. . whoo . . . whooo, cried the wind as it swept down from the Himalayan snows.'The wild wind pushes open windows, chokes chimneys and blows away clothes as it huffs and puffs over the village by Haunted Hill, where Usha, Suresh and Binya live. It's even more mighty the day Usha is on her way back from the bazaar. A deep rumble echoes down the slope and a sudden flash of lightning lights up the valley as fat drops come raining down.In search of shelter, Usha rushes into the ruins on Haunted Hill, grim and creepy against the dark sky. Inside, the tin roof groans, strange shadows are thrown against the walls and little Usha shivers with fear. For she isn't alone.A gritty, hair-raising story about friendship, courage and survival, this stunning edition will introduce another lot of young readers to the magic of Ruskin Bond's craft.

    Before that time it was called King Mordreth's Land, and as the first King Mor-dreth had been a fierce and cruel king this seemed a gloomy name...

    White Cat, Black Cat: NEW DOG * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * It was a terrible day for the perky black cat His owner adopted a dog – just like that! A poodle too small to even harm a mouse Who acted as if he could rule the whole house.

    Circumstances kept her from getting her college degree out of high school, and now, at twenty-eight, she is finally getting her life on track. She and her mother, Janet, share a house, and they get along well. Nothing has prepared Mariah for the news heading her way via a letter from the law offices of Hardy, Hardy, and Hardy. From the letter, Mariah learns that she was born to a teenage girl named Kathleen Warren, the granddaughter of a wealthy woman named Cora. Cora’s legacy is one of pain and loss. Her daughter died tragically, and her granddaughter withered away behind the walls of the old Victorian house on the shore. Their pain was so great that it has lingered, and when Mariah is told she has inherited the house from her hitherto unknown great-grandmother, she must contend with the spirits dwelling there when she takes possession of the charming white house by the sea. Since she was a child, Mariah was a loner whose imaginary friends were her constant companions. Now, as an adult, when she is confronted by visions while packing up her dead relatives belongings, she isn’t afraid. She is, however, intrigued, and with the help of a mysterious man named Jerry and an investigator named Sam, Mariah seeks to discover what the “ghosts” are trying to tell her.

    When her brother’s friend offers to pay for a Season in London in exchange for pretending to be his betrothed, she sees it as a miracle. Jonas needs a fiancée in order to inherit his grandfather’s estate, but he didn’t consider how spending several months with Barbara would make her necessary to his happiness. Now she’s in London and he’s in agony. A gentleman never reneges on an agreement…unless his heart is broken.

    Virtually unknown and only published in pulp magazines before he died in poverty, he is now regarded as one of the most significant 20th-century authors in his genre. Lovecraft was born in Providence, Rhode Island, where he spent most of his life. Among his most celebrated tales is "The Call of Cthulhu", canonical to the Cthulhu Mythos. Never able to support himself from earnings as author and editor, Lovecraft saw commercial success increasingly elude him in this latter period, partly because he lacked the confidence and drive to promote himself. He subsisted in progressively straitened circumstances in his last years; an inheritance was completely spent by the time he died at the age of 46.

    Librarian Note: Alternate Cover Edition for ASIN: B013W5L4AE.As a free range kid, Angus is allowed to do things other kids his age aren’t – like play in the street and hang out at the park without adults (shock, horror!) But when he’s accused of stealing an iPhone from school, Angus must use all of his brains, resilience, and courage to catch the real thief, clear his name, and outwit the seriously bad dudes hot on his tail!

    It's a case that nobody wants to touch, deeply rooted in old evil—and old evil is Charlie Parker's specialty. He's about to enter a living nightmare, a dreamscape of sorrow haunted by the murderous specter of a hooded woman, by a black car waiting for a passenger that never comes, and by the sinister complicity of both friends and enemies in Larousse's brutal death. Soon, all will face a final reckoning in an unearthly realm where the paths of the living and the dead converge. A place known only as the White Road. THE BLACK ANGELWhen a young woman disappears from the streets of New York City, ties of friendship and blood inevitably draw ingenious, tortured detective Charlie Parker into the search. Soon he discovers links to a church of bones in Eastern Europe, a 1944 slaughter at a French monastery, and to the myth of an object known as the Black Angel—considered by evil men to be beyond priceless. But the Black Angel is not a legend. It is real. It lives. It dreams. And the mystery of its existence may contain the secret of Parker's own origins. THE UNQUIETDaniel Clay, a once-respected psychiatrist, has gone missing. His daughter insists that he killed himself after allegations surfaced surrounding the harm done to patients in his care. Now, a killer obsessed with finding the truth about his own daughter’s disappearance is seeking revenge—and private investigator Charlie Parker finds himself trapped between those who want the truth about Clay’s disappearance to be revealed, and those who will go to any length—no matter the cost—to keep a deep, dark secret about a local town hidden.

