Stephanie S. Tolan

This third story about the madcap family introduced in Stephanie Tolan's Newbery Honor Book Surviving the Applewhites features even more outlandish adventures and will appeal to fans of the Applewhites and those meeting them for the first time.E.D. and Jake are doing their best to forget their bewildering kiss--after all, they're practically family--and get back to "normal" life with the decidedly abnormal, highly creative Applewhites.When the family's biggest fan, Jeremy Bernstein, pulls up to Wit's End in an "Art Bus," he brings with him a proposal for an Education Expedition: a cross-country road trip, educational quest, and video-documented competition for a big cash prize. Jeremy also drags along his troubled but beautiful niece, Melody. She'll be joining the expedition with her own rebellious flair, much to Jake's delight . . . and E.D.'s exasperation.With characteristic Applewhite enthusiasm, the artists face disastrous performances, fainting goats, and some very bad ideas--but can they make it through the road trip in one piece?

This powerful adaptation supported by a lyrical score focuses the humor warmth and emotional intensity of Katherine Paterson's Newbery Award-winning novel. Jesse alienated from the pragmatism of his family and rural Virginian culture draws and dreams of becoming something special. Leslie the new girl from the city and the ultimate outsider opens a world of imagination art and literature for him. Together they create Terabithia a fantasy kingdom where they are safe from those who don't

Jack Semple and E.D. Applewhite are back, in this middle-grade sequel to Stephanie S. Tolan's Newbery Honor Book Surviving the Applewhites.Teenager E.D., the not so artistic, not at all eccentric member of the unconventional Applewhite clan, can't believe the plan her father has hatched to save the family from financial disaster. He's decided to transform their rural North Carolina farm into a summer camp for creative children.Soon the farm is packed with temperamental artists, out-of-control campers, and an even more out-of-control goat. It's all a little too much for structure-loving E.D., even before threatening notes begin appearing in the family mailbox. Together with Jake Semple--the boy who survived his first year in the Applewhites' home school--she's determined to save the camp and the family from disaster.Like Carl Hiassan's Chomp, Applewhites at Wit's End combines outrageous humor and the frustrations and joys of being part of a family.

The side-splittingly funny Newbery Honor Book about a rebellious boy who is sent to a home-schooling program run by one family--the creative, kooky, loud, and loving Applewhites Jake Semple is notorious. Rumor has it he managed to get kicked out of every school in Rhode Island, and actually burned the last one down to the ground. Only one place will take him now, and that's a home school run by the Applewhites, a chaotic and hilarious family of artists: poet Lucille, theater director Randolph, dancer Cordelia, and dreamy Destiny. The only one who doesn't fit the Applewhite mold is E.D.--a smart, sensible girl who immediately clashes with the defiant Jake.Jake thinks surviving this new school will be a breeze . . . but is he really as tough or as bad as he seems?

Charley knows a lot about pain. She endures it when she walks on her newly shattered leg, she sees it when her father buries himself in an eighty-hour work week, and she runs from it when she sees photographs her mother took before her death. Then one day, Charley meets a wild, abused dog that knows as much about pain as she does, and, despite herself, she feels an immediate connection and vows to help him. But how will one heartbroken girl help mend the battered spirit of an untamable dog?

This book has become a classic in the fields of gifted education and gifted psychology. For years, parents have referred to it as "the Dr. Spock book for parents of gifted children." Gifted children have unique social and emotional concerns, and this book provides the guidance that parents need to support them. Each chapter features problems or issues common to gifted children and their families. Topics include communication, discipline, friends, sibling rivalry, and educational needs.