes and tests to parties and boys. At first, the letters are a chore, a painful reminder that Dad isn’t around anymore, but with every stamp she licks, Laurie finds herself growing up just a little bit more. This remarkable novel, told entirely through Laurie’s letters to her father, is a powerful story of divorce and renewal that proves it’s not impossible to love someone from afar.

The four March sisters each star in their own Christmas story. Will Meg, Jo, Beth, or Amy receive the heirloom brooch they each covet?

In these four ghostly tales, the March sisters must beware of the spirits of the dead.

When Claire fears her family might be falling apart, she knows she’ll have to fight her own battles—and she plans to win Always the beauty of the family and often the most ambitious, Claire Sebastian doesn’t feel sixteen, and she doesn’t dream of romance—she dreams of diamonds. Diamonds and emeralds and anything else that will pay for the best doctors to treat her sister Sybil, now an invalid after a terrible accident. Claire knows that her cheekbones and charm are her best assets, but she’ll also need a shrewd strategy if she’s going to save her family from their financial troubles. And she’s on her own: Her parents, Nicky and Megs, are completely wrapped up in Sybil’s recovery, and Claire’s sisters just aren’t as ruthless as she is. A visit with Aunt Grace and a chance look at an old photograph give Claire the ammunition she needs to pull off her plan. But as it starts to unfold, she realizes that people are going to get hurt . . . and one of them may be her.

When she refuses to let her friend''s death be called an accident, eleven-year-old Emily, an orphan, encounters the ingrained prejudices of the "best" families in town

When ten-year-old Meg receives an invitation to a friend''s picnic but Jo does not, Meg must decide whether to decline in loyalty to her sister or to follow her heart and attend.

Each of the March sisters tries to spend her tenth birthday in her own special way, and learns that growing up sometimes means putting others first.

Meredith, dreading an encounter with her cousin who always hits her and steps on her toes, fantasizes some imaginative disasters that might prevent their visit.

Reesa''s delight in winning the junior high school essay contest vanishes as soon as she learns she is expected to read her essay to an audience of 500 people.

In 1913 when she is sent to the Austen Home for Orphaned Girls, eleven-year-old Emily copes with her difficult circumstances with the help of the town librarian and the hope of finding her younger sister.

Laurie must choose between her average suburban life and one of fashion and glamour.

Amy March wants to be a great artist. She''s got the talent; now all she needs is a way to afford art lessons. Her solution: befriend her rich and snobby classmate, Jenny Snow, who''ll then invite Amy to sit in on her private art instructions. But Jenny can''t be bothered with Amy''s friendly overtures--until Diana Hughes, a new and extremely wealthy girl, chooses Amy as her friend. Now, Amy thinks Jenny will like her too. But the price of art lessons may be higher than Amy ever imagined....

Taryn realizes that the whispering she hears between her parents is really fighting, and she is worried that they may get a divorce. Her worry carries over to school, where she is accused of playing a nasty prank on one of her teachers. Her two closest friends have a perfect alibi, so they too wonder--did she do it? To prove her innocence, Taryn must investigate. She finds herself lying to cover up her parents'' problems, while trying to uncover what actually happened. Can Taryn clear her name as well as make things better at home?

Beth March receives a mysterious, but welcome, gift of new sheet music for the piano.

When twelve-year-old Darcy''s cousin April moves into the upstairs apartment and they become inseparable, Darcy has trouble with her former best friends and her schoolwork.

Amy recieves an expensive gift from a boy.

Told with understanding and humor and an evocation of real despair that will strike a chord of recognition in grade-school readers.--@BCCB^

Each of the girls has a choice to make about the beautiful brooch. Meg''s Christmas Dream: Meg would gladly exchange it for a gift for her father.... Jo''s Christmas Dream: Jo behaves like a total scrooge and must learn the true spirit of Christmas. Beth''s Christmas Dream: Beth discovers what her sisters'' and parents'' lives would have been like without her. Amy''s Christmas Dream: Always happy to receive presents, Amy surprises everyone when she bestows a gift to a poor little girl. This quartet of Christmas stories captures the joyful spirit of the holiday season.

Relates ten-year-old Beth''s exciting trip to pre-Civil War New York City with Marmee and Father.

In 1923, Alicia Martinez is thrilled to be cast in an epic film being produced in Hollywood by her best friend¿s father, but then mysterious events occur that threaten the completion of the movie as well as her safety. Includes black and white photographs and an author profile.

Sara Kate is disappointed that her super powers aren''t more heroic, until she uses her x-ray vision to make the school bully leave her alone.

Katie really wants to be the star of her third-grade class, but the noisy, mean atmosphere of her class makes it hard to decide how to use the three wishes given to her by an old magic lamp.

A group of high school students are suspended from school for publishing an underground newspaper that the principal finds objectionable.

Relates Betsy''s humorous efforts to keep a surprise birthday party for her twin sister a secret.

When her mother remarries, 16-year-old Leigh abandons her acting career and tries to lead the life of a normal teenager. She is coached by her 17-year-old stepbrother, homebound with hemophilia.

Although initially afraid that she''ll lose her best friend unless they prepare for their bat mitzvahs together, Becky undergoes a change in her thinking that puts much more than her friendship in jeopardy.

Through journal entries sixteen-year-old Miranda describes her family''s struggle to survive after a meteor hits the moon, causing worldwide tsunamis, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions.