Life isn't easy for ancient vampires trying to blend in with regular people in a new city -- and if those vampires are schoolkids?  That's a whole different story.

 

The Livingstone kids are fruit bat hybrids who have left the Old World dangers -- and immortality -- behind for a "normal" life in New York City.  But normal doesn't necessarily mean easy, especially with lingering vampire traits complicating things.

 

Lexie's super speed, amazing strength and unfortunate poetry-quoting habit embarrass her in front of her classmates, and worse -- her secret crush.

 Hudson can fly like a bat and is determined to save the planet, but with a vocabulary from the wrong century, he doesn't fit in with the other fourth-graders.

 

Maddy has a hard time sticking to her new vegan diet, and an even harder time convincing her siblings that the new neighbors are blood-drinking (i.e., rule-breaking) vampires
 

"Goths-in-training will be delighted."  -- Booklist 

 

Irene dreams of owning a fashionable salon in L.A., but reality is harsh: She's just been fired from her mom's beauty parlor, and now she's stuck babysitting.  It seems like everyone else is having a glamorous summer.  Will Irene ever get a life?

Then she meets Starla, a mind-bogglingly beautiful life-guard, whose diva attitude, dangerous obsessions and fiery blog supply Irene with enough drama to make living vicariously exciting.  But little does Irene know that while she's observing Starla, she's being noticed herself.  And her blah summer gets downright complicated when Starla's crush gets a crush on Irene and kids Irene's in charge of take charge of her....Can Irene find the guts to be the heroine of her own drama?

"A funny, thoughtfully layered novel."  -- The Horn Book Magazine 

"Griffin has created vivid scenes, believable dilemmas, and satisfying human characters in this novel of self-discovery."  -- School Library Journal
 

Once Jane was the big sister, teaching Lily to play make-believe and protecting her from thunderstorms. But then Lily grew up. She started making friends and dating boys, while Jane wanted to go on playing make-believe forever. For Jane, the line between fantasy and reality had always been blurred, whereas Lily lived for her bright future. Inevitably, the sisters found a gulf widening between them--Lily with her newfound love, while Jane could only watch, frustrated, from the sidelines. Then tragedy struck. But the story was not over ...

 

"The book weaves the past and ghostly present into the story as the line between imagination and reality, life and death, blurs for the characters and readers alike in this powerful story." -- Kirkus, starred review

 

"A tender and nuanced exploration of sisterhood and self." -- The Bulletin for the Center of Children's Books

 

"Griffin overlays her story with a supernatural patina that will immediately draw in the audience." -- Booklist, starred review

 

A 2005 National Book Award Finalist * Kirkus Reviews Editor's Choice * An ALA Best Book for Young Adults

Gray is one of the Lucky Seven, the group every girl at Fielding Academy wants to belong to. But those inside this enchanted circle know it's often less about feeling accepted and more about watching your step. Of the Seven, Gray is the quietest, the most vulnerable, the easiest target for others. And tonight she disappears. As the girls search for Gray, some of them worry. Others have secrets they're not telling, even to the police. And as the truth gets harder to hide, the Lucky Seven is in danger of falling apart. As for Gray, she's going to need all of her courage to just to survive the night.

 

"The author's characterizations of girls walking the thin line between childhood and adolescence are brilliant. This unsettling, memorable novel will have readers riveted." -- Voya

 

"The story moves quickly through its tension filled pages ... readers will certainly recognize the characters in this insightful version of the universal story of ostracism and manipulation among preteens."
-- School Library Journal

Math prodigy Hannah Bennett is uneasy about leaving her family and her life on their dairy farm to study for a scholarship in Philadelphia. But such opportunities are rare for a girl in 1934, and going to school in the city is like realizing a dream--at a price.

 

City life is lonely. The snobby girls are cruel, and Joe, a fellow scholarship student, is teasing and unpredictable. Hannah has her own problems. As compulsive number counter, she imposes rules on herself, sometimes at the expense of her own peace. With the big scholarship test looming and her family wanting her back home, Hannah must find the right equation that determines where she belongs in the world.

"A marvelous job. . . . It is a celebration."  -- Booklist, starred review

 

"Engaging pop-culture details flesh out a period setting ... Readers who take this opportunity to look at the past through Hannah's eyes will take comfort in seeing their passions--and quirks--reflected here."  -- Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

High school freshman Delia Blaine is fascinated by her new friend, Amandine. An artist, a dancer, an actress, Amandine never fails to astonish Delia with her bold, thrilling antics. Her skits and stories keep the school day fun and unpredictable, and draw shy Delia into a compelling word of make-believe.

But as the games get more daring and strange, and Amandine's stories become disturbing and wild, Delia begins to mistrust, and then to fear Amandine. But it is not until Delia finds the strength to break away that she realizes how tightly Amandine has pulled her in, as she must face down Amandine's twisted revenge. 

 

"The author takes well-worn stereotypes--the fat, friendless girl and the malevolent temptress and makes them seem much more: more real, more vulnerable, more scary." -- Booklist, starred review.

 

"Shades of the psychological eeriness and taut suspense of Margaret Atwood's Cat's Eye ... a riveting cautionary tale."
-- Publishers Weekly, starred review.

"Beautifully told and emotionally honest." -- Kirkus Reviews

"Amandine is Young Adult literature at its best." -- Voya

 

A Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year * An ALA Best Book for Young Adults * An ALA Quick Pick

Eleven-year-old Ben and his older brother Dustin have never been close. In fact, they could not be more different. Ben's always had an easy relationship with Dustin's dad, Lyle, while Dustin prefers to hold himself "outside touching distance." So when Ben's restless mother, and then Dustin, decide to leave the only place he has ever called home, Ben refuses to follow.

