Ponder, if you will ...
Do snakes sneeze?
Why didn't the three musketeers carry muskets?
What happens to the holes that are punched out of looseleaf paper?
Why don't people smile in old photos?
Pop culture guru David Feldman demystifies these questions and much more in How Does Aspirin Find a Headache? Part of the Imponderables® series -- the unchallenged source of answers to civilization's most perplexing conundrums -- and charmingly illustrated by Kassie Schwan, this book provides you with knowledge about everyday life that encyclopedias, dictionaries, and almanacs just don't have. And think about it, where else are you going to find out why glue doesn't get stuck in the bottle?
This entertaining novel is right at home alongside Charles Dickens' Oliver Twist and Leon Garfield's Smith. In Victorian London, 12-year-old orphan Mog Winter prints wanted posters about all the dangerous villains. When a brute named Cockburn escapes prison, the ink on the posters is barely dry before Mog gets caught up in the criminal underworld. Soon thieves, crooked schemers-even murderers-are hunting Mog, but he doesn't know why.
King Solomon's Mines is set in nineteenth-century Africa. Allan Quartermain, hunter, is commissioned by the valiant Sir Henry Curtis and his jovial friend Captain Good to lead them to the fabled lost mines of King Solomon. In the company of these dauntless men we undertake the most exciting safari ever described. We hunt big game, we go to war with the terrifying King Twala of Kukuanaland and his diabolical henchwoman Gagaoola and are amazed by the twist at the end.
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First-time novelist Natasha Friend is a writer with a talent for realistically expressing the fears and uncertainties of today's adolescents in a good story. Perfect has received the Milkweed Prize for Children's Literature and is a Book Sense "Winter Picks" selection. This is the moving story of a young girl who develops a dangerous eating disorder while dealing with intense grief.
Award-winning author Patricia Polacco based this story on her own childhood and the heroic teacher who helped her overcome her learning disability. Even though she is a wonderful artist who makes beautiful pictures with her crayons, Trisha can't figure out how to read. The other kids make fun of her, calling her terrible names like "Dummy." Then one day, a new teacher arrives. Mr. Falker doesn't think Trisha is dumb at all. He knows he can help her read.
Warning: Not to be listened to after dark
Capturing witches, Binding boggarts, Driving away ghosts
For years, Old Gregory has been the Spook for the county, ridding the local villages of evil. Now his time is coming to an end. But who will take over for him? Twenty-nine apprentices have tried -- some floundered, some fled, some failed to stay alive.
Only Thomas Ward is left. He's the last hope; the last apprentice.
Can Thomas succeed? Will he learn the difference between a benign witch and a malevolent one? Does the Spook's warning against girls with pointy shoes include Alice? And what will happen if Thomas accidentally frees Mother Malkin, the most evil witch in the county ... ?
Performed by Christopher Evan Welch
Enhanced CD: Put this CD in your computer to view and print Tom Ward's Secrets for Survival, including tips for identifying boggarts, and recipes for dealing with witches.
The story of the orphan Oliver, who runs away from the workhouse only to be taken in by a den of thieves, shocked many readers when it was first published. Dickens' tale of childhood innocence beset by evil depicts the dark, criminal underworld of a London people by vivid and memorable characters - the arch-villain Fagin, the artful Dodger, the menacing Bill Sikes, and Nancy, the prostitute with a heart of gold. Oliver Twist remains one of Dickens' best-loved stories, and is an ongoing source and inspiration for various musical and film productions.
This sequel to Book Sense 76 Children's Pick The Frog Princess is "as magically adventurous as fantasy can get," according to VOYA. Princess Emma, a witch in training, is having some trouble controlling her skills. She even puts herself in the dungeon by mistake. When her kingdom is threatened, she will need the aid of her magical aunt to protect everyone.
In this quietly beautiful coming-of-age story, eleven-year-old Valena lives with her family in rural Ohio where she and her cousin share experiences such as surviving a tornado and going to an amazing circus. Yet Valena lives in both the present and the past as she struggles with racism in her daily life and listens to and learns from her mother's tales of her family's proud history. Moving backward and forward in time, these pieces of Valena's life blend to form an extraordinary portrait of the ties that bind a family together over generations.
"...this semi-autobiographical novel weaves together some of [Hamilton's] childhood memories of growing up in a warm, extended family in rural Ohio....The real drama, however, is in the tales Valena hears about the people who came before her."-Booklist
An ordinary boy, a giant trout, a mysterious letter, a royal birth, a near-death experience, and an unexpected romance magically come together to create a touching and good-hearted novel about the search for self and the power of belief.
In the rich turbulence of English history, one day stands magnificently apart-June 15, 1215, the day of the signing of the Magna Charta. On this day, the first blow for English freedom was struck and forever affected the Western world. Here is the story of three true men, Stephen Langton, Williams Marshall, and Hubert de Burgh, whose heroic deeds are set against those of the ever deceitful and crafty King John.
