Blown to Bits; or, The Lonely Man of Rakata

The story of the violent nature of the volcanic eruption in Krakatoa in 1883. One of a series of excellent stories of adventure for the young with which this prolific Scottish author\'s name is popularly associated. Beautifully illustrated. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.
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Among the Night People

MY DEAR LITTLE FRIENDS:--You can never guess how much I have enjoyed writing these stories of the night-time, and I must tell you how I first came to think of doing so. I once knew a girl--and she was not a very little girl, either, who was afraid of the dark. And I have known three boys who were as brave as could be by daylight, but who would not run on an errand alone after the lamps were lighted.
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The Map to Everywhere

Adventure, magic, and hilarity collide in New York Times bestselling author Carrie Ryan and John Parke Davis's first book in a fantastical series.* *To Master Thief Fin, an orphan from the murky pirate world of the Khaznot Quay, the Map is the key to finding his mother. To suburban schoolgirl Marrill, it's her only way home after getting stranded on the Pirate Stream, the magical waterway that connects every world in creation. With the help of a bumbling wizard and his crew, they must scour the many worlds of the Pirate Stream to gather the pieces of the Map to Everywhere--but they aren't the only ones looking. A sinister figure is hot on their tail, and if they can't beat his ghostly ship to find the Map, it could mean the destruction of everything they hold dear! Heart-pounding escapades and a colorful cast of characters will have readers setting sail through this wholly original and unforgettable tale.
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Ruth Fielding on Cliff Island; Or, The Old Hunter's Treasure Box

Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We have not used OCR(Optical Character Recognition), as this leads to bad quality books with introduced typos. (2) In books where there are images such as portraits, maps, sketches etc We have endeavoured to keep the quality of these images, so they represent accurately the original artefact. Although occasionally there may be certain imperfections with these old texts, we feel they deserve to be made available for future generations to enjoy. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.
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Down South; or, Yacht Adventure in Florida

That\'s it, as true as you live, Captain Alick!" exclaimed Bob Washburn, the mate of the Sylvania, as he dropped the spy-glass from his right eye. "Your dead-reckoning was correct every time."
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VIP: Battle of the Bands

Mackenzie "Mac" Lowell is living a dream come true on tour with her favorite boy band. Spending time on the road with Perfect Storm hasn't been what Mac expected, though-it's even BETTER! But with screaming fans and big-time recording sessions come haters and copycats, like Thunder and Lightning, a new band on the label whose first single sounds suspiciously like the song Perfect Storm's guitarist wrote for Mac. As the two bands set out on a joint summer tour, more and more of Perfect Storm's secrets are leaked to the public. Where's the one place all these lyrics and secrets are supposedly being kept safe? In Mac's journal, of course! Can Mac-and her comic-book alter ego, Mac Attack-stop the leaks and nab the culprit? With black-and-white illustrations and action-packed Mac Attack comics throughout, Jen Calonita's VIP series is more exciting than a backstage pass!
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Held by Chinese Brigands

We have heard it said, by those who are widely travelled, that there are three beautiful harbours in the world: Rio de Janeiro, in Brazil; Sydney Harbour, and--most beautiful of all--the harbour of Hong-Kong. The famous Peak rises above the town of Victoria and, at a height of about two thousand feet, buries its crest in the clouds. The harbour itself is in the shape of a crescent, enclosing the red, bare hills of Kow-lung. By day, from Lyemun to Stonecutter\'s Island, ferry-boats, sampans, wupans and launches scurry here and there, in and out among the great anchored men-of-war, like so many mice romping in a cage of sleeping tigers.
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Dragon Ghosts

Ten years after Alex and Aaron Stowe brought peace to Quill and Artimé, their younger twin sisters journey beyond Artimé in the third novel in the New York Times bestselling sequel series to The Unwanteds, which Kirkus Reviews called "The Hunger Games meets Harry Potter."Devastated by loss and hampered by war, Fifer struggles to regroup and continue the search for her twin. Meanwhile Thisbe, pounded by images of Grimere's dark history, contemplates her abandonment and considers leaving Rohan behind in a risky move that could take her home...or to her death.
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Third Warning

