Synopsis: Explore the life of Joseph Stalin.The wicked ways of some of the most ruthless rulers to walk the earth are revealed in these thrilling biographies (A Wicked History) about men and women so monstrous, they make Frankenstein look like a sweetheart.

Synopsis: The diary of Zlata Filipovic begins with the typical concerns of an eleven-year-old girl: piano lessons and birthday parties, new skis and grades at school. Eight months later, as blasts of gunfire destroy her happy world, Zlata witnesses and records instead the horrors of war: the deaths of friends, food shortages, and days spent seeking refuge from bombs and artillery in a neighbor's cellar. In a voice both innocent and heartbreakingly wise,…

Synopsis: In this riveting debut, a boy struggling with OCD is uniquely qualified to solve a kidnapping.Lisa Thompson's debut novel is a page-turning mystery with an emotionally-driven, complex character study at its core -- like Rear Window meets The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time.Matthew Corbin suffers from severe obsessive-compulsive disorder. He hasn't been to school in weeks. His hands are cracked and bleeding from cleaning. He refuses…

Synopsis: Every kid has heard of Harry Houdini, the famous magician who could escape from handcuffs, jail cells, and locked trunks. But do they know that the ever-ambitious and adventurous Houdini was also a famous movie star and the first pilot to fly a plane in Australia? This well-told biography is full of the details of Houdini's life that kids will really want to know about and illustrated throughout with beautiful black-and-white line drawings…