Audrey Vernick

After an embarrassing incident, a young boy decides to quit school.

Hazel can't wait for her baby brother to be born so she can talk and read with him! But when, at last, he arrives, he just sits there. More disappointing yet, when he finally speaks, his first word is a resounding NO! But Hazel resolves to wait some more—despite the ever-increasing NOs—and she keeps on reading aloud to him. Will Edgar ever say anything else? And if he does, what will his second word be?
The magic of sharing books...

Marley is not given a choice when her newly separated parents decide she will spend the summer with her dad and make her take a job she did not ask for, but things start to look better for Marley after she meets a cute boy who loves dogs as much as she does.