Fans of Lauren Myracle and Wendy Mass will love acclaimed author Lisa Greenwald’s new duology about two best friends who kick-start middle school with a bucket list of eleven things they need to do to become AMAZING before their joint twelfth birthday party.

The first day of middle school means trading in freeze tag at the pool for new schedules, fabulous outfits, and a fresh start. But for eleven-year-old Kaylan, the chaos of new locker combinations, cafeteria cliques, and potential first kisses is more than she can handle. She dreads the start of sixth grade and feels like she wants—no, needs—a winning game plan.

Luckily, Kaylan and her effortlessly chill BFF, Arianna, have a fool-proof plan for tackling transitions: a list of eleven things they need to do to totally transform themselves before they both turn twelve in November.

But between making guy friends, getting detention (and makeovers!), helping humanity, and having super-candid conversations with their moms about their flaws, the first 100 days of school turn out worse than Kaylan ever imagined. Kaylan and Ari forget to focus on their friendship and soon their loyalty to the list—what was meant to help them keep it together—becomes the very thing tearing their lives apart.

Today’s Family Kindle Deal is sponsored by this week’s Family eBook of The Week:

Beautiful picture book for kids about kindness.

It’s Good Deeds Week again! And Stephen is starting out his favorite week of the year with enthusiasm in his heart and the Good Deeds checklist in his hand. He can hardly wait to get started showing kindness to others. But when one thing after another goes wrong, Stephen becomes all too familiar with the old saying, “No good deed goes unpunished.” Stephen even considers giving up before he messes up anything else! Will Stephen be able to brush it off and carry on?

Based on real kids’ experiences with the Great Kindness Challenge, Good Deeds Gone Wrong will make you laugh, make you cringe, and make you wonder why Stephen doesn’t give up much sooner! This colorful, engaging picture book will inspire children to perservere in showing kindness, even when it does not turn out as the expect.

“The popularity of [Dog Songs] feels as inevitable and welcome as a wagging tail upon homecoming.” —The Boston Globe

Mary Oliver’s Dog Songs is a celebration of the special bond between human and dog, as understood through the poet’s relationships to the canines that have accompanied her daily walks, warmed her home, and inspired her work. Oliver’s poems begin in the small everyday moments familiar to all dog lovers, but through her extraordinary vision, these observations become higher meditations on the world and our place in it.

Dog Songs includes visits with old friends, like Oliver’s beloved Percy, and introduces still others in poems of love and laughter, heartbreak and grief. Throughout, the many dogs of Oliver’s life merge as fellow travelers and as guides, uniquely able to open our eyes to the lessons of the moment and the joys of nature and connection.

America’s beloved and distinguished historian presents, in a book of breathtaking excitement, drama, and narrative force, the stirring story of the year of our nation’s birth, 1776, interweaving, on both sides of the Atlantic, the actions and decisions that led Great Britain to undertake a war against her rebellious colonial subjects and that placed America’s survival in the hands of George Washington.

In this masterful book, David McCullough tells the intensely human story of those who marched with General George Washington in the year of the Declaration of Independence—when the whole American cause was riding on their success, without which all hope for independence would have been dashed and the noble ideals of the Declaration would have amounted to little more than words on paper.

Based on extensive research in both American and British archives, 1776 is a powerful drama written with extraordinary narrative vitality. It is the story of Americans in the ranks, men of every shape, size, and color, farmers, schoolteachers, shoemakers, no-accounts, and mere boys turned soldiers. And it is the story of the King’s men, the British commander, William Howe, and his highly disciplined redcoats who looked on their rebel foes with contempt and fought with a valor too little known.

Written as a companion work to his celebrated biography of John Adams, David McCullough’s 1776 is another landmark in the literature of American history.

Gray just wants to be included. But the other colors are always leaving him out. So he decides to create his own project: an all-gray book. Once upon a time, there lived a wolf, a kitten, and a hippo…

Gray just knows it’s going to be perfect. But as he adds page after page, the Primary and Secondary colors show up…and they aren’t quite so complimentary.

A book within a book, this colorful tale explores the ideas of fitting in, appreciating others, and looking at things from another perspective and also uses personality and wit to introduce basic color concepts.

Healthy meal prep recipes for your slow cooker—and your fast-paced life

Eating fresh, healthy food doesn’t have to mean spending hours prepping in the kitchen. Optimize your slow cooker for convenience and ease with the Healthy Meal Prep Slow Cooker Cookbook. This slow cooker cookbook makes preparing delicious, nourishing dishes ahead of time simpler than ever. With 100 meal prep-friendly recipes that let your slow cooker do the work, you can spend more time doing the things you love.

The Healthy Meal Prep Slow Cooker Cookbook teaches you the basics of meal prep, with strategies for prepping using a slow cooker—all adaptable to your schedule and personal needs. Get tips for prepping ingredients to be cooked later, along with instructions for storing your finished dishes safely in the fridge or freezer. With recipes included for breakfast as well as vegetarian and vegan meals, all the variety in this slow cooker cookbook makes it easy to mix and match.