Winter-Broken

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Michelle Baldini, Lynn Biederman

THE SMART THING Is to Prepare for the Unexpected.So reads the fortune cookie fortune that Amanda receives at the beginning of her family's vacation to Florida. Amanda knows all about preparing for the unexpected--her mother, whom she calls The Captain, is always hard on Amanda, and it's just when Amanda lets her guard down that the very worst comes through. Looking for acceptance, Amanda turns her attention to boys, and doing whatever she can to be popular at school. That includes making out with the gorgeous senior Rick in his car after school--even though he has a girlfriend. And when Rick offers her The Deal--a real, official date to the Homecoming in front of everyone, in exchange for her virginity--Amanda jumps at the chance. But no matter how you try to prepare for the unexpected, sometimes you can't. Sharp, chatty, and brutally honest, this debut novel is compulsively readable and heartbreakingly real.From the Hardcover edition.

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Diane Ganzer and Sammy St. Croix

"Ricky is a young llama with a yearning to see what lies beyond the borders of his farm. With his animal friends, he decides to find out, despite what the wise owl and old ewe tell him, that he has a role to fulfill on the farm. It is during this adventure that a summer storm breaks out, nearly destroying the farm as he knows it. Lost on a river, it is Ricky's chance to prove that being an adventurer is less important than being responsible. Unfortunately, he learns this lesson the hard way, when his own life as well as the lives of his friends are in peril, and there looks to be no way out of his predicament. What will it take to bring Ricky home safe? In the aftermath of the tornado's fury, will there even be a home for him to return to?"--