All Jack Blank knows is his bleak, dreary life at St. Barnaby’s Home for the Hopeless, Abandoned, Forgotten, and Lost, an orphanage that sinks further into the swampland of New Jersey with each passing year. His aptitude tests predict that he will spend a long, unhappy career as a toilet brush cleaner. His only chance at escape comes through the comic books donated years ago to the orphanage that he secretly reads in the dark corners of the library.
Everything changes one icy gray morning when Jack receives two visitors that alter his life forever. The first is a deadly robot straight out of one of his comic books that tries its best to blow him up. The second is an emissary from a secret country called the Imagine Nation, an astonishing place where all the fantastic and unbelievable things in our world originate — including Jack. Jack soon discovers that he has an amazing ability — one that could make him the savior of the Imagine Nation and the world beyond, or the biggest threat they've ever faced. Views: 789
"I'm hiring you to steal the king's crown."
Ardor Benn is no ordinary thief. Rakish, ambitious, and master of wildly complex heists, he styles himself a Ruse Artist Extraordinaire.
When a priest hires him for the most daring ruse yet, Ardor knows he'll need more than quick wit and sleight of hand. Assembling a dream team of forgers, disguisers, schemers, and thieves, he sets out to steal from the most powerful king the realm has ever known.
But it soon becomes clear there's more at stake than fame and glory -Ard and his team might just be the last hope for human civilization. Views: 777
The first kidnappings happened two hundred years before. Some years it was two boys taken, some years two girls, sometimes one of each. But if at first the choices seemed random, soon the pattern became clear. One was always beautiful and good, the child every parent wanted as their own. The other was homely and odd, an outcast from birth. An opposing pair, plucked from youth and spirited away.
This year, best friends Sophie and Agatha are about to discover where all the lost children go: the fabled School for Good & Evil, where ordinary boys and girls are trained to be fairy tale heroes and villains. As the most beautiful girl in Gavaldon, Sophie has dreamed of being kidnapped into an enchanted world her whole life. With her pink dresses, glass slippers, and devotion to good deeds, she knows she’ll earn top marks at the School for Good and graduate a storybook princess. Meanwhile Agatha, with her shapeless black frocks, wicked pet cat, and dislike of nearly everyone, seems a natural fit for the School for Evil.
But when the two girls are swept into the Endless Woods, they find their fortunes reversed—Sophie’s dumped in the School for Evil to take Uglification, Death Curses, and Henchmen Training, while Agatha finds herself in the School For Good, thrust amongst handsome princes and fair maidens for classes in Princess Etiquette and Animal Communication.. But what if the mistake is actually the first clue to discovering who Sophie and Agatha really are…? Views: 773
On the north west tip of the Isle of Mull, Castle Haunn faces a bleak Yuletide. Their strawberry juice has run out and the extra delivery to keep their power cells running was lost at sea. It's going to be a cold, hungry holiday.Dylan takes a message to the mainland calling for help, but fails to return.Dylan's Yuletide Journey is a short chapter ebook for Middle Grade readers over 8 years.On the north west tip of the Isle of Mull, Castle Haunn faces a bleak Yuletide. Their strawberry juice has run out and they have lost the extra delivery to keep their power cells going. The supply ship was lost in a storm. No fresh food, no presents, and even worse, no heat. It's going to be a cold, hungry holiday.Young Dylan is despatched to take a message to the mainland calling for help. His twin brother Dougall tries to find a solution to their problem, using raspberry juice and any sources of different metals he can find. The Laird's wife hasn't missed her silver necklace... yet!On the way back from his errand, Dylan falls into a trap. He discovers the cause of the missing strawberry juice, and more trouble than he ever imagined!Will the loveable twins survive their troubles? Will it be a sad and lonely Yuletide?Set in the same world as The Princelings of the East series, this book introduces Dylan and Dougall, who will become the Princelings of the North. The story also involves the Prince of Buckmore and Prince Engineer George of Marsh, who will be well known to regular readers, but no prior knowledge of the series is needed - except to know that all the characters are guinea pigs. "A feudal world with advanced technology, populated by guinea pigs" as someone described it.Dylan's Yuletide Journey is a short chapter ebook (7 chapters, c7,000 words) for Middle Grade readers aged 8 and upwards. As usual with Jemima's books, each chapter has a black and white illustration. Views: 768
A brand-new novel by one of today's most powerful storytellers, Sweep is a heart-rending adventure about the everlasting gifts of friendship and hope.
