Showing results by narrator "Merissa Czyz" in All Categories

Aria is raised by the Wind. She grew up in a castle, floating among the clouds with creatures of the air. She spends her days racing and soaring through the sky with her best friend, Gwyn, a young gryphling. At night, she falls asleep to the music of the Wind. One morning, Aria is woken by a frantic Gwyn. The chimes are silent, there is not a breath of breeze, and their castle has settled on the ground. The Wind has vanished. Aria and Gwyn go on a desperate search only to discover the Wind is being held captive by a sinister alchemist named Worton.

It’s early September 2001, and twelve-year-old Abbey is the new kid at school. Tennessee is her family’s latest stop in a series of moves based on her dad’s work in the Army, but this one might be different. For the first time, Abbey has found a real friend: loyal, courageous, athletic Camille. And then it’s September 11. The country is under attack, and Abbey’s “home” looks like it might fall apart. America has changed overnight.

Maddie and Chloe have always been best friends—until last year, when Chloe’s popularity and budding fame as an actor left Maddie in the dust one too many times. Their friendship is over, and they’re both ready to move on. But when the girls arrive at theater camp, they discover that the universe isn’t ready to let go of this friendship just yet: They’re cabinmates, and each of them has to spend the summer with her ex-best friend. Is it time to try again, or are they doomed to drift apart for good?

Emily has always excelled at sports, and her athletic abilities have given her confidence on and off the courts. So when she starts to drag during her middle-school volleyball season, she assumes it must be the flu. But after a particularly intense game, she finds herself riding in the back of an ambulance, a paramedic telling her that her life will never be the same. Adjusting to life with type 1 diabetes isn’t easy. Emily is desperate to prove that she’s just as strong and capable as ever, so she jumps at the opportunity to go on a backcountry ski trip with her dad.

Equal parts heartwarming and heartbreaking, Wrong Way Summer is a road-trip journey and coming-of-age story about one girl’s struggle to understand when a lie is really a lie, and when it’s something more: hope....

Roger the chick almost never gets the chance to do things on his own—he is always attached to his mother, Olive the hen, who prefers quiet naps to any kind of excitement. They even get borrowed together as Book Buddies at the library. But what Roger really wants is the chance for adventure. To make his little sister happy, eight-year-old Liam agrees to borrow Olive and Roger and bring them to the airport to pick up Grandpa. But when Liam is busy trying to show Grandpa he isn’t a little kid anymore, he loses track of Roger, who gets left behind at the airport.

Autistic seventh-grader Maggie Weir loves spacecraft, but aerospace engineering isn’t the only thing that gives her butterflies: she’s got a secret crush on an eighth grader—the amazing, baton-twirling Tatum Jones. And they’ve just teamed up for an engineering contest! It might be the perfect chance for Maggie to tell Tatum how she feels, except …

It’s a special day! Madeline Finn is taking Bonnie and Star to the Blessing of the Animals. When they arrive, they see dogs and cats. There’s even a goat! Madeline Finn watches closely as the Reverend Mary Alice spends time with every animal, giving each one their very own blessing. “How do you know what to say?” Madeline Finn wants to know. “Everyone has a blessing inside,” Miss Mary explains. “A special gift to share with the world.”

Shaindy Goodman feels awkward, overlooked. Across the street and in another league, elegant Gayil lives the life of a queen bee: gorgeous, liked and admired, the perfect Bais Yaakov Middle School girl. Even her school uniform looks chic. So it’s more than a shock when Shaindy sees Gayil in the window looking at her and holding a sign with five little words: want to know a secret? Gayil’s found a way to break into their school after hours and asks Shaindy to help pull off a series of harmless pranks in their classroom. But mischief soon becomes malice.