On her way to visit her best friend, Autumn, Jenni Green suddenly finds she's been transported exactly one year forward in time. Now she discovers that in the year that's gone by, tragedy has struck and her friendship with Autumn will never be the same again. But what caused the tragedy?

  Master storyteller Philip Pullman returns to the world of Lyra and Will, Mrs Coulter and Lee Scoresby, Pantalaimon and Iorek Byrnison, in this must-have companion to the His Dark Materials trilogy. A book of stunning, moving, exhilarating, breathtaking scenes set during the events of Northern Lights, The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass: from Serafina Pekkala sitting quietly on her cloud pine broom, listening to Dust, ahead of the epic battle with the Angels, to the capture of Lord Asriel by the armoured bears. Snapshot scenes that illuminate and expand upon Pullman's iconic world: they will fill the reader with wonder. … This His Dark Materials trilogy is a major, critically acclaimed HBO/BBC TV series starring Ruth Wilson, James McAvoy, Dafne Keen, Lin-Manuel Miranda. The perfect gift for every fan, of any age. His Dark Materials is one of the most popular and successful children's series of all time....

Tim Diamond—the world’s worst private detective—takes on his most dangerous case yet, and it’s going to be up to his brother to keep him out of trouble. A short story from Guys Read: Thriller, edited by Jon Scieszka. Available online here.

Poor Fangs, the tarantula, is terribly lonely and bored with her life in the pet-shop. So when Nathan takes her home, she's more than excited about her new life. But before Nathan can introduce his new pet to his family, he's going to need her help to convince them that spiders aren't just creepy and crawly . . . They're beautiful and brave too! This funny story from the Children's Laureate, Malorie Blackman, is perfect for building confidence in young readers - whether reading aloud or reading alone.

The Aldens have joined a bicycle race! Three days of riding and camping should be fun for everyone. Even Grandfather joined the race. But right from the word “Go!” things go wrong: misleading road signs by day and collapsing tents by night. Henry’s first flat tire could be bad luck, but three flat tires point to foul play. But who is playing foul—and why? The Boxcar Children are determined to solve the mystery before they cross the finish line.

CHAPTER I Gipsy Arrives One dank, wet, clammy afternoon at the beginning of October half a dozen of the boarders at Briarcroft Hall stood at the Juniors\' sitting-room window, watching the umbrellas of the day girls disappear through the side gate. It had been drizzling since dinner-time, and the prospect outside was not a remarkably exhilarating one. The yellow leaves of the oak tree dripped slow tears on to the flagged walk, as if weeping beforehand for their own speedy demise; the little classical statue on the fountain looked a decidedly watery goddess, the sodden flowers had trailed their heads in the soil, and a small rivulet was running down the steps of the summer house. As the last two umbrellas, after a brief and exciting struggle for precedence, passed through the portal and the gate was shut with a slam, Lennie Chapman turned to her companions and heaved a tragic sigh. "Isn\'t it withering?" she remarked. "And just on the very afternoon when we\'d made up our minds to decide the tennis championship, and secured all the courts for the Lower School. I do call it the most wretched luck! I\'m a blighted blossom!" "We\'ll never persuade the Seniors to give us all the courts again!" wailed Fiona Campbell. "They said so emphatically that it was only to be for this once." "I believe they knew it was going to be wet!" growled Dilys Fenton. "You don\'t think if it cleared a little we might manage just a set before tea?" suggested Norah Bell half hopefully. "My good girl, please to look at the lawn! Do you think anyone in her senses would try to play on a swamp like that?" "It\'s getting too late in the year for tennis," yawned Hetty Hancock. "Don\'t believe we shall get another game at all. We\'d better resign ourselves." "Resign ourselves to what?" asked Daisy Scatcherd. "Why, to leaving the championship till next summer, and to not going out to-day, and to sitting stuffing here and moaning our bad luck, and feeling as cross as a bear with a toothache—at least, that\'s how I feel: I don\'t know what the rest of you do!" "I should like to have gone home with the day girls," sighed Dilys Fenton. "No, you wouldn\'t!" snapped Norah Bell. "You know it\'s jollier to be a boarder; we do have some jolly times, even if it does rain. You can\'t expect it always to keep fine, and as for——" "Oh, Norah, don\'t preach! We must have our growls—it lets off steam. I think it\'s the wretchedest, miserablest, detestablest, most altogether sickening afternoon that ever was—there!" "If only something would happen, just to cheer us up a little!" said Lennie Chapman, opening the window rather wider and putting her head out into the rain. "What do you want to happen?" "Why, something exciting, of course—something interesting and jolly, and out of the common, to wake us up and make things more lively." "You\'ll fall out of the window if you lean over like that, and that would be lively, in all conscience, if you were picked up in fragments. Come in; you\'re getting your hair wet." "Let me alone!...

Ned and Nancy track down a ghostly saboteur in the twenty-third book in the Nancy Drew Diaries series, a fresh approach to a classic series.Nancy and Ned are visiting Coffin Hall, an estate turned rare books library, doing research on the library's rumored ghost for an episode of the NedTalks podcast when a fire breaks out in the records room. One of the library's security guards accuses Ned of arson—after all, he was the only one in the room when the fire started—but Ned swears it wasn't him. He was trying to stop the fire. He tells Nancy he saw a lady in blue right before the incident, and thinks it was Henrietta Coffin, the ghost of Coffin Hall! Nancy is confident her boyfriend is innocent, and she's determined to identify the real culprit, though she's pretty sure it wasn't of the paranormal sort. When she investigates further, she learns that the fire was just the latest in a string of recent strange and inexplicable incidents...