For nearly a century, Victorian London relied on "climbing boys"--orphans owned by chimney sweeps--to clean flues and protect homes from fire. The work was hard, thankless and brutally dangerous. Eleven-year-old Nan Sparrow is quite possibly the best climber who ever lived--and a girl. With her wits and will, she's managed to beat the deadly odds time and time again.
But when Nan gets stuck in a deadly chimney fire, she fears her time has come. Instead, she wakes to find herself in an abandoned attic. And she is not alone. Huddled in the corner is a mysterious creature--a golem--made from ash and coal. This is the creature that saved her from the fire.
Sweep is the story of a girl and her monster. Together, these two outcasts carve out a life together--saving one another in the process. Views: 763
In the epic next chapter of Soman Chainani’s New York Times bestselling series, The School for Good and Evil, everything old is new again as Sophie and Agatha fight the past as well as the present to find the perfect end to their story.
As A World Without Princes closed, the end was written and former best friends Sophie and Agatha went their separate ways. Agatha was whisked back to Gavaldon with Tedros and Sophie stayed behind with the beautiful young School Master.
But as they settle into their new lives, their story begs to be re-written, and this time, theirs isn’t the only one. With the girls apart, Evil has taken over and the villains of the past have come back to change their tales and turn the world of Good and Evil upside down.
Readers around the world are eagerly awaiting the third book in The School for Good and Evil series, The Last Ever After. This extraordinary new journey delivers more action, adventure, laughter, romance and fairy tale twists and turns than you could ever dream of! Views: 760
Jessica Darling’s in college!
Things are looking up for Jessica Darling. She has finally left her New Jersey hometown/hellhole for Columbia University in New York City; she’s more into her boyfriend, Marcus Flutie, than ever (so what if he’s at a Buddhist college in California?); and she’s making new friends who just might qualify as stand-ins for her beloved best friend, Hope.
But Jessica soon realizes that her bliss might not last. She lands an internship at a snarky Brooklyn-based magazine, but will she fit in with the überhip staff (and will she even want to)? As she and Marcus hit the rocks, will she end up falling for her GOPunk, neoconservative RA . . . or the hot (and married!) Spanish grad student she’s assisting on a summer project . . . or the oh-so-sensitive emo boy down the hall? Will she even make it through college now that her parents have cut her off financially? And what do the cryptic one-word postcards from Marcus really mean?
With hilarious insight, the hyperobservant Jessica Darling struggles through her college years—and the summers in between—while maintaining her usual mix of wit, cynicism, and candor.
From the Hardcover edition. Views: 740
Jerry Price has just killed his own mother. He had no choice. After ingesting a street narcotic called Vision, she changed into a cannibalistic creature, and he was next on the menu. Struggling with guilt he sets out with his pet ferret Whisper and his own malevolent shadow to discover the secrets of vision and himself.Jerry Price has just killed his own mother. He had no choice. After ingesting a street narcotic called Vision, she changed into a cannibalistic creature, and he was next on the menu.Institutionalized in an asylum, Jerry is left to struggle with the guilt over his mother's death, until he is broken out by the unlikely duo of a talking ferret named Whisper and Jerry's own shadow. Together the three set out to learn the secrets of Vision which are literally out of this world. Views: 729
Jack lives in a fantasy world. Really. He's the son of the infamous Jack who stole the magic beans from the giant, and he's working hard to restore his family's reputation. He finds the perfect opportunity when a "princess" lands in front of him, apparently from the land of Punk, as her Punk Princess sweatshirt implies. May is from our world, and she's utterly confused to find herself in the midst of the fairy tale characters she has read about. But Jack and May have more in common than they realize--and together, they embark on a hilarious and wild adventre in this highly accessible, modern middle grade fantasy novel. Views: 725
The newest Blood Coven novel-accompanied by edgy repackages of the rest of the series
Sunny McDonald is in the ultimate forbidden relationship. Her boyfriend Magnus is a vampire, and the leader of the Blood Coven. And when the Coven decides that Magnus needs a mate to be his co-ruler, Sunny's humanity puts her out of the running. The Coven's chosen candidate is Jane Johnson, a magna cum laude graduate of Oxford University who just happens to look like a vampiric supermodel.
