Nancy Paulsen Books

As far as this ice-cream-loving kid is concerned, every meal should include ice cream. In any form, in every flavour, he loves it all. But what he doesn't love is seeing other people with ice cream while he's still waiting in line for his. That's when he can get his mad, 'no-ice-cream-yet, waiting-in-a-long-line face' - until he finally gets his cone, and his mad face melts into something sweet. Heidi Woodward Sheffield gently explores a range of emotions as they relate to this delicious, everyday experience.

Rohan loves animals - especially tigers - so he’s beyond thrilled when he gets to fly to India and stay near the tiger sanctuary where his grandfather works. At last, a chance to observe tigers in real life - especially Arya and her twin cubs - and when Ro finally sees them, the experience is even more breathtaking than he’d imagined. When signs of poachers are discovered, he’s distraught, and unfortunately that’s not the only threat the tigers face - protesters have assembled to support a mining company that would encroach upon the tigers’ space. Rohan knows there are always two sides to an argument, and the mines might provide jobs, but it’s clear to him that he must be on the tigers’ side. Then a horrible crime occurs, filling him with determination to do all he can to make sure people know how important it is to protect the tigers.

Seventeen-year-old junior class vice president Grace Bak has her entire future all mapped out with plans to become a doctor like her parents. But the weight of Grace’s own daunting expectations leads to debilitating panic attacks that have made her a virtual outcast at school, even to her longtime friend and crush. To make matters worse, her grandmother and only real support system has just died. Halmeoni was the glue that kept Grace’s little family together, especially after she and her dad lost her mother to cancer when Grace was too little to have many memories of her. To cope with the grief of another loss, Grace starts a webcomic inspired by the Korean myths her Halmeoni used to tell her as a child. In Sun God, Grace spins the tale of Korean god Haemosu and his love Yuhwa, but with a twist - the two gods are trapped in the bodies of teenagers and, worst of all, cursed to attend high school. Grace never expected her comic to go viral, but it has, and the new fandom has somehow conjured the real Haemosu. Now it’s up to Grace to get him back home. But when she starts to fall for Hae, sending him home is the last thing she wants to do. More troubling, Hae isn’t the only god to suddenly reappear. Hae’s sworn enemy - also brought back to the mortal realm by Grace’s comic - is set on destroying Hae, all while infecting humanity with a deadly disease. As an epic battle between god’s looms, Hae is without his powers, so it may fall to Grace to fight back against a vengeful god hell-bent on punishing anyone who gets in his way.

A lonely twelve-year-old boy spends his days “stuck” at the deserted Hollow Pines Plantation in Georgetown, South Carolina with no recollection of his name, how long he’s been there, and no idea how to leave. Things never change much for the lost souls at Hollow Pines and time is strange when you’re dead. But when visitors from the living world arrive for the first time in a long while, the boy feels a spark of hope. These visitors are around his age, and they seem to understand more than others that the plantation is not just spooky or eerie - it’s a sad place where the unspeakable happened again and again. And if these kids could understand the truth about Hollow Pines, maybe they can help him uncover the dark secrets of his past and help him find a way to finally move on. But Hollow Pines doesn’t like visitors. And with a malevolent spirit lurking in the shadows and painful memories buried deep, and for good reason, the boy wonders if he’ll ever find his way home or be stuck at Hollow Pines forever.

When Somaya and her beloved Giddo (Arabic word for grandfather) make their weekly trip to the market, Somaya is impatient to get to the tentmaker’s stall; she needs help to complete a birthday surprise for Giddo, but Giddo prefers to take his time to visit his many friends. At first Somaya is frustrated by the delay, but soon she sees the importance of checking in on friends. Like Hajj Mohammed who sells shimmery pots of ink and is sad since his son moved to a faraway land. “Good morning with roses and jasmine,” Hajj Mohammed greets them before inviting Somaya to choose a pen; Somaya bleeds a special birthday message onto paper for Giddo while he and Hajj Mohammed answer the call to prayer. Next, they visit the jeweller. All around sparkling abalone fill baskets like treasure boxes. “Good morning of sweet cream, dearest Somaya,” Mariam says as she strings together a beautiful necklace. Giddo decides to stay for tea with Mariam’s father. Somaya loves listening to their chatter as the minty tea dazzles her tongue. At last, they reach the tentmaker’s stall. Sunlight splashes through the covered roof onto the rainbow of fabrics lining both sides of the narrow alleyway. As Giddo oohs and ahhs over Ammu Safwat’s new designs, Somaya heads straight for his apprentice to get help with the final flourish of her gift to Giddo. Finally, they are on their way home where Somaya and her parents surprise Giddo with a cake and Somaya’s special gift showing Giddo, the best tentmaker of them all, that she’s now a tentmaker too!

