Showing results by author "Patricia Reilly Giff" in All Categories

SEWING! NO ONE could hate it more than Dina Kirk. Endless tiny stitches, button holes, darts. Since she was tiny, she’s worked in her family’s dressmaking business, where the sewing machine is a cranky member of the family. When 13-year-old Dina leaves her small town in Germany to join her...

Who is Sam, and what do his strange dreams mean? The shock of icy water as a boat crashes onto rocks feels real; so does the castle high above him that is almost hidden in the mists. And what about the number eleven woven into all those dreams? The papers Sam finds in the locked box in the attic...

This “brilliantly told” (New York Times) Newbery Honor Book gives readers a sense of what it was like to be on the American home front while our soldiers were away fighting in World War II. As in past years, Lily will spend the summer in Rockaway, in her family’s summer house by the...

Nory Ryan's family has lived on Maidin Bay on the west coast of Ireland for generations, raising a pig and a few chickens, planting potatoes, getting by. Every year Nory's father goes away on a fishing boat and returns with the rent money for the English lord who owns their cottage and fields...

This Newbery Honor book about a girl who has never known family fighting for her first true home “will leave readers . . . satisfied” (Kirkus Reviews). Hollis Woods is the place where a baby was abandoned is the baby’s name is an artist is now a twelve-year-old girl who’s been in so many...

Rachel, Cassie, and Joey live in the city with their Pop, until Pop's search for work lands the family on a run down farm. Dreamy Rachel loves to read, and doesn't know much about the country. Times are hard there, too—the school and library are closed. When Pop gets work near Canada, he has...

Brooklyn, 1875: Bird Mallon lives on Water Street where you can see the huge towers of the bridge to Manhattan being built. Bird wants nothing more in life than to be brave enough to be a healer, like her mother, Nory, to help her sister Annie find love, and to convince her brother, Hughie, to...

We will dance on the cliffs of Brooklyn. Maggie’s Door is the story of the journey from Ireland to America told by both Nory and her neighbor and friend Sean Red Mallon, two different stories with the same destination—the home of Nory’s sister Maggie, at 416 Smith Street, Brooklyn, America...

1944 Meggie Dillon’s life has been turned upside down by World War II. Her older brother Eddie enlisted and was shipped off to fight in Europe. And people say that anywhere else Grandpa would be turned in because he’s German, and people might think he’s a spy. Is it true? Could Grandpa be...

This heart-wrenching novel in verse describes the life of a poor girl surviving the Irish Land War and the everyday challenges she experiences.

It's 1944, W.W. II is raging. Jayna's big brother Rob is her only family. When Rob is called to duty on a destroyer, Jayna is left in their small town in upstate New York with their cranky landlady. But right before he leaves, Rob tells Jayna a secret: they may have a grandmother in Brooklyn...

A contemporary and irresistible story from Patricia Reilly Giff Lidie lives in Jales, Brazil, where she’s free to ride, to be a wild girl, and to dream of going to live with her father and older brother, Rafael, in New York City. Finally Lidie is 12—time to leave Brazil for New York...

In the fourth book in the Zigzag Kids series, it's showtime at the Zelda A. Zigzag Afternoon Center. Gina loves to sing and she's determined to be the star of the play. She's already told everybody she knows to come see her. But her friend Destiny wants to be the star, too!...

In Kidnap at the Catfish Café, Minnie's detective business is kind of slow - until one day a stray cat drops into her life, along with her first case. Soon Minnie is investigating a crime wave, and she's hot on the trail of a thief who would steal anything - even a cat!

It’s Discovery Week at the Zigzag Afternoon Center! Everyone writes their discoveries on a big sheet of paper in the hallway. But Destiny Washington can’t think of anything new to discover. Before she knows it, Destiny has told a BIG whopper. And snooty Gina, who’s great at discovering...

Follow the humorous mishaps of a second grader who is learning to read. Nothing's going right for Ronald—he drops his pencils, inadvertently squirts water on Joy’s dress, mistakenly eats Jimmy’s sandwich, misses the ball during recess, loses his ice cream money, and drops Miss Tyler’s...

Jubilee lives with her beloved aunt Cora and her faithful dog on a beautiful island. Years ago, when her mother left, Jubilee stopped talking. Now she communicates entirely through gestures, taps, and by drawing cartoons, speaking only when she's alone - or with Dog. This year, Jubilee faces a big change - leaving her small, special classroom for a regular fifth grade class. She likes her new teacher, and finds a maybe-friend in a boy named Mason. But Jubilee's wandering feet won't stop until they find her mother.

Number One Kid. That’s what Mitchell McCabe’s favorite T-shirt says. He’d like to be Number One at the Zigzag Afternoon Center, where there are lots of fun activities to choose from: swimming, nature walks, field trips, art, even homework help. But Mitchell is worried. What if he’s the...

"Featuring intrepid girl detective Minnie and helpful cat assistant Max, this vocal adaptation of Giff's story concerns a hotly contested pigeon race and some mildly sinister goings-on. Reader Dana Lubotsky has precisely the right vocal quality, suggesting a touch of uncertainty here, a bit of brashness there. The length is perfect: long enough to develop realistic details yet short enough to hold young listeners' attention for the duration." (Booklist)

This week the kids at the Zigzag Afternoon Center are being creative, and trying new things. But that's not so easy for Destiny. All of her ideas turn into disasters—until she finds out what a good poet she is. The sixth book in award-winning author Patricia Reilly Giff's Zigzag Kids series...