Patricia Reilly Giff has recieved the Newbery Honor for Pictures of Hollis Woods and Lily's Crossing, which is also a Boston Globe-Horn Book Honor Book. Nory Ryan's Song was named an ALA Best Book for Young Adults and an ALA Notable Book.
Blanche Sims is a children's book illustrator, born in Cleveland, Ohio. She has illustrated dozens of books, as well as the television film Beyond the Butterfly, which won a Parents' Choice Foundation commendation for television in 2000.

It's September again.What does it mean for Richard "Beast" Best to be left back? It means being teased by his old friends while he's stuck facing the same old teacher in the same old classroom. He even has to take a special reading class with "babies" like Emily Arrow and Matthew Jackson. And just like last year, he can't help getting into trouble.But with the help of Mrs. Paris, the reading teacher, Beast starts to enjoy reading and just might find a way to help the second grade win the school banner for best class.