Sunny is suspicious of a Rhodes Scholar who can't answer the most basic poli-sci questions, but Magnus brushes it off as petty jealousy. Still, when the Blood Coven goes to Las Vegas for a vampire convention, Sunny and her twin sister Rayne secretly tag along. And Sunny's not going home before she learns the truth about Jane. Because not everything stays in Vegas-especially bad blood. Views: 716
Jack Blank confronts his destiny in this action-packed conclusion to the trilogy Publishers Weekly calls a “no-holds-barred adventure.”
Ever since Jack Blank learned that he came from the amazing country of the Imagine Nation, he’s known that his fate could go down two very different paths—he could either be the greatest hero the world has ever known, or its greatest villain.
Now the final battle is here, and it’s time for Jack to discover the direction of his destiny.
The action-packed trilogy concludes with more surprises, twists, and adventure than ever—along with the same humor and heart that has brought so many fans to Jack’s story. Views: 711
Bethany travels to a new fictional world to rescue her father in this third book in the New York Times bestselling series, Story Thieves—which was called a “fast-paced, action-packed tale” by School Library Journal—from the author of the Half Upon a Time trilogy.
Owen and Bethany have sworn off jumping into books for good. But they didn’t make any promises about not jumping through strange portals that lead to a comic book world.
Jupiter City was once filled with brightly costumed superheroes and villains, but nowadays, there’s nothing left but the Dark. Even the villains are terrified of the Dark’s shadows, and most of the heroes have either disappeared or been lost to mind control. The one hero who might have stopped all of this, Doc Twilight, has been imprisoned by the Dark.
But who is Doc Twilight really? And how can Bethany and Owen defeat the Dark without superpowers of their own? They’ll definitely need the help of some old friends and new allies to bring the light back to Jupiter City, and find out the truth behind the Dark.
It all comes back to Bethany’s own secret origins. What really happened when her fictional father disappeared years ago? Who is Nobody, and why is he writing these Story Thieves books? And what kind of supervillain name is The Rotten Banana? Views: 710
When thirteen-year-old Max Tilt happens upon his great-great-great-grandfather Jules Verne’s unfinished, unpublished manuscript, The Lost Treasures, he doesn’t realize that he’s found the answers to all his problems. And Max has a lot of problems—his mother is sick, his father is out of work, and his home is about to be foreclosed on. But when Max and his cousin Alex discover that Verne’s last work reveals everything he wrote was fact, not fiction, they realize that the book holds the key to something incredibly valuable. A treasure that can save his house—and maybe his entire family.
But Max and Alex aren’t the only ones who know about Verne’s clues. Spencer Niemend, a strange skunk-haired man who has spent his life researching Verne’s works, is bent on reshaping the world with the hidden treasure. To find it first, Max and Alex must go on an adventure that’ll take them from the broken remains of an underwater city to the very jaws of a giant squid to the edges of a whirlpool from which no one has ever emerged alive. Views: 709
For the hardback edition, see: ISBN13: 9780062658470.
If Good and Evil can’t find a way to work together, neither side will survive.
With every end comes a new beginning in the fourth installment of Soman Chainani’s New York Times bestselling School for Good and Evil series, Quests for Glory. Join Sophie, Agatha, Tedros, and the other students as they begin a new era in the Endless Woods—The Camelot Years—where Evers and Nevers alike must move beyond the bounds of school and into the biggest, boldest adventures of their lives.
The students at the School for Good and Evil thought they had found their final Ever After when they vanquished the malevolent School Master. Now, on their required fourth-year quests, the students face obstacles both dangerous and unpredictable, and the stakes are high: success brings eternal adoration, and failure means obscurity forever.
For their quests, Agatha and Tedros are trying to return Camelot to its former splendor as queen and king. For her quest, Dean Sophie seeks to mold Evil in her own image. But soon they all feel themselves growing more isolated and alone. When their classmates’ quests plunge into chaos, however, someone must lead the charge to save them... Views: 705
It's a new school year, and for Casey Chang it is chance to make a fresh start away from the bad memories in her old town. But for the Drama Club of Ridgefield High, it means a chance to recruit new members. And Brianna Glaser, the Type A co-president of the club, has her sights set on the new girl. But Casey soon finds herself sucked into the excitement and drama. For these kids, Drama Club isn’'t just about a school play, it'’s about passion and dreams and the future. All Casey wanted was a new life for herself, but Drama Club has opened up a whole new world... Views: 698
