Betsy Byars

Convinced that Mud is responsible for the disappearance of the school hamster that was his responsibility for the weekend, Junior Blossom is determined that the dog should be tried for his "crime."

As they wait out a tornado in their storm cellar, a family listens to their farmhand tell stories about the dog that was blown into his life by another tornado when he was a boy.

With a young brother in the hospital, a grandfather in jail, and their mother traveling with a rodeo, Maggie and Vern try to settle family problems.

When Boo brings home a dinosaur that only she can see, her brother Sammy, doesn't want to encourage her antics. Boo and her dinosaur are inseparable until Boo says good-bye to the dino quite suddenly. When Sammy sees how sad his sister is, he understands Boo's need for her dinosaur more than he wants to admit. So much so that he almost believes it ... almost. Betsy Byars has written many chapter books, including Little Horse and Little Horse on...

You can't always decide where life will take you—especially when you're a kid. Carlie knows she's got no say in what happens to her. Stuck in a foster home with two other kids, Harvey and Thomas J, she's just a pinball being bounced from bumper to bumper. As soon as you get settled, somebody puts another coin in the machine and off you go again. But against her will and her better judgment, Carlie and the boys become friends. And all three of them...

Retta, Johnny, and Roy have no parental rules to follow, so they've made up their own. After their mother passes away, Retta, Johnny, and Roy don't have much parenting in their lives. Their dad is a country singer who keeps them well fed but isn't around much. Older sister Retta takes control, leading her brothers on all sorts of unwise adventures and promising that one day they'll have money, safety, and a nice home. When their dad is away performing...

When Sammy must spend weeks alone with his grandfather, he learns that the old man isn't quite as boring as he thought... When his parents leave for Detroit, Sammy is left alone with his out-of-touch grandfather in a dull, creaky house. All Sammy wants to do is run away to rejoin his folks. But Grandpa's world holds a few surprises, including a majestic crane found in the woods with a broken wing. Sammy finds himself seeing his grandfather's world...

Anna's role in her family of gospel singers is an important one - far away from the stage. Every member of the Glory family is blessed with abundant musical talent. Everyone, that is, except for Anna. She can't sing or play an instrument, so the family counts on her to sell their music at performances. Naturally, she feels completely left out. When her black sheep Uncle Newt is released from prison, Anna feels oddly close to him, even though they've...

From the depths of the sewers comes a monster so gargantuan that no fishbowl can hold it. Warren Otis wants to make horror films when he grows up. But as an eight-year-old boy, he has to settle for imagining movies instead of making them. He's thought up some real nightmares, including Bubbles, an innocent goldfish flushed down the toilet and exposed to a chemical that turned her into a one-ton monster. Warren's life sometimes feels like it's a bad...

"A dinosaur! A new dinosaur!" Boo shouted. "This dinosaur left me a big surprise." Boo is excited to receive a giant egg-and to find out what's inside! Her brother, Sammy, is not-but he is still willing to help her after the egg hatches into a lovable baby dinosaur. Is it all Boo's imagination or not? The youngest chapter book reader will want to find out in this wonderfully imaginative sequel to Boo's Dinosaur.