Driving Home a Love of Middle Grade Books
Sylvia Liu
Sylvia Liu grew up with books and daydreams in Caracas, Venezuela. Once an environmental attorney protecting the oceans, she now spins stories for children, inspired by high tech, ghost crabs, and strong girls. Sylvia lives in Virginia with her family and a very fluffy cat.
Author photo credit to K. Woodard Photography
Near and Deer
A heartwarming story about a girl who feels like her life is out of her control―and the inspirational friendship between her pet sheepadoodle and an orphaned fawn that she's determined to protect.
Sienna Chen loves helping her parents run their B&B and hanging out with her best friend, a sheepadoodle named Jules. Her world is chaotic, but she knows that by staying on top of everything she can help her parent’s business succeed. No matter how much pressure builds, she’s determined not to let them down.
One day Sienna finds Jules playing with a baby fawn. Sienna names the fawn Persimmon, and learns that it has been orphaned and injured. But taking care of Jules, helping her parents, and hiding Persimmon is a lot for Sienna to take on.
And when Persimmon finds herself in danger, things become even worse! With the help of a new friend, Sienna will have to save Persimmon and learn how to prevent her anxiety from overwhelming her life.
Hana Hsu & the Ghost Crab Nation
Hana Hsu can’t wait to be meshed.
If she can beat out half her classmates at Start-Up, a tech school for the city’s most talented twelve-year-olds, she’ll be meshed to the multiweb through a neural implant like her mom and sister. But the competition is fierce, and when her passion for tinkering with bots gets her mixed up with dangerous junkyard rebels, she knows her future in the program is at risk.
Even scarier, she starts to notice that something’s not right at Start-Up—some of her friends are getting sick, and no matter what she does, her tech never seems to work right. With an ominous warning from her grandmother about being meshed, Hana begins to wonder if getting the implant early is really a good idea.
Desperate to figure out what’s going on, Hana and her friends find themselves spying on one of the most powerful corporations in the country—and the answers about the mystery at Start-Up could be closer to home than Hana’s willing to accept. Will she be able to save her friends—and herself— from a conspiracy that threatens everything she knows?
Manatee's Best Friend
Becca is living the life. Sure, she has problems. She's so shy she can't bear to speak at school, and she's not doing so hot on the human friend front. But when she's home she gets to hang out with her friend Missy, the manatee who lives in the river in her backyard. One day Missy has a baby with her!
But new developers upriver bring inconsiderate boaters to the river, putting Missy and her baby in danger. And the new girl next door is so loud that she might scare Missy away. When Becca captures a video of a dolphin diverting a boat away from Missy, the video goes viral!
Can Becca find a way to use her voice to stand up for her manatee friends?
A Morning With Grandpa
Mei Mei's grandpa is practicing tai chi in the garden, and Mei Mei is eager to join in. As Gong Gong tries to teach her the slow, graceful movements, Mei Mei enthusiastically does them with her own flair. Then Mei Mei takes a turn, trying to teach Gong Gong the yoga positions she learned in school. Will Gong Gong be able to master the stretchy, bendy poses?
