For Young Readers

COMING DECEMBER 19, 2017

Wintertime at the orchard has Peter learning some important lessons about speaking up in this second novel of a sweet series about the bonds of friendship.

Blanketed in snow, the orchard looks like a magical wonderland. But Peter is not so charmed by his new life. He just can’t ignore how he’s always ignored any longer. Sarah, Lizzie, and Olive are always talking over him and bossing him around. And on top of that, it’s really cold outside.

One winter day, Peter reluctantly agrees to help with a carriage ride through the freshly fallen snow. But things go terribly wrong when a dog incident has the horse running away in fear, with Peter and the carriage trailing dangerously behind them. Then, Peter hits his head on a passing branch and is thrown to the ground.

Woozy, Peter wakes up alone in the snow but he makes his way to a cozy cottage. Kai, the cool new kid, opens the door and welcomes Peter inside. Kai shows him a magical mirror that brings the two new friends to another world. A world where people listen to Peter and need his help to defeat a terrible dragon menacing the land.

Then Peter wakes up in the hospital with a bandage around his head. Everyone is so happy to see him awake. Peter tries to tell them all about the mirror but they dismiss his experience as a wild dream. When Peter goes back to school, it seems like Kai knows what Peter’s talking about. Could the dream have been real? Is there really a magic portal deep in the woods behind the orchard? Even if everyone thinks he’s crazy, Peter is determined to find out.

Out now from Simon & Schuster!

Four friends live and work together on a New England apple orchard in this first novel of a brand-new series about the bonds of friendship.

Lizzie and Sarah have been neighbors and best friends for as long as anyone can remember. The Orchard has been in Lizzie’s family for generations—it’s even rumored that George Washington once stopped by for a bushel!

Sarah knows it will be the absolute best summer ever because this year, she and Lizzie get to run the orchard’s ice cream stand!  Which is perfect timing because Sarah is getting a little nervous that Lizzie and she might be growing apart. But a summer with just the two of them making ice cream sundaes together? It’s the perfect way to keep their friendship strong.

Everything is going just fine until twins Olive and Peter come to town, and Lizzie offers them jobs at the ice cream stand. Olive is just as stubborn as Sarah and they are soon bickering over everything from proper ice cream scoop technique to flavor of the day. It’s a tug-of-war even mediator Lizzie can’t end.

But when some cash goes missing from the stand, the four kids have to band together and become expert detectives if they want to get the money back before anyone finds out. And maybe, just maybe, in the process learn that they all have more in common than they thought.

Stay tuned for more news and press about this title and for more books in the series!