Rachel, having chosen to be mute following the sudden death of a classmate, shares responsibility with the other sixth-graders who decide not to report that the substitute teacher failed to show up.

Sometimes Charity cannot control her body and because she has low-functioning autism, Charity cannot communicate her thoughts to anyone else, even though she feels all of the frustrations, fears, and doubts of a typical thirteen-year-old.

TRUTH IS THE HARBINGER OF HELL. What if every time you told the truth, evil followed? My name is Melody Fisher. My daddy was a snake handler in Appalachia until Mama died. Though years have passed, I can still hear the rattle before the strike that took her from me. And it's all my fault. Since then, I've been passed around from foster home to foster home. I didn't think anything could be as bad as losing Mama. I was wrong. But I will not speak of...

A giraffe is a safe guardian, an elephant a playmate, and bears become trusted friends on the pages of I am Mallorie. Delightful story book animals created with greenscreen photography illustrate the feelings and life of Mallorie, a happy and brave little girl that has been diagnosed with selective mutism, an uncommon anxiety disorder that affects her ability to speak in some social situations. Her symptoms were undetected until she was about three...

In a near-future society that claims to have gotten rid of all monstrous people, a creature emerges from a painting seventeen-year-old Jam's mother created, a hunter from another world seeking a real-life monster. There are no monsters anymore. In the city of Lucille, Jam and her best friend, Redemption, have grown up with this lesson all their lives. Then Jam meets Pet, a creature made of horns and colors and claws, who emerges from one of her mother's...

For most of her eleven years, Delly has been in trouble without knowing why, until her little brother, RB, and a strange, silent new friend, Ferris, help her find a way to be good--and happy--again.

"Fifth-grader Cally Louise Fisher stops talking, partly because her father and brother never speak of her mother who died a year earlier, but visions of her mother, friendships with a homeless man and a disabled boy, and a huge dog ensure that she still communicates."--Title page verso.

"Parallel plotlines set in different times, one told in text and one in art, inform each other as a young girl unravels the mystery of a ghost next door"-- Provided by publisher. 1982: Mary is a lonely orphan at the Thornhill Institute For Children at the very moment that it's shutting its doors. When her few friends are all adopted or re-homed and she's left to face a volatile bully alone, her revenge will have a lasting effect on the bully, on...

Lyra--a princess incapable of speech or sound--is cast out of her kingdom of daylight by her wicked aunt. A witch saves her life, steals her memories, and raises her in an enchanted forest-- disguised as a boy known only as Stain. In Lyra's rival kingdom, the prince of thorns and night is dying, and the only way for him to break his curse is to wed the princess of daylight. As Lyra rediscovers her identity, an impostor princess prepares to steal her...

Twelve-year-old Thea and her family are moving to a new town for a fresh start--her parents' bright idea. To Thea, it feels like running away. She lost her best friend, Charlie, in a tragic accident, and in the painful aftermath, she has gone mute. Her two younger sisters, however, are excited about moving, especially after their dad promises that the family will get a rescue puppy. This doesn't change Thea's mind, though, until Jack-Jack bounds into...