los angeles (calif.)

"As the mysterious Doc Justice offers to shape our heroes into a super-group to protect Los Angeles, say hello to the J-Team! But who is the inspirational Doc Justice, anyway? How did he convince the least capes-and-tights-oriented kids in the Marvel Universe to suit up? And will everybody be on board with this major shift in the status quo? Don't bet on it! As Doc Justice and his new recruits start cleaning up L.A. better than anyone expected, they'll soon start to set their sights even higher! But where does that leave Gert? Back at the Doc's mansion, of course. She's not just going to sit there--with access to the J-Team's files and resources, Gert is going to do her part! But where will this new role take her?"--Back cover.

A video contest is the perfect way for Camila to become a star. To enter, she must make a video that explains what her city, Los Angeles, means to her. But Los Angeles is so big-how will she decide what to talk about? As Camila works on her video, she realizes that there's one special thing that makes her city feel like home.

During the summer before seventh grade, Kaia, who enjoys living in Southern California, visiting the beach with her family, and creating movie make-up effects, makes a film with her friends to win a contest and hopefullly prevent her beloved great-grandtather from moving back to the Philippines.

Eleven-year-old Rick Rusek, nearly homebound by motion sickness, wants to help his family's catering business by unsnarling Los Angeles traffic, but first he must help a Girl Scout troop with an art project.

Nine-year-old Betita and her parents fled Mexico after her uncle was killed by the cartels, and settled in Los Angeles seeking political asylum and safety in what her father calls Aztlan, the land of the cranes; but now they have been swept up by by the government's Immigration Customs Enforcement, her father deported back to Mexico, and Betita and her mother confined in a family detention camp--Betita finds heart in her imagination and the picture poems her father taught her, but each day threatens to further tear her family apart.

A lot has changed for your favorite super-teens. And a major villain from Runaways past is back in a way you won't be able to predict The kids have had a hard enough time with a grandma and a 13-year-old, so things look pretty bleak for everyone in the world.

In Southern California, during World War II, twin sisters Flaca and Cuata are harrassed by soldiers stationed nearby, but a bigger problem arises when the lost member of an underground species, shaped like a five-foot-tall lizard, needs the sisters' help.

There's a magical world hiding in Los Angeles, and Nina Rodriguez knows it. When an enormous otherworldly beast kidnaps her sister, Nina must confront her past and her demons; not to mention the ruthless cabals in charge of the city's magic; to get her sister back and reclaim her life.

East is only fifteen, but he's already a seasoned gang member, hardened and savvy from a youth spent on the streets of South Central Los Angeles. So when the cops bust a stashhouse and arrest his uncle, East feels ready to step up and do a man's job, even if it means finding and killing a key witness.

An investigative journalist chronicles his twenty-year obsession with the 1969 Manson murders and describes how he discovered evidence of a cover-up, carelessness from police, misconduct by prosecutors, and potential surveillance by intelligence agents.