 

Now Dustin has been in a diving accident, and Ben and Lyle must go to him. For Ben, the journey brings the chance to face his long-absent mother and to confront Dustin, an elusive figure that he has alternately worshipped and resented, whose soul is more troubled than Ben can understand.

"...powerful and moving. Dive soars." -- Five Owls

 

"... An unusually moving and gracefully written novel than offers a memorable portrait of a blended family in crisis." -- School Library Journal

 

"The author has a talent for emotional imagery asserts itself throughout." -- Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

Thirteen-year old Holland Shepard and her younger sister, Geneva, are the late-in-life offspring of parents whose first three children died in a car accident. The girls never knew their older siblings, whose presence still casts a shadow over their Greenwich Village townhouse. Into this world comes Annie, a free-spirited artist who opens the girls' eyes on the wider world. Under Annie's eye, the sisters own lives expand, from exploring their colorful city to sneaking off to the tropical island where their older siblings died. It is there that the girls come to terms with their tragic past, and learn the truth about the mysterious Annie's identity.  

 

"In a powerful blending of elements ... the story offers a resounding affirmation that fears are to be faced, not denied, and that life is to be lived, not mourned." -- Publishers' Weekly, starred review

 

"Carefully drafted in both plot and language, this book shows the heights that popular literature can scale." -- Booklist, starred review.

 

"Both life-affirming and wise, this extraordinary tale will haunt readers as surely as the 'other Shepards' haunt the waking and sleeping dreams of these unforgettable sisters."  -- The New York Times Book Review

 

A School Library Journal best Book * A Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books Blue Ribbon Book * An ALA Notable Children's Book * An ALA Best Book for Young Adults * A Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year * A Book Links Lasting Connection Book *

A Booklist Editor's Choice

Nobody knows the American Revolution better than Rock Kindle. He can name every soldier, spy, and battlefield of this war. Rock's belief that he himself could brave any battle often helps him through the bad times, when Rock's own father wages small, cruel wars on the rest of the family. But when his best friend, Liza, decides to run away from home, Rock begins to question his own loyalties. Why, he wonders, is own desire to escape his family so powerful? 

 

"The pointedly jarring dialogue and keen ear for adolescent jargon have a magnetic quality few readers will be able to resist."
- Publishers Weekly, starred review

 

"[A] chilling novel about the dark side of loyalty and love within a family." -- The Horn Book Review

 

A 1997 National Book Award Finalist * An ALA Best Book for Young Adults * An ALA Quick Pick * An IRA Children's Choice Award

Danny's mother has always been a little dramatic. Evidence: Danny's name is short for Dandelion. How embarrassing! Her mother never seems to leave the stage, and loves to exaggerates reality with a zillion meandering stories, has never been a problem ... until now. Danny thinks her mother is hiding the truth about Danny's father and their past. A lighthearted story about how two smart, creative people can come to terms with their past in order to imagine their futures. 

 

"Griffin creates a pair of appealing characters: the elder breezy, vivacious, and funny; the younger quieter, taller, and in several ways the more mature of the two. Some comic twists also lighten the load, as does an upbeat ending and Danny and Susan's emergence from the crisis even closer than they were before." -- Kirkus Reviews

Parents Choice Gold Award * New York Public Library Children's Book of 1997--100 titles for Reading and Sharing * Bank Street College Book of the Year.

Twelve-year-old Lane watches and worries over her brother, Charlie, who's always acting crazy. And lately, news of unrest in the Zone--the area around the army base in Panama where she lives--is making her more anxious than ever. But while President Carter's decision to return the Canal is upsetting everyone around her, Lane is more troubled by the secrets her family is keeping. As tensions mount and Charlie starts to spin completely out of control, Lane must determine whether she has the power to confront her family's past.

"Ambitiously conceived and sharply observed, this debut novel points to a promising new talent." --Publishers Weekly, starred review

Ten-year-old twins Claire and Luna look exactly alike on the outside, but inside the girls are as different as popcorn and peanut-butter! In four Witch Twins adventures, the girls are helped by their Grandy--a.k.a. Head Witch Arianna of Bramblewine--as they learn the power of sisterhood while earning their witch stars.

"Two novice Philadelphia witches discover both that magic is harder to control than it seems, and that they're not as inseparable as they thought, in this lighthearted family story with a twist." -- Kirkus Reviews

 

"Griffin elevates every genre she writes, and that's true of this satisfying piece of middle-grade fiction. There's all the fun of family hijinks painted with a patina of magic." -- Booklist

 

"The magical and realistic elements are smoothly integrated; the middle grade voices are tellingly reproduced."
-- the Horn Book

Claire and Luna's father is getting remarried! The problem is that Fluffy, their step-mom-to-be, is from Texas. Does that mean their father is moving? Can the twins come up with a magic spell that will put a stop to this dreaded wedding?

It's summertime, and that means camp for the twins! While Claire loves-loves-loves all sports, Luna would rather hide out in the infirmary. Luckily, Grandy has given Luna some marigold powder so that she'll have more zest for camp. But when the powder disappears and strange things start to happen at Camp Bliss, the twins must hunt down the rebel witch who's been sprinkling zest where it doesn't belong.

When Hollywood child movie star Melody Malady arrives in Philadelphia to shoot her latest film, the twins learn that Melody is a twin, too. While Claire becomes instantly star-struck by her new glamor pal, Luna would rather be friends with genealogist genius Dolores. The question is, will the twins' own friendship survive?

A ghost is haunting the Scottish castle Glenn Bly, and it's up to the visiting twins to catch him. But that's not the only problem. The castle's landlords, the awful Lord and Lady Shrillingbird, want to kick out the castle tenants in order to make Glenn Bly their permanent home. And when the twins learn a bit more about handsome ghost Percival, the real mystery begins...