George MacDonald (10 December 1824 – 18 September 1905) was a Scottish author, poet, and Christian minister. He was a pioneering figure in the field of fantasy literature and the mentor of fellow writer Lewis Carroll. His writings have been cited as a major literary influence by many notable authors including W. H. Auden, C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien, Walter de la Mare, E. Nesbit and Madeleine L'Engle. C. S. Lewis wrote that he regarded MacDonald as his "master": "Picking up a copy of Phantastes one day at a train-station bookstall, I began to read. A few hours later," said Lewis, "I knew that I had crossed a great frontier." G. K. Chesterton cited The Princess and the Goblin as a book that had "made a difference to my whole existence". Elizabeth Yates wrote of Sir Gibbie, "It moved me the way books did when, as a child, the great gates of literature began to open and first encounters with noble thoughts and utterances were unspeakably thrilling." Even Mark Twain, who initially disliked MacDonald, became friends with him, and there is some evidence that Twain was influenced by MacDonald. Christian author Oswald Chambers (1874–1917) wrote in Christian Disciplines, vol. 1, (pub. 1934) that "it is a striking indication of the trend and shallowness of the modern reading public that George MacDonald's books have been so neglected". In addition to his fairy tales, MacDonald wrote several works on Christian apologetics including several that defended his view of Christian Universalism. George MacDonald's best-known works are Phantastes, The Princess and the Goblin, At the Back of the North Wind, and Lilith, all fantasy novels, and fairy tales such as "The Light Princess", "The Golden Key", and "The Wise Woman". "I write, not for children," he wrote, "but for the child-like, whether they be of five, or fifty, or seventy-five." MacDonald also published some volumes of sermons, the pulpit not having proved an unreservedly successful venue. MacDonald also served as a mentor to Lewis Carroll (the pen-name of Rev. Charles Lutwidge Dodgson); it was MacDonald's advice, and the enthusiastic reception of Alice by MacDonald's many sons and daughters, that convinced Carroll to submit Alice for publication. Carroll, one of the finest Victorian photographers, also created photographic portraits of several of the MacDonald children. MacDonald was also friends with John Ruskin and served as a go-between in Ruskin's long courtship with Rose La Touche. MacDonald was acquainted with most of the literary luminaries of the day; a surviving group photograph shows him with Tennyson, Dickens, Wilkie Collins, Trollope, Ruskin, Lewes, and Thackeray. While in America he was a friend of Longfellow and Walt Whitman.

Meet Gumluck the Wizard, the star of a new chapter book series by the inimitable Adam Rex!This is a story about magic, if you like that kind of thing. It is also a story about a ghost with amnesia, an unpopular fairy, an ungrateful little town, and an extremely wise and helpful raven (who happens to be a pretty talented storyteller). But mostly, it is about a friendly little wizard who lives inside a big hill and really, really, really wants to be a hero. His name is Gumluck, and he is a bumbling noodlehead.In this tall tale about a short wizard, celebrated author Adam Rex proves once and for all that the biggest heroes often come in the smallest nightgowns.THE DELIGHTFUL ADAM REX: Adam Rex's first chapter book series is a zany caper, with heart and humor across every page.A NEW CHAPTER BOOK CLASSIC: With simple sentences and glorious black-and-white illustrations, this series hearkens back to classic chapter books and is perfect for newly...

The Boxcar children decide to help restore a historic firehouse when the town council starts thinking about demolishing it. Soon enough they realize that someone is hindering their efforts.

Now in its fourth hardcover printing, Define "Normal" has become a word-of-mouth phenomenon. This is a thoughtful, wry story about two girls--a "punk" and a "priss"--who find themselves facing each other in a peer-counseling program, and discover that they have some surprising things in common. A brand-new reading-group guide written by the author is included in the back of this paperback edition.

This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery.

Hans Brinker, Or, The Silver Skates by Mary Mapes Dodge. Illustrated (7 color plates) by George Wharton Edwards. 1935 hardcover published by Charles Scribner\'s Sons.

In fiction, real worlds merge with dreamed worlds. Real people walk with ghosts and figments. Earthly truth goes hand in hand with watery lies… May Malone is said to have a monster in her house, but what Norman finds there may just be the angel he needs. Joe Quinn’s house is noisy with poltergeists, or could it be Davie’s raging causing the disturbance? Fragile Annie learns the truth about herself in a photograph taken by a traveling man near the sea. Set in the northern English Tyneside country of the author’s childhood, these eight short stories evoke gritty realities and ineffable longings, experiences both ordinary and magical. In brief autobiographical preludes, master storyteller David Almond speaks to his own inspiration and shows how all things can be turned into tales, reflecting on a time of wonder, tenderness, and joy.

Pura Belpré Honor-winning author David Bowles joins Newbery Honor-winning Adam Gidwitz as co-author of the newest Unicorn Rescue Society adventure, as the kids travel to the U.S.-Mexican border to help the legendary chupacabras.Elliot and Uchenna have only just returned from their most recent Unicorn Rescue Society mission when Professor Fauna whisks them away (Jersey, too!), on their next exciting adventure. This time, they're headed to Laredo, on the U.S.-Mexican border to help another mythical creature in need: the chupacabras.Teaming up with local kids Lupita and Mateo Cervantes—plus their brilliant mother, Dr. Alejandra Cervantes and her curandero husband Israel—the kids struggle to not only keep the chupacabras safe, but also to bring a divided community together once more.