Flaming Island: “Look, Dave. See those strange clouds?” Florence Huyler shaded her eyes to look away toward the horizon. Her face wore an expression of bewildered curiosity. “Yes, I see them. They are queer!” young “Captain Davie,” as everyone called him, replied as he wrinkled his brow. After giving the wheel of his motor-driven craft a turn, he studied those clouds. “Scurrying along the horizon,” he murmured, “they roll quite a bit, don’t they?” “Yes, and such a peculiar shade of yellow,” Florence added. “Oh well, clouds are different up here on Lake Superior.” “Nothing to worry about, I guess,” said Dave, as once again he gave his attention to the wheel. As for Florence, at the moment she had nothing to do but think. And such bitter-sweet thoughts as they were! She was cruising on Lake Superior. That was grand! She had always loved the water. What was still more magnificent, she was landing twice a week on the shores of that place of great enchantment—Isle Royale. Once, you will recall from reading The Phantom Violin, Florence with two companions had made her summer home on a huge wrecked ship off the rocky shores of this very island. What a summer that had been! Adventure? Plenty of it. The ship had at last been completely destroyed during a storm. They had barely escaped with their lives. The girl shuddered a little even now at the thought of it. Florence was large, strong, fearless. A marvelous swimmer and a grand athlete, she had little to fear on land or water. And yet, as her eyes swept the deck of the Wanderer, the sixty-foot motor-boat on which she rode, a troubled look came into her fine blue eyes. Nor were those low, circling clouds the cause of her worry. She and her cousin Dave, quite as courageous and venturesome as she, had embarked upon an enterprise that promised to be a failure. “Grandfather will lose his money. He can’t afford to lose, and it’s not all our fault,” she told herself a little bitterly. But now her thoughts were broken by a short, stout, bronze-faced man, an Indian who appeared at the cabin door. “Look, John!” she pointed, speaking to the Indian. “Look at those strange clouds!” “Huh!” he grunted. “Smoke!” “Sm-smoke!” the girl stared. Then she breathed a sigh of relief. “Oh, from Canada! Forest fires. I’ve heard—”
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Travails with the Alien

Satyajit Ray was a master of science fiction writing. Through his Professor Shonku stories and other fiction and non-fiction pieces, he explored the genre from various angles. In the 1960s, Ray wrote a screenplay for what would have been the first-of-its-kind sci-fi film to be made in India. It was called The Alien and was based on his own short story "Bonkubabur Bandhu". On being prompted by Arthur C. Clarke, who found the screenplay promising, Ray sent the script to Columbia Pictures in Hollywood, who agreed to back it, and Peter Sellers was approached to play a prominent role. Then started the "Ordeals of the Alien" as Ray calls it, as even after a series of trips to the US, UK and France, the film was never made, and more shockingly, some fifteen years later, Ray watched Steven Spielberg's film Close Encounters of the Third Kind and later E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial, and realized these bore uncanny resemblances to his script The Alien, including the way the ET...
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Dorothy Dale's Great Secret

Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We have not used OCR(Optical Character Recognition), as this leads to bad quality books with introduced typos. (2) In books where there are images such as portraits, maps, sketches etc We have endeavoured to keep the quality of these images, so they represent accurately the original artefact. Although occasionally there may be certain imperfections with these old texts, we feel they deserve to be made available for future generations to enjoy.
Views: 316

