Synopsis: Now in paperback! Bailey's Story is an irresistible illustrated novel for young readers inspired by the New York Times bestselling A Dog's Purpose by W. Bruce Cameron Every dog has work to do. Every dog has a purpose. When Bailey meets eight-year-old Ethan, he quickly figures out his purpose: to play with the boy, to explore the Farm during summers with the boy, and to tidy the boy's dishes by licking them clean (only when Mom isn't watching).…

Synopsis: Meet Toby—a very special dog with a very important purpose—featured in A Dog's Journey, the basis for the major motion picture! Young readers will love this story in the popular A Dog's Purpose Puppy Tales series by bestselling author W. Bruce Cameron.Toby is a beagle who doesn’t seem to have a purpose. While all of his littermates are adopted right away, Toby is left behind because he's not as energetic as they are. But because he is so quiet,…

Synopsis: This diary of a runaway girl and her search for a home celebrates hope, resilience, and happy endings as only Wendelin Van Draanen, the author of Flipped and other acclaimed novels, can.   Holly has run away before, but this time she actually gets away—and what at first felt like an escape soon becomes a daily struggle for survival. She is smart and resourceful, and she manages to make it across the country on her own. But how long can this go…

Synopsis: From the award-winning author of The Running Dream and Flipped comes a remarkable portrait of a girl who has hit rock bottom but begins a climb back to herself at a wilderness survival camp. 3:47 a.m. That’s when they come for Wren Clemmens. She’s hustled out of her house and into a waiting car, then a plane, and then taken on a forced march into the desert. This is what happens to kids who’ve gone so far off the rails, their parents don’t know…

Synopsis: From the window of the small floatplane, fifteen-year-old Gabe Rogers is getting his first look at Canada's magnificent Northwest Territories with Raymond Providence, his roommate from boarding school. Below is the spectacular Nahanni River -- wall-to-wall whitewater racing between sheer cliffs and plunging over Virginia Falls. The pilot sets the plane down on the lake-like surface of the upper river for a closer look at the thundering falls.…

Synopsis: Heart-stopping adventure on the wild side of Seattle! How do you rescue a coyote trapped in the elevator of a downtown office building? How do you save an injured seal at the bottom of a cliff with the tide coming in? Fourteen-year-old Shannon and her younger brother, Cody, are about to find out as they spend a summer of breathless, sometimes reckless, often hilarious adventure visiting their uncle Neal at a wildlife center called Jackie's Wild…

Synopsis: "Gold!" Jason shouted at the top of his lungs. "Read all about it! Gold discovered in Alaska!"Within hours of hearing the thrilling news, fifteen-year-old Jason Hawthorn jumps a train for Seattle, stow away on a ship bound for the goldfields, and joins thousands of fellow prospectors attempting the difficult journey to the Klondike. The Dead Horse Trail, the infamous Chilkott Pass, and a five-hundred-mile trip by canoe down the Yukon River lie…

Synopsis: The Newbery Medal–winning classic novel about the courage and faith—and the love of a dog—that give a family strength in the face of inhumanity.The boy knows that times are tough for his family. Every night, his father goes out hunting with their great coon dog, Sounder, to try to put food on the table. But even with the little they bring back, there is still never enough for the family to eat.When the boy awakens one morning to a sweet-smelling…

Synopsis: From School Library Journal Grade 8-Up This is historical fiction at its best. Adele Geras (Harcout, 2001) tells the tale of the Trojan War from the viewpoint of several Trojans, mostly young and mostly female, while giving both the Olympic mythologic and Greek prophetic traditions significant roles in her story's plot and its symbolic imagery. Young sisters Xanthe and Marpessa hold center stage here as their adopted city suffers the siege…

Synopsis: Part of Penguin's beautiful hardback Clothbound Classics series, designed by the award-winning Coralie Bickford-Smith, these delectable and collectible editions are bound in high-quality colourful, tactile cloth with foil stamped into the design When Jonathan Harker visits Transylvania to help Count Dracula with the purchase of a London house, he makes a series of horrific discoveries about his client. Soon afterwards, various bizarre incidents…

Synopsis: A gripping narrative of one of the great survival stories of American history: the opening of the first permanent English settlement in the New World. Drawing on period letters and chronicles, and on the papers of the Virginia Company–which financed the settlement of Jamestown–David Price tells a tale of cowardice and courage, stupidity and brilliance, tragedy and costly triumph. He takes us into the day-to-day existence of the English men and…

Synopsis: Think again! This delightful series brings something unusual to the study of history: humor. You Wouldn't Want to... revels in the darker side of life in ancient times. The reader is on center stage as he or she gets a tour through life as a slave, warrior, explorer -- even a mummy! Hilarious illustrations, captions, and sidebars leave no doubt that you simply wouldn't want to be there.

Synopsis: Virgil's classic tale of a hero's mythical journey comes to life in this graphic retelling for kids. From the smoldering ruins of Troy, the warrior Aeneas sets out to find a new homeland for his people. But it's no easy task, for his adventure is filled with great sacrifice, angry gods, tragic love, and brutal battles. Will Aeneas be able to fulfill his destiny and found the mighty city of Rome? With extra background on the original Latin epic…

Synopsis: Henry David Thoreau reflects on life, politics, and society in these two inspiring masterworks: Walden and Civil Disobedience. In 1845, Thoreau moved to a cabin that he built with his own hands along the shores of Walden Pond in Massachusetts. Shedding the trivial ties that he felt bound much of humanity, Thoreau reaped from the land both physically and mentally, and pursued truth in the quiet of nature. In Walden, he explains how separating…

Synopsis: "The novella follows a governess who, caring for two children at a remote estate, becomes convinced that the grounds are haunted."--back cover.

Synopsis: A prophecy states that the king of Argos will be defeated by his infant grandson Perseus, so the king throws Perseus, and his mother, into the sea. They are rescued by a fisherman, and young Perseus grows up, unaware of his royal birth. Before he can claim his heritage, the hero is ordered to slay a hideous monster named Medusa, whose gaze turns men into solid stone. How can the youth fight an enemy he cannot even look at? He will need the…

Synopsis: With an Introduction and Notes by Dr Nicola Bradbury, University of Reading. Jane Austen teased readers with the idea of a 'heroine whom no one but myself will much like', but Emma is irresistible. 'Handsome, clever, and rich', Emma is also an 'imaginist', 'on fire with speculation and foresight'. She sees the signs of romance all around her, but thinks she will never be married. Her matchmaking maps out relationships that Jane Austen ironically…

Synopsis: A marvel of engineering that proclaimed the might of the Emperor of Ancient Rome. The Emperor Titus opened the enormous Colosseum in AD 80 to host 100 days of games, and it will astound readers to learn what the ancient Romans found entertaining. Over 50,000 screaming fans watched gladiators battling each other to the death, men fighting exotic wild beasts, and even mock sea battles with warships floating on an arena floor flooded with water. By…