For fans of Gillian Flynn, Caroline Cooney, and R.L. Stine comes The Dark and Deadly Pool from four-time Edgar Allen Poe Young Adult Mystery Award winner Joan Lowery Nixon. Liz enjoys her summer pool job at the glamorous Ridley Hotel. Until the dark and lonely night when a ghastly shadow surges up from the pool. A face—eyes wide, mouth gaping—stares at Liz. A hand clutches at her sneaker. Then it, whatever it is, is gone. But danger isn’t. Strange things are happening at the hotel, and a shaken Liz wants to know why. But whoever is behind the trouble will stop at nothing—not even murder—to get what he wants. “[A] suspenseful mystery, rounded out with touches of humor and romance.” –Publishers Weekly

For fans of Gillian Flynn, Caroline Cooney, and R.L. Stine comes Nobody’s There from four-time Edgar Allen Poe Young Adult Mystery Award winner Joan Lowery Nixon. Furious at her father for breaking up their family, Abbie Thompson acted without thinking and got arrested for malicious mischief. Now the judge has assigned her to volunteer in a program that matches teens with the elderly. But Abbie doesn’t get just any elderly person. She gets Edna Merkel, a cranky, difficult woman who’s a member of the town’s crime prevention group. In fact, Mrs. Merkel is too active a member, and after she brags that she’s on to something big, she is attacked and ends up hospitalized. Suddenly the private investigator game is real, and only Abbie—with the help of Mrs. Merkel’s indecipherable notebook—can figure out who did it. But will Abbie get to the assailant before the assailant gets to her? “Fast-paced and involving.” –Kirkus Reviews “Well drawn and distinct…Nixon’s fans will no doubt enjoy.” –School Library Journal “Another great mystery.” –VOYA

For fans of Gillian Flynn, Caroline Cooney, and R.L. Stine comes The Weekend was Murder! from four-time Edgar Allen Poe Young Adult Mystery Award winner Joan Lowery Nixon. Mary Elizabeth can’t wait for the weekend to begin at the Ridley Hotel, where a famous mystery writer and a troupe of actors are coming to enact a murder mystery for 150 amateur sleuths. Mary Elizabeth’s role is to discover the “body” in Room 1927, which is supposed to be haunted. But nothing prepares her for the real body she finds in Room 1927… “A masterfully constructed, engaging read that…[is] ingeniously plotted, fast-paced and lighthearted.” –Publishers Weekly “Fans will love wading through the myriad details and placing bets on the outcome.” –Kirkus Reviews “Mystery fans will…enjoy trying to solve the various crimes.” –School Library Journal

Moving and inspiring stories of the immigrant experience are offered up in this eOmni edition comprised of three novels from Joan Lowery Nixon’s historical fiction series, Ellis Island. Each story features a unique teenage girl’s perspective—one from Russia, one from Ireland, and one from Sweden. In Land of Hope, Russian immigrant Rebekah Levinsky settles with her family on the Lower East Side of New York and soon realizes that the roads are not paved with gold. In Land of Promise, Irish immigrant Rose Carney arrives in Chicago to a life filled with family responsibilities that impede on her dreams of independence. And in Land of Dreams, Swedish immigrant Kristin Swensen’s family lives on a farm in Minnesota, but her parents still cling to the life they’d known in Sweden. Follow their journeys as Rebekah, Rose, and Kristin—and their families— struggle to find the courage, faith, and resilience they’ll need to conquer the odds, find their independence, and realize the American dream.

School and public libraries often provide programs and activities for children in preschool through the sixth grade, but there is little available to young adults. For them, libraries become a place for work—the place to research an assignment or find a book for a report—but the thought of the library as a place for enjoyment is lost. So how do librarians recapture the interest of teenagers? This just might be the answer. Here you will find theme-based units (such as Cartoon Cavalcade, Log On at the Library, Go in Style, Cruising the Mall, Space Shots, Teens on TV, and 44 others) that are designed for young adults. Each includes a display idea, suggestions for local sponsorship of prizes, a program game to encourage participation, 10 theme-related activities, curriculum tie-in activities, sample questions for use in trivia games or scavenger hunts, ideas for activity sheets, a bibliography of related works, and a list of theme-related films. The units are highly flexible, allowing any public or school library to adapt them to their particular needs.

It's 1861, and although Mike Kelly is far younger than the legal age of 16, he and his best friend Todd secretly join up with the Second Kansas Infantry and become army drummer boys. Mike's dreams of glory end when he's wounded at the bloody Battle of Wilson's Creek and must begin a dangerous adventure behind enemy lines.

Explains how teachers and librarians can steer students to the literature they love by focusing on three key areas: knowing the readers, knowing the books, and knowing the strategies to motivate students to read.