Showing results by narrator "Ramon De Ocampo" in All Categories

Five running backs were selected in the first round of the 2008 NFL Draft. Jamaal Charles was not among them. Despite piling up the fourth-most rushing yards at the University of Texas in just three seasons, he waited for eight other running backs to get selected ahead of him. The Middle School Rules of Jamaal Charles features the stories and lessons of Jamaal’s childhood, defined by people overlooking him.

Fraternal twin brothers Darryl and Kanga are just like any other teenagers trying to make it through high school. They have to deal with peer pressure, awkwardness, and family drama. But there’s one closely guarded secret that sets them apart: They are robots. So long as they keep their heads down, their robophobic neighbors won’t discover the truth about them, and they just might make it through to graduation. But when Kanga becomes the star of the basketball team, there’s more at stake than typical sibling rivalry.

This hilarious follow-up to Misunderstood Shark by New York Times best-selling duo Ame Dyckman and Scott Magoon tackles what it really means to be a good friend.

The filming of an underwater TV show goes awry when the crew gets interrupted by a shark. Poor Shark, he wasn't trying to scare them, he's just misunderstood! Then he's accused of trying to eat a fish. Will Shark ever catch a break? After all, he wasn't going to eat the fish, he was just showing it his new tooth! Or was he? Explosively funny, extraordinarily clever, and even full of fun shark facts, this surprisingly endearing story gets to the heart of what it feels like to be misunderstood by the people around you.

Gideon hates the idea of moving to Nevada from the East Coast. It's so empty and hot in his new neighborhood. Only one person his age lives nearby: the girl next door, Roona. Gid notices right away that Roona is...different. She wears roller skates and a blanket as a cape when she needs to feel strong. What he doesn't bargain for, however, is how far outside his comfort zone Roona will take him as she enlists his help in finding her long-gone father. For a kid who's not allowed to ride his bike more than a few blocks from home, this will be the adventure of a lifetime.

When Theo's photography project is mysteriously vandalized at school, there are five suspected students who all say, "It wasn't me." Theo just wants to forget about the humiliating incident, but his favorite teacher is determined to get to the bottom of it and has the six of them come into school over vacation to talk. She calls it "Justice Circle". The six students - the Nerd, the Princess, the Jock, the Screw Up, the Weirdo, and the Nobody - think of it as detention. A.k.a. their worst nightmare. That is until they realize they might get along after all, despite their differences.

Alder has always lived in his cozy little house in Southern California. And for as long as he can remember, the old, reliable, comforting walnut tree has stood between his house and the one next door. That is, until a new family - with a particularly annoying girl his age - moves into the neighboring house and, without warning, cuts it down.

Mace Blazer is the world’s hottest TURBOnaut. Compared to the other ‘nauts, he drives faster, dares harder, and pulls the craziest stunts. Since he won the Gauntlet Prix and revealed that he’s only 12, the world has been screaming Mace’s name. Now nothing - not even his friends and family - can hold Mace back from becoming the greatest racer of all time. But when Mace suffers a nearly fatal accident while behind the wheel, he loses the nerve that made him the best. He’s done with driving fast. Until he finds out that his two best friends have mysteriously disappeared.

There comes a time when offering your life for your child’s doesn’t work, when you realize that it’ll never be enough. The cold needle in his warm vein was a welcome comfort to my son at first. But then it became the monster that kept us apart. Heroin lied, and my son believed. It took him to a world where the last year didn’t happen, to a place where his father was still alive. What Beck didn’t understand was that it couldn’t bring his father back from the dead. It couldn’t take away his pain, not permanently.

Here’s what’s so cool about the beach. Kids are everywhere! Kids you know, kids you want to know. Wandering from one blanket to another, from one family to another. Somebody’s mom reads a fat summer novel. Somebody’s dad snores with an iPad on his chest. Babies cry. Girls laugh. Frisbee players whoop! Kites in the perfect blue sky. Some kids bodysurf. Some don’t even like the water. They build sand cities for their friends and sand jails for the grown-ups, and when the tide comes in everything gets washed away.

Just as Monty is preparing to spend some time with one of his best friends, an urgent message come in from Ryker Jackson! If they want to help Jackson create his super fuel anytime soon, they'll have to leave for Venus now, which means missing his planned sleepover. A hostile planet, robots going haywire, and The Haze of Venus make this journey on of Monty's and Ivory's most difficult missions yet!

Roscoe is a Search and Rescue Force rookie who doesn’t play by the rules. Serge is a veteran of the Force, looking forward to a well-earned retirement. Roscoe can’t wait to make his first rescue, while Serge just wants to get through the next three days so he can finally just . . . chillax. But when the largest fire Colorado has ever seen starts tearing through the forest, it’s all paws on deck for the Search and Rescue team.

Monty is an inventor and aspiring astronaut, but at twelve years old, he hasn’t even left his hometown. This all changes when Monty, his sister Ivory, and their robot sidekick, Echo, stumble upon an abandoned spaceship deep in the woods after school one day… Soon, they find themselves in a countdown to liftoff…and they can’t stop it! Join Monty and his crew as they blast off into space, explore Mars, and discover a hidden secret in The Iron Heart of Mars.

From Harlequin Intrigue: Seek thrills. Solve crimes. Justice served. This collection includes Killer in the Kennel and Danger in Dade.

What's a kid to do when given a day-of-the-week underwear set—wear Monday's undies on Monday, Tuesday's undies on Tuesday like a rule-following robot? No sirree bob! He'll cut and craft, snip and sew until every single one of his friends—from an octopus to a piggy bank to, yes, a line of ants—has their own pair of underwear, whether they want them or not.

Filipino-American bounty hunter Domingo has made a career of catching criminal undocumented immigrants. He’s the best in the business—and it isn’t lost on him that he’s so good because of his similarities to his targets. Despite Domingo’s claims that he is unsympathetic to their plight, yet spends his spare moments on stakeouts and in between jobs writing a book of advice for aspiring immigrants. Brash, funny, and candid, he compiles the names of all the people he’s apprehended, documenting the hazards of his profession, and imparting advice to foreigners who dare to dream of life in America.

A year after losing their best friend, JD and Danny are still brokenhearted. JD’s decision to join the Air Force only makes him yearn for “before” more than ever. Danny, who’d rather paint murals than open a book and certainly never thought of himself as college material, makes the equally impulsive choice to do what Juan will never be able to and enrolls in a community college. Danny’s father, The Sarge, is proud of him for the first time ever for living out Sarge’s own dream of being a first-generation college student, but Danny can’t shake the thought that it should be Juan, not him

Buddy has a good feeling about second grade. He knows where to go, his best friend is in his class, and he’s ready for a great year. And then Bea shows up—new, tardy, and showing off brand new stitches. Buddy was not expecting Bea. Bea's fast talking and upside-down thinking leave Buddy feeling buzzy—and with his hair full of mayonnaise. How will he and Bea ever figure out how to get along in the same classroom community?

After an author visits their classroom, Buddy and his friends are inspired to write about their pets—in fact, animals are suddenly all anyone can talk about! Joey’s adorable puppy even stops by Ms. Maple’s classroom (and makes a major mess). But something seems off about the things Bea is saying about her cat. Are her stories true?

Rocky Rivera arrives in the US from the Philippines the year that Jimi Hendrix dies. So begins a blazing coming-of-age story suffused with the tensions of immigration that finds Rocky moving from the counterculture of 1960s San Francisco to the extravagant 1980s Manhattan music scene. The Gangster of Love tells the story of the Rivera family as they make their new life in the States, all the while haunted by the memory of the father and the homeland they left behind.