Nina loves spending time in her family’s garden, and so does her dog, Nube. They delight in all the wonders found growing there and all the spectacular colours—roja, naranja, verde, amarillo, morado. But mostly they just love to play, as it’s the perfect place for a game of hide-and-seek with its tall corn and enormous leafy veggies. It’s also a place to have the best al fresco meals with Nina’s loving extended family. Exuberant text sprinkled with Spanish and vivid, energetic art that captures the garden in all its glory make this the perfect book for celebrating the bounty of our gardens and the joy of spending a day there, learning, laughing, and lending a helping hand!

Twelve-year-old Opal is preparing to become a fourth-generation lookout on Wolf Mountain, deep in the New Mexico wilderness. She, Mom, and Gran live at ten thousand feet in a single room at the top of a fire tower. They are responsible for spotting any hint of smoke before it becomes an uncontrollable blaze. But Opal has a secret: she’s deathly afraid of fire. Instead of training for the lonely life of a lookout, Opal wishes she could be starting school in Silver City, attending classes with kids her own age. But Wolf Mountain has other ideas. When Mom makes the long trek to town for supplies and Gran goes missing, Opal is the only one to spot a tell-tale spiral of smoke moving up the mountainside. She’ll have to be braver than she’s ever been as she heads into the woods, beyond Wolf Ridge’s old blackened burn scar, to face down a fire on her own. But a fire is what took her father away, and Opal has already felt the sting of smoke and lick of flames. How can she be brave enough to do this on her own?

Hafsa intends to be a doctor one day, so she’s thrilled to be accepted into Bukhari Summer Science Camp for kids who share her dream. Her parents, however, do not share her enthusiasm. They don’t support the idea of girls being doctors, the camp is expensive, and they don’t want to send her off to the big city of Lahore unsupervised. But when her brother-in-law offers to pay, and he and her sister invite her to stay at their house instead of in the dorms, her parents grudgingly give in. Hafsa couldn’t be more excited, but things get off to a shaky start when it immediately becomes apparent that she accidently signed up for the wrong program. And since she’s the only one not staying in the dorms, her fellow students treat her like an outsider—and a country bumpkin. On top of all that, she’s worried about her sister, who seems to have set aside her own career goals to please her in-laws. But Hafsa’s way is to forge ahead, whether that means finding ways to pursue her medical studies, immersing herself in the climate studies program, or taking a pivotal field trip to the zoo—where an encounter with an elephant leads to several unexpected outcomes. It’s not easy to negotiate being part of a community—and a family—that doesn’t support her dreams, but Hafsa’s never been the type to take no for an answer. She’s determined to grab any chance she can for a better future, no matter what the odds are stacked against her.

Jasmine prefers to blend in with the background. She peeks while others play and hides behind her big glasses. But when her grandpa reads stories to her at night, she dreams of adventure, and a new character—Action Jasmine—comes alive in her art. Action Jasmine isn't scared, Action Jasmine is brave and saves the day. When her grandpa challenges her to join him on in adventure in the park, Jasmine is petrified (code for 'super scared') that is until she remembers they can go incognito (code for 'so sneaky, no one even knows who you are'). But when Jasmine spies a boy playing by himself, can she find the courage to break out of her shell, start some action, and make a new friend?

Dogs are amazing! Dogs are a lot of work! And here is the perfect book to help a child understand what is involved in living with one. Lively illustrations show a variety of children learning what makes their dogs tick, as they train them, care for them, and play with them. Most of all, this book celebrates the fact that dogs are truly awesome companions—who are always happy to see you, and who can even sing, laugh, and dream with you! Rachel Isadora’s love for our canine friends shines through on every page, as she shares some of the best—and most exasperating! —things about having a dog.

Some days Ping-Ping feels like she just can’t win. She was born in the US, so it’s frustrating when people are surprised by how American she is, but her Chinese relatives feel she’s not Chinese enough. But the things bugging her the most lately are her classmate Lee Beaumont, who has taken to calling her “French Fry” because of the tofu sticks she eats at lunch, and the possibility that her family will have to relocate to Kenya for her father’s UN job. Of all the things Ping-Ping loves, her home and best friend are at the top of the list, and she’d hate to have to leave them. What’s a girl to do when she can’t be in as much control as she’d like to be? Well, good thing Ping-Ping is a wiz at taekwondo - she’s learning how to kick her frustrations away, and there’s almost nothing she can’t master if she puts her mind to it. Rin-rin Yu has written a warm and funny family story that will have kids rooting for Ping-Ping - a girl who is ready to kick all the assumptions made about her aside!