    Get ready to use your Might Math Powers, Umifriend!

    are there any ghosts here?" HAVE YOU EVER wondered why no one that claims to have seen a ghost ever has any evidence of it? You know – some pictures or a video from their cellphone? It's the same with UFO's. There are all these blurry pictures of weird objects in the sky that could be an alien space ship or it could be a toaster. It's tough to tell. I'm Nathaniel Parker and I think about these things. A lot. I asked my dad once why he thought there wasn't any clear pictures of ghosts. You know what he said? “Maybe ghosts are just blurry, Natty.” My dad said. Then, he cracked up like he'd said the funniest thing ever. That's my dad, a real comedian. My friends call me Nate. I'm 12 years old and I'm kind of a nerd. I mean, I like science and stuff, and I read a lot of comic books. If you read comic books, you know why science is so cool. Most of the superheroes out there got to be super thanks to science. Take Spiderman for instance. He got bit by this genetically altered spider and woke up with spider powers. How cool would that be? Anyway, the point that I was trying to make about ghosts is, that the reason that no one has been able to capture any really good images yet is because the only people who see them are a group of kids going into a haunted house on a dare. They are probably trying to take a picture while they are running away and screaming. That got me thinking about what I would do if I saw a ghost. I’d like to think that I’d walk right up and try to shake its hand but I guess I won't know the answer until I actually see one. But that could be sooner than you think..... Tags: ghost stories, ghost hunters, ghost hunting, ghosts, ghost, ghost mystery, ghost diaries, ghost tales, ghost detectives, paranormal, ghost busters, ghost squad, goonies, ghost hunter, the real ghostbusters, ghost house, abandoned house, junior detectives, junior books, junior novels, detective mysteries, detective novels, mystery, mystery stories, detective stories, detective series, detective fiction, spooky stories, paranormal activity, children;'s books, children's book, kids books, kids books 9-12

    Using her infectious joy, she was determined to soften the heart of her new employer, Mr. Cole, and to bring warmth and cheer to his cold Aspen home. New to Aspen, Chloe was resolute to start fresh, shaking off a past relationship betrayal. She saw the Cole assignment as her ticket to establish herself professionally, and despite the magnetic lure of Mr. Tall, Dark, and Delicious, she knew to keep her distance. For real estate mogul, Elias Cole, a broken heart had vetoed celebrating Christmas for years. More Scrooge than Kris Kringle, he was desperate for help so he hired Chloe Craig to bring the once-loved Christmas joy to his home. But when his personal life fell apart, he needed more than a decorator. He needed a miracle, and her name was Chloe. Sometimes desire is simply too irresistible to give into, and attraction too hard to ignore. While some girls get presents for Christmas, others get Cole. Could a little Cole for Christmas be Chloe’s wish come true?

     As usual, Maupin’s tone is both bittersweet and achingly funny in this tale of a post-catastrophic San Francisco and a young man’s resilient love for his mother. Cover Design by Darryl Vance

    A time for joy. A time for tears. A time for reflection. A time for hope.And a time for miracles.This Christmas season Dave and Karen Brenner have welcomed a stranger into their lives. A stranger who may change their lives forever.

    Now he's starring in a big-budget action thriller that offers him the chance to become a box-office titan.Except the action and the thrills aren't just in the movie. Dangerous and destabilizing new technology is floating around behind the scenes. Police and cartel lords lurk in the shadows. An assassin is on the loose, and has already claimed his first victim.Sean could be next in the killer's sights, unless he can find out what the bad guys want, who's hiding it, and how many people he's going to have to betray in order to save his life--- and more importantly, his celebrity!