AVA WREN SERIES
Ava is a fifth grader who she tells her diary everything. Like when she’s upset with her sister. Or gets in trouble at school. Or has a hush-hush crush on her best guy friend. Ava’s family is big on palindromes, which are words that are the same backward and forward, like M-O-M, D-A-D, S-I-S, H-U-H, and W-O-W! There are now three books in this series. (Sourcebooks / Jabberwocky) Ava and Pip won the Nevada Young Readers Award in fall of 2016.
“… a love letter to language … Weston perfectly captures the complexities of sisterhood”
“The books are fun and easy to read and at the same time will boost an appreciation of language and sisterhood.”
AVA XOX
Ava and Chuck have been great friends since kindergarten, but whoops -- are her feelings more complicated than she imagines? A new girl, Kelli, asks Chuck out and Ava is upset. Can she make things right? And what about Tanya who is getting teased about her weight? Ava wants to help but is she accidentally making everything worse?
Guess what? The artist who draws the covers, Victoria Jamieson, wrote Roller Girl -- a Newbery Honor Book -- and All's Faire in Middle School.
AVA AND TACO CAT
Ava desperately wants to rescue an injured cat and even picks out the perfect palindromic name: TACOCAT. But when they bring Taco home, he doesn’t snuggle, all he does is hide. Worse, Ava’s best friend Maybelle starts hanging out with a new girl. Will Ava lose her bff? And why does a lady who read Ava’s story “The Cat Who Wouldn’t Purr” in the local paper make a claim that can’t possibly be true??
Vanity Fair calls this novel “purrfect," and it's a 2015 ABC Best Books for Young Readers (American Booksellers Association).
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AVA AND PIP
It’s the first day of fifth grade, and Ava feels invisible in your own family. Her parents, Anna and Bob, are constantly worrying about her shy big sister Pip. It’s not fair! Sure, Ava feels bad for Pip, but she gets mad at her too. Ultimately, Ava decides to help her sister find her voice--and in doing so, she finds her own.
AVA AND PIP is a 2015 Notable Children’s Book in the Language Arts. Booklist says it “will have fans cheering,” The New York Times says it's a "love letter to language," and palindrome king Jon Agee says, "YAY!" This is the first in the series, but each novel works as a stand-alone.
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