Ever since getting a little stepbrother named Harlan, Denver hasn’t felt like he fits into his own family. Lots of people find Harlan charming, but not Denver. His pesky stepbrother tags along everywhere Denver goes, breaking things and wanting Denver’s attention every. single. second. After an especially disastrous morning, Denver escapes to the forest, experiencing a whiff of ancient magic when he meets an old and dignified but lonely tree named Spiro. When Spiro offers to turn Harlan into a tree for a few hours, Denver jumps at the chance - only to realise he’s made a mistake when nobody, including his mom and stepdad, seems to remember Harlan existed. And now Spiro isn’t certain he can reverse the transformation. To save Harlan, Denver will need to find out what happened to Spiro to make him so disconnected from the other trees in the forest . . . but to do so the change he might have to make first is within himself.

When sixteen-year-old Naomi Ward and her family head to a secluded cabin in the Shenandoah Valley for summer vacation they don’t know the small, mountain town of Sparksburg, Virginia has a dark and twisted past. But when they arrive, Naomi can’t shake the feeling that something about Sparksburg just isn’t right - and it smells god awful, but for some reason Naomi is the only who can smell the town’s stench. When she learns Sparksburg had once been a Sundown Town - a town where Black people weren’t allowed after sunset lest they be murdered - Naomi’s unease starts to make sense. As Naomi digs more into Sparsburg’s violent origins, she finds herself haunted by the ghost of a girl, appearing nightly outside her window. Then she learns of two girls who’ve recently gone missing and suspects the past may still be present in Sparksburg and beneath the quaint façade of this tourist town is a palpable danger. When Naomi decides to track the disappearance of the two girls herself, she becomes suspicious of a local man who has kindled fear in Naomi more than once. She soon learns he has a connection to one of the missing girls, and Naomi is certain he’s responsible for the disappearances. When no one believes her, Naomi takes matters into her own hands. But to save the missing girls, she’ll have to finally face her own past trauma as a “missing girl” as she finds herself in a fight for survival. Gripping and triumphant, L.S. Stratton tells an important and unforgettable story of racial reckoning inspired by historical events.

Toby’s mom always says there are people that make you feel just right. And while his dad can be hard to please, it’s a different story with his uncle. Uncle showers Toby with smiles, hugs, and kind words, and his garage is like a second home to Toby - there’s even a chair with Toby’s name on it next to Uncle’s desk! Yes, Toby can always count on Uncle to make him feel just right. Torrey Maldonado’s heartwarming picture book celebrates loving caregivers and highlights the powerful impact they can have on the life of a child.

For eleven-year-old Gao Sheng, home is the lush, humid jungles and highlands of Laos. Home is where she can roll down the grassy hill with her younger siblings after her chores, walk to school, and pick ripe peaches from her family’s trees. But home becomes impossible to hold onto when the communist government takes over after U.S. troops pull out of the Vietnam War. The communists will be searching for any American allies, like Gao Sheng’s father, a Hmong captain in the Lao Army who fought alongside the Americans against the Vietnamese. If he’s caught, he’ll be killed. As the adults frantically make plans – contacting family, preparing a route, and bundling up their silver and gold, Gao Sheng wonders if she will ever return to her beloved Laos and what’s to become of her family now. Gao Sheng only knows that a good daughter doesn’t ask questions or complain. A good daughter doesn’t let her family down. Even though sometimes, she wishes she could be just a kid rolling down a grassy hill again. On foot, by taxi and finally in a canoe, Gao Sheng and her family make haste from the mountains to the capitol Vientiane and across the rushing Mekong River, to finally arrive at an overcrowded refugee camp in Thailand. As a year passes at the camp, Gao Sheng discovers how to rebuild home no matter where she is and finally find her voice. Inspired by author V.T. Bidania’s family history, A Year Without Home illuminates the long, difficult journey that many Hmong refugees faced after the Vietnam War.

The arrival of a new baby changes everything. These marvelous little beings bring with them a whole lot of sweetness - and a whole set of new experiences to navigate. But the wonderful thing is that we learn and grow together, just like the mamas and babies in this book, and with time we all get the hang of this brand-new relationship. You and me, baby!