Tom Birdseye Collection

From mountain climbing to banana-eating contests, visiting a Kentucky farm to traveling to another world, these four middle-grade novels from Tom Birdseye have something for everyone. A Tough Nut to Crack: Eighth-grader Cassie Bell's father and grandfather had a falling-out years ago, so she's never met him. But when Grandpa Ruben is injured in a tractor accident, the family travels from Oregon to his Kentucky farm. From the way her dad talks about him, she pictured a mean old man, but her grandfather is lively, goofy, and loving. Still, Dad and Grandpa Ruben can barely stand to be in the same room. Can Cassie find a way to get them back together again? Storm Mountain: Thirteen-year-old Cat Taylor's father and uncle, a famous search-and-rescue team, died on Storm Mountain two years ago. When her cousin Ty impulsively takes their ashes to scatter on the mountain, Cat has no choice but to climb up after him. But when a blizzard traps them, Cat and Ty realize they could be the next ones to die on Storm Mountain. The Eye of the Stone: While walking through the woods on his thirteenth birthday, Jackson Cooper takes shelter in a cave to avoid a storm. When he pulls a peculiar stone from the wall, he is suddenly transported to another world. The inhabitants of this strange new place called Timmra believe that Jackson is the chosen one, a promised gift from their god to protect them, and now he must find the courage to fight an evil monster. I'm Going to Be Famous: Arlo Moore's favorite book of all time is The Guinness Book of World Records, and now he is determined to break the world record for eating his favorite food-bananas. He only needs to consume seventeen in less than two minutes. Should be easy, right? Except that when everyone starts betting on Arlo's chances of beating the record, his principal forbids him from training at school. But nothing's going to stop Arlo from his moment of fame-even if everyone thinks he's bananas.

From pesky little sisters to pet tarantulas, supportive friends to Tweety Bird underwear, these four middle-grade novels from Tom Birdseye have something for everyone. Tucker: Eleven-year-old Tucker Renfro likes his life with his divorced father, and enjoys fantasizing about being a Native American and hunting deer-until the nine-year-old sister he has not seen in years comes to visit and claims their mother wants them to become one family again. Tarantula Shoes: Desperate to have the right basketball sneakers for his first day of sixth grade in a new middle school in Kentucky, Ryan O'Keefe has set his sights on the $125 Slam Dunk Sky Jumpers. All the coolest seventh graders are wearing them. His parents have given him forty dollars-but how can he put together the rest of the money before school starts? Could the answer actually have something to do with his pet tarantula, Fang? Just Call Me Stupid: Traumatized by an alcoholic father who used to call him "stupid" and lock him in a closet for punishment, fifth-grader Patrick Lowe is unable to learn to read, even after his mother got a divorce and they moved to Tucson. An impatient teacher and a class bully don't help. But a new neighbor, Celina, encourages him to try to overcome his fears. As she reads him The Sword in the Stone, she inspires Patrick to tell his own story out loud, one he might be able to read himself someday. Attack of the Mutant Underwear: When his parents move to Benton, Oregon, for his fifth grade year, Cody Lee Carson is determined reinvent himself as a cool kid-especially since no one in his new school knows about the incident in fourth grade when his pants fell down during a school play and everyone saw his Tweety Bird underwear. Here is Cody's journal of how to leave your past-and your old underwear-behind.