Noonie's masterpiece in purple

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Beverly Cleary

To the delight of Ramona Quimby readers everywhere, Newbery Medal-winning author Beverly Cleary has just made Ramona's world a little bit bigger.As she starts the fourth grade, Ramona believes that this year will be "the best year of her life, so far." She can show off her calluses from swinging on the rings in the park; the boy she calls Yard Ape sits across the aisle from her; her teacher praises her writing; and she has a new baby sister, Roberta. But best of all, she has a new best friend, Daisy.Little does Ramona know the challenges her fourth-grade year holds in store. Not only must she improve her rotten spelling, but she must also be a good role model for baby Roberta. And her mother wants her to spend more time with the awful Susan.Life isn't easy, especially when she is surrounded by perfect spellers and everyone praises her big sister, Beezus, for being responsible. Sometimes Ramona fails, often with hilarious results. But with the support of family and friends, she discovers something reassuring -- that being imperfect can be perfectly fine.

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Erin Lynn

Being a teenager can be hell-especially when you're friends with someone who was born there. Kenzie Sutcliffe woke up to another normal morning-until a demon popped up in her shower. While trying to get rid of a monster zit, she dropped her acne lotion in the tub. And when fifty bucks' worth of it swirled down the drain, it freed a demon from his prison portal. A mysteriously geeky-looking demon. So now Kenzie is saddled with a creature who looks and acts like every other guy she knows-that is, annoying. At least Levi has a job-if you can call it that. He has to stir up envy and jealousy in humans, or he starves. All he's tempting Kenzie to do is to crawl back into her bedroom and hide there forever. Because no one is going to be coveting her life after this.

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Johanna Hurwitz

Five-year-old Elisa has an older brother and a new baby brother, but her elderly neighbor says the middle is the best, just like the filling in a sandwich.

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Lauren Lee

Hoping to be accepted by a popular seventh-grade clique, a Korean-American girl is embarrassed by her family's heritage--until a series of events gives her a better sense of who she is.