Synopsis: In addition to its peacefuluses, fire has been used as a weapon since ancient times. From dentists to insects to bacteria, this series tackles some of life's more unpleasant experiences--and explores how much worse it might be if they didn't exist. Each title is a blend of history and science, explaining how things work and revealing how humans have come to terms with all the challenges that nature has thrown at us! Key Features: Full-color…

Synopsis: One bride. Two boys. Three flower girls who won't hold their peace. What could go wrong with this wedding? Everything! The Brewster triplets, Dawn, Darby, and Delaney, would usually spend their summer eating ice cream, playing wtih their dog, and reading about the U. S. presidents. But this year they're stuck helping their big sister, Lily, plan her wedding. Burton, Lily's groom-to-be, is not nice or fun, and he looks like an armadillo.…

Synopsis: How about a seat at a mystery dinner on a riverboat? Yes, please! I jumped at the invitation to go along with Bess, George, and George's mom, who was hired to cater the dinner. It's all fun until there's an actual theft, and there's nothing like a good crime to stop a party. Since I've got the magnifying glass, it's up to me to catch "sticky fingers" before this dinner's sunk.

Synopsis: Could you cope without a toilet? This series takes readers (Ages 8-12) on a historical journey, examining how people coped in the past and how they developed ingenious ways to make life safer and less unpleasant. Each book features full-color cartoon-style illustrations and hilarious speech bubbles to heighten interest, making the series attractive even to reluctant readers. Toilets are marks of cleanliness and civilization, and have saved…

Synopsis: In this unforgettable seventh book in the New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling Keeper of the Lost Cities series, Sophie must let the past and present blur together, because the deadliest secrets are always the ones that get erased.Sophie Foster doesn’t know what—or whom—to believe. And in a game with this many players, the worst mistake can be focusing on the wrong threat. But when the Neverseen prove that Sophie’s far more vulnerable than…

Synopsis: In 1943 ten-year-old Lida is torn away from her home in the Ukraine, separated from her little sister Larissa, and sent to a slave labor camp in Germany, but when she is moved and set to making bombs she sees a way to strike back at the Nazis.

Synopsis: Although they don't get the glory, nurses are just as important as doctors.This series takes readers (Ages 8-12) on a historical journey, examining how people coped in the past and how they developed ingenious ways to make life safer and less unpleasant. Each book features full-color cartoon-style illustrations and hilarious speech bubbles to heighten interest, making the series attractive even to reluctant readers.For thousands of years, nurses…

Synopsis: Christmas is in chaos! Jack Frost never gets anything in his Christmas stocking, so this year, he's decided that nobody else will, either! He's stolen Natalie the Christmas Stocking Fairy's three magic objects. Without them, Natalie can't make sure that kids all over the world get their special presents! Can Kirsty and Rachel help their newest fairy friend? Or is the Christmas magic about to fizzle and fade? Find the magic objects in all…

Synopsis: Illusions shatter—and Sophie and her friends face impossible choices—in this astonishing eighth book in the New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling Keeper of the Lost Cities series.Sophie Foster wants answers. But after a lifetime of lies, sometimes the truth is the most dangerous discovery. Even the smallest secret comes with terrifying new responsibilities. And Sophie’s not the only one with blank spots in her past, or mysteries surrounding…

Synopsis: The brain is the control center for everything from memories to movement, eyesight to emotions. This incredible computer processes messages from billions of microscopic cells called neurons, which link up to form nerves. Covering every inch of the body, nerves can carry messages from your fingertip to your brain and back at speeds of up to four hundred feet per second. With stunning full-color photographs and a fascinating text, award-winning…

Synopsis: Newbery Honor author Laurence Yep's incredible JOURNAL OF WONG MING-CHUNG is now in paperback with a stunning repackaging! In 1852, during the height of the California Gold Rush, ten-year-old Wong makes the dangerous trip to America to live with his uncle, exchanging the famine and war of his native country for brutal bullies and grueling labor in America, Wong joins his uncle and countless others in the effort to strike it rich on the great "…

Synopsis: A New York Times bestselling series A USA TODAY bestselling series A California Young Reader Medal–winning series In this riveting series opener, a telepathic girl must figure out why she is the key to her brand-new world before the wrong person finds the answer first.Twelve-year-old Sophie has never quite fit into her life. She’s skipped multiple grades and doesn’t really connect with the older kids at school, but she’s not comfortable with her…

Synopsis: In James Patterson's heartwarming #1 New York Times bestseller, middle schooler Jamie Grimm faces bullying and self-doubt as he chases his dream to become the world's greatest comedian.Jamie Grimm is a middle schooler on a mission: he wants to become the world's greatest standup comedian, even if he doesn't have a lot to laugh about these days. He's new in town and stuck living with his aunt, uncle, and their evil son Stevie, a bully who doesn't…

Synopsis: Live large with James Patterson's winning follow-up to the #1 New York Times bestsellerMiddle School, The Worst Years of My Life.After sixth grade, the very worst year of his life, Rafe Khatchadorian thinks he has it made in seventh grade. He's been accepted to art school in the big city and imagines a math-and-history-free fun zone. Wrong! It's more competitive than Rafe ever expected, and to score big in class, he needs to find a way to turn…

Synopsis: We all do it. We usually don't like to talk about it, but going to the toilet is a natural and necessary part of our lives.This series takes readers (Ages 8-12) on a historical journey, examining how people coped in the past and how they developed ingenious ways to make life safer and less unpleasant. Each book features full-color cartoon-style illustrations and hilarious speech bubbles to heighten interest, making the series attractive even to…

Synopsis: Helicity is well aware that her name is unusual . . . kind of like Helicity herself. The word helicity means to spin in a corkscrew motion, and for as long as she can remember, Helicity has been fascinated by the weather. Her heroes are not reality TV stars, but meteorologists and storm chases.The weather is Helicity's escape from her own reality-be it school, her father's strict discipline, or her brother's imminent departure for college, where…

Synopsis: With their parents in trouble once again, the Kidds must traverse the Australian Outback, recover a pair of stolen gems, and defeat treasure-hunting pirates to save them!The Kidd family is on their way to Australia to find Lasseter's Gold when they are challenged by fellow treasure hunter Charlotte Badger, who challenges them to a race to the gold! But when the Kidds pull into port in Australia, their parents are suddenly arrested—they've been…

Synopsis: "You can live on the same farm, in the same house with your uncle for eleven summers, eleven winters, and still not know him. You and your older brother, Wayne, can work in the fields alongside him and Father and Nels - the other old, old man on the farm - and still Uncle David can one day amaze you. Every night in the winter room, used only in winter because then no work can be done outside, Mother and Father, Nels and Wayne and you - Eldon -…

Synopsis: It is June 1941 and after the brutal rule of the Soviets the people of Krystia's small Ukrainian village are inclined to look on the German invaders as liberators; but soon the Nazis start rounding up Jewish Ukrainians, and Krystia is faced with a terrible choice--risk everything by helping her Jewish friends and neighbors to hide, or save herself and her family by doing nothing.