Patricia Reilly Giff

Number One Kid. That’s what Mitchell McCabe’s favorite T-shirt says. He’d like to be Number One at the Zigzag Afternoon Center, where there are lots of fun activities to choose from: swimming, nature walks, field trips, art, even homework help. But Mitchell is worried. What if he’s the...

Nory Ryan's family has lived on Maidin Bay on the west coast of Ireland for generations, raising a pig and a few chickens, planting potatoes, getting by. Every year Nory's father goes away on a fishing boat and returns with the rent money for the English lord who owns their cottage and fields...

For Anna, the family farm has always been home... but now things are changing. Anna's mother has died, and her older siblings have emigrated, leaving Anna and her father to care for a young sister with special needs. And even though their family has worked this land for years, they're in...

It’s Discovery Week at the Zigzag Afternoon Center! Everyone writes their discoveries on a big sheet of paper in the hallway. But Destiny Washington can’t think of anything new to discover. Before she knows it, Destiny has told a BIG whopper. And snooty Gina, who’s great at discovering...

Follow the humorous mishaps of a second grader who is learning to read. Nothing's going right for Ronald—he drops his pencils, inadvertently squirts water on Joy’s dress, mistakenly eats Jimmy’s sandwich, misses the ball during recess, loses his ice cream money, and drops Miss Tyler’s...

Mitchell really doesn't want to go camping with the other kids at the Zigzag Afternoon Center. Sleeping in the woods with creepy crawly things, coyotes, and bears? Yikes! But his best friend Habib is going, and it's Mitchell's birthday that weekend. He's just got to find a way to be brave, and...

This week the kids at the Zigzag Afternoon Center are being creative, and trying new things. But that's not so easy for Destiny. All of her ideas turn into disasters—until she finds out what a good poet she is. The sixth book in award-winning author Patricia Reilly Giff's Zigzag Kids series...

When Charlie hears that special buzz in his head, he knows it means one thing: an idea for a new invention. But Charlie's ideas tend to backfire—such as the flying feet that don't really fly. If only Charlie could make his inventions work, people might think he's as special as his older...

In the fourth book in the Zigzag Kids series, it's showtime at the Zelda A. Zigzag Afternoon Center. Gina loves to sing and she's determined to be the star of the play. She's already told everybody she knows to come see her. But her friend Destiny wants to be the star, too!...