The Golden Tree

Soren and the Band are back. Coryn has retrieved the ember and it seems a golden age is dawning at the Great Ga'Hoole Tree. But all that is golden in not necessarily good. Soren, Twilight, Gylfie, and Digger face their biggest challenge yet as the young king, haunted by suspicion that haggish blood flows in his veins, hunts for the truth. His wanderings imperil himself and the good guardians who travel with him. Meanwhile, back at the tree, the influence of the ember is strong- and strange. The tree changes, as do the guardians left to govern in the young king's absence. Otulissa objects to the strange new ways, and her outspokenness puts her in grave danger. Someone must get word to Soren and the Band. But who?
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Motor Boat Boys Down the Danube; or, Four Chums Abroad

This collection of literature attempts to compile many of the classic works that have stood the test of time and offer them at a reduced, affordable price, in an attractive volume so that everyone can enjoy them.
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Tom, The Bootblack; or, The Road to Success

Tom is a fifteen year old boy who lives in New York City with an old man named Jacob in Mrs. Flanagan’s rooming house. They pose as grandfather and grandson, but, while Tom understands that they are no real relation, he knows nothing about his real family. Tom makes a living for them both as a street bootblack. Just before Jacob dies, he tells the boy that he is really Gilbert Grey, the son of a wealthy Cincinnati, OH, businessman named John Grey. However, John’s brother James conspired with Jacob to spirit the child away, claiming that he drowned, so that James could inherit the family wealth. Jacob has written a confession explaining all the details. So after Jacob’s death, Tom, or Gilbert, heads for Cincinnati to see if he can locate his uncle and claim his fortune. What will he find? Can he succeed? Horatio Alger, Jr. (1832-1899) was a nineteenth-century American author who wrote approximately 135 novels, beginning with Ragged Dick in 1867, most of which have been described as rags to riches stories, illustrating how down-and-out boys might be able to achieve the American dream of wealth and success through hard work, courage, determination, and concern for others. The son of a Unitarian minister, Alger also became a Unitarian minister in Brewster, MA, but soon retired from the ministry and moved to New York City where he formed an association with the Newsboys Lodging House and other agencies offering aid to impoverished children. Alger\'s empathy with the young working men, coupled with the moral values he learned at home, formed the basis for his stories. He is noted as a significant figure in the history of American cultural and social ideals, even though his novels are rarely read these days. Tom the bootblack is a good role-model of honesty, hard work, and persistence. There are a couple of references to dancing, but the evils of alcoholic drink are strongly emphasized. The book is recommended by Nathaniel Bluedorn in Hand That Rocks the Cradle: 400 Classic Books for Children, saying, “These stories teach good character and the benefits of entrepreneurial business practices.” Though Alger’s books may be considered by some as hopelessly outdated and even “weird” today, I can easily see why young boys used to eat them up until they went out of style, and to be honest, even looked upon as pulp fiction, they are still a lot better than much of the trash that poses as young people’s literature in our time. At the end of Tom, the Bootblack, Alger apparently included a couple of short stories, one about Davie Cameron, a poor Scottish peasant who finds a buried treasure, and the other about a young boy named Lloyd who tries to save a schooner during a storm by building a fire on the beach. Faith in God is stressed in both.
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The Shaping of Middle-Earth

THE HISTORY OF MIDDLE-EARTH Poems and prose, maps and chronologies, detours and diversions along the road to Middle-earth . . . Christopher Tolkien has gathered archival materials that his late father, J. R. R. Tolkien, used to create the world and the history behind his classic stories. THE EVOLUTION OF A WORLD This fourth volume of The History of Middle-earth presents early versions of those first tales, from the creation myth to the fall of Morgoth. Writings include a chronology of the events in Beleriand, the first Silmarillion map, and the only known description of the physical nature of Middle-earth's universe. Detailed annotations highlight changes ranging from the spelling of Elvish names to pivotal emendations whose effects reach even to the war of the ring. The Shaping of Middle-earth presents a solid framework by which to trace the development of the early lore of Middle-earth. It is a truly indispensable reference work for those familiar with the history of that endlessly beloved land--and fascinating reading for those just entering that world.
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