New Releases by Susan Patron

The residents of Hard Pan, California, come together to help Brigitte and Lucky when the County Health Department threatens to close down the cafe, and meantime Miles''s life is complicated by his mother''s return.

Newbery Award-winning author Susan Patron brings her talents to the beloved Dear America series in this exciting story of a girl growing up in the Wild West, in a California gold mining town.Growing up in the wild gold-mining town of Bodie, California, in the 1880s, Angeline Reddy has seen it all -- saloons, brawls, and a whole lot of desperation. When her father, Bodie''s greatest lawyer, is declared murdered, Angie knows deep in her heart that he isn''t dead and decides it is up to her to solve the mystery of what happened to him. But when her mother takes ill and a mysterious ghost appears, putting together the puzzle pieces seems impossible. Not to mention, a gang of vigilantes, the 601, is raging out of control, running folks out of town, and nobody seems safe. Will Angie, with the help of her friends Ellie and Ling Loi, and the mysterious and tragically handsome Antoine, be able to uncover the secret of her father''s disappearance?

"Eleven is much more intrepid than only ten." On the eve of her eleventh birthday, Lucky wants to let loose and become intrepid; she''s ready for life to change. But Hard Pan (population 43) drones on like it always has: Lincoln all tied up in knotty matters, Miles newly diagnosed as a genius but as needy as ever, Brigitte running her Café and trying to figure out what it means to be American. Enter Paloma, tagging along on a visit to Hard Pan with a pack of hungry geologists. She''s smart and pretty and fun -- definitely best-friend material. But will Lucky be able to cope with tomato worms, Short Sammy''s mysterious box, the potential for disaster when Paloma''s parents visit Hard Pan, and Lincoln''s fame among knot tyers of the world? Lucky''s intrepidness is put to the test in this satisfying sequel to the Newbery Award-winning The Higher Power of Lucky.

A Literature Kit. This Newberry Medal winner story is about the adventures of Lucky Trimble, a young girl living in the small desert town of Hard Pan, CA. When Luckys mother dies, her fathers first wife, Brigitte, arrives from France to temporarily look after her. For Lucky, life is a constant search for her higher power something which she hears a lot about when eavesdropping on the Smokers Anonymous and Alcoholics Anonymous meetings. Lucky is in constant fear that Brigitte is planning to away and send her to an orphanage. In order to thwart her guardians plans, Lucky runs away from home and during this great misadventure she inadvertently saves the life a child. Their relationship is resolved when Brigitte reveals she is not moving away.

the jam in the sandwich Sometimes that''s how PK feels, squeezed in between her supersmart older sister, Megan, and her superadorable younger sister, Rabbit -- especially now, with Megan almost a teenager and becoming impossible, and Rabbit worrying about going to kindergarten. Why can''t people stay the same? But there''s an even bigger change afoot: Mama has decided they should move to a larger apartment. How can they leave behind the big blue chair that''s almost like a member of the family? But maybe, just maybe, in a new home PK can find out what makes her as special as her sisters.

Lucky, age ten, can''t wait another day. The meanness gland in her heart and the crevices full of questions in her brain make running away from Hard Pan, California (population 43), the rock-bottom only choice she has. It''s all Brigitte''s fault -- for wanting to go back to France. Guardians are supposed to stay put and look after girls in their care! Instead Lucky is sure that she''ll be abandoned to some orphanage in Los Angeles where her beloved dog, HMS Beagle, won''t be allowed. She''ll have to lose her friends Miles, who lives on cookies, and Lincoln, future U.S. president (maybe) and member of the International Guild of Knot Tyers. Just as bad, she''ll have to give up eavesdropping on twelve-step anonymous programs where the interesting talk is all about Higher Powers. Lucky needs her own -- and quick. But she hadn''t planned on a dust storm. Or needing to lug the world''s heaviest survival-kit backpack into the desert.

A cumulative rhyme relates the sequence of events that takes place before Daddy can get into the car where he has locked his keys.

Bobbin Dustdobbin, who lives in the dust under Billy Que''s bed, fears for her safety when five bad boys propose to sweep out Billy''s house in honor of his birthday.

Old Billy is shrunk to the size of a teaspoon by a ball of dust that cannot tolerate being trampled, and he is told that he will stay that way unless he can persuade five boys to give him five gifts.

In this variant of "Stone Soup," old Billy Que tames a group of rough hungry boys.