On her walk to school, fifth grader Amy Prochenko encounters a medium-sized, long-furred brown, white, and black dog with floppy ears. "Excuse me," he says, "I'm in trouble. Could you please help me?" Though she is panicked at encountering a talking dog, Amy stops to listen. The dog's name is... Read More
"The first week of August hangs at the very top of summer, the top of the live-long year, like the highest seat of a Ferris wheel when it pauses its turning." This magical tale about drinking from a spring of immortality centers on a ten-year-old girl, Winnie Foster, who longs... Read More
The Prologue of this nifty, tongue-in-cheek little novel explains how, during the golden age of men and gods, Zeus became enraged at the lazy humans who took the gods for granted and removed fire from the earth as punishment. Prometheus, the Titan, stole the fire from Mount Olympus to give... Read More
Peer into just one chapter of this oversized collection of Greek myth character stories and you'll see why it's been such a favorite classic for fifty years. Husband and wife team Edgar and Ingri Read More
Want your kids to ace the SATs? Or at least learn some ace new words they'll never forget? You've come to the right book. Share one of these quirky short stories each day, and by the end of the month, your test-takers will become winsome or maybe Read More
Theo Saint, suffering from a dangerous illness, is only allowed out of his locked bedroom in Kensington Gore--one of London's wealthiest quarters--once a year, his birthday. The Three are the only people he has ever known: his guardian, Dr. Saint, his butler, Mr. Nicely, and his his deaf... Read More
The book begins with a letter signed by Harold X, a very articulate dog who wishes the story of his family to be heard. The X family, aka the Monroes, have two boys, Toby and Peter, and live with Chester, a cat and of course the narrator, Harold the dog.... Read More
Born in a kindergarten classroom on the first day of school, knowledge-hungry mouse Flora's favorite word is "why." Peering down from her hiding place above the teacher's desk, the bright and curious mouse learns how to decipher the little black marks found in books and becomes a reader. When an... Read More
Gregor's mother needs him to stay home this summer to take care of his two-year old sister, Boots, instead of going to camp. Since his father disappeared, two years, seven months, and thirteen days ago, twelve-year-old Gregor hasn't had a day when he's felt real happiness. Gregor knows his dad... Read More
In the city of Baltese, Peter Augustus Duchene, a ten-year-old orphan, is sent to the open air market for fish and bread. Instead, he spends his only florin to ask a question of a fortuneteller. She tells him this: "Your sister? That is your question? Very well. She lives .... Read More
Sixth grader Lerner Chase, new girl at Cleveland Middle School, is considered a slug (Sorry Loser Under Ground) by the popular kids in the MPOOE (Most Powerful Ones on Earth) Club. As Lerner soon discovers, her new pet worm, Fip is a most unusual fellow. Fip is an outcast in... Read More
Younger children with a bat phobia learn to get over it and love the flying mice when they read Janell Cannon's classic picture book, Stellaluna. Older readers are enthralled when they meet Shade, the rebellious and nonconformist bat in Kenneth Oppel's trilogy, starting with Silverwing. ... Read More
In a house on Egypt Street lives a china rabbit named Edward Tulane, doted over by his girl, ten-year-old Abilene Tulane. Every day she dresses the rabbit in one of his fine silk suits and winds his gold pocket watch. "I love you Edward," Abilene says to Edward each night... Read More
In the first book of the Spiderwick Chronicles, nine-year-old Jared, his twin, Simon, and their thirteen-year-old sister, Mallory, move with their mother to Great-aunt Lucinda's broken down Victorian mansion. Ever since their dad left, everything has gone wrong for Jared, and he has been getting in lots of trouble at... Read More
Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy evacuate London during the Blitz of World War II to live in a Professor Kirke's house on the English countryside. One rainy, dull day, while playing hide and seek in the house, Lucy falls through the back of the wardrobe in which she chose to... Read More
How delicious, how delightful, how utterly sensational it is to have a chunky-sized new book of Prelutsky poems. Our first Children’s Poet Laureate does not disappoint, with a rousing compendium of 105 rhyming verses about a dog who can s-p-e-l-l; an underwater marching band, impossible to hear and perennially wet;... Read More
In a wordless graphic novel, a gray dog assembles, from a mail-order Tin Robot Kit, a new robot companion. Together, the dog and robot check books out at the library, cook popcorn, watch TV, and take a Greyhound bus to the beach where they cavort in the water and fall... Read More
Connwaer, an orphan boy who makes his living picking pockets and locks, nicks a locus magicalicus, a wizard's stone, from the pocket of an old man, and somehow survives the ensuing explosion of magic. The old man is a wizard named Nevery, who was banished from the city of Wellmet... Read More
After his dear parents are eaten by an enormous and angry rhinoceros, escaped from the London Zoo, James Henry Trotter spends his next four years doing the bidding of the most odious and awful of relatives, Aunt Sponge and Aunt Spiker. His life seems hopeless until the day he encounters... Read More
Lindy, Thomas, and Benjamin, three ordinary siblings, ages 7 to 13, are at the zoo when they first encounter Professor Savant. You'll excuse me for butting in," he says to them. "But if you're looking for something really unusual, have you ever considered a Whangdoodle?" According to the professor, the... Read More
“I wish that I didn't sometimes, but I remember everything about that cursed, unspeakably unhappy night twelve years ago, when I was just three years old and both my parents were murdered.” That's just the start of Daniel's extraordinary narrative that grabs you by the scruff of the neck and... Read More
This past decade, we have been blessed with the Harry Potter effect, and that fantastical boy wizard is still casting his dazzling spell across the Earth. What is it about Harry Potter that has worked its way into the lives and psyches of readers worldwide? There have been many good... Read More
On Sam's birthday, the one he thinks will be the worst ever, his Aunty Dot brings to the house a small white dog she has just hit with her car. The dog, which Sam names Jenny, has no obvious injuries, though in her mouth, she is holding a sprig of... Read More
In the City of Ember in year 241, the sky is always dark. There is no moon, or even sun in Ember. The electric lights come on every morning at six, and go out every night at nine. The city is old, and everything, including the power lines, needs repair.... Read More
“Look, I didn't want to be a half-blood. If you're reading this because you think you might be one, my advice is: close this book right now. Believe whatever lie your mom or dad told you about your birth, and try to lead a normal life. Being a half-blood... Read More
"Where's Papa going with that ax?" eight-year-old Fern Arable asks her mother at breakfast, and from that first line, we're pulled right into a masterfully told story filled with compassion, humor, and heart. Yes, Fern saves the runt of the litter, but it's not just a story about a girl... Read More
Fut a whunny bew nook! There are tworty-foo feally runny pyming rhoems about Runny Babbit and pots of his lals in this bazy crook. Didn't understand those last sentences? They are filled with Spoonerisms, where consonants are switched for pairs of words. Or, as the introductory poem says, "If you... Read More
“It is such the disappointment," says the mouse mother, Antoinette, upon learning that all of her newborn litter of babies has died, save one. Despereaux, his mother names him, for all the sadness and despairs in the castle where the mice live. Despereaux Tilling is a ridiculously small mouse with... Read More