Easy to read and beautifully illustrated, it includes Heracles' mighty tasks, Pandora's box, King Midas's golden touch, and more!

    Includes The Tale of Tom Kitten, The Tale of Mr. Jeremy Fisher, The Tale of Benjamin Bunny and The Tale of Pigling Bland.

    An adventurous summer with four children visiting their eccentric great aunt in the Irish countryside.

    It includes books 4, 5 and 6 in the series.

    Ash is going to be the stag boy in the annual Stag Chase. He's been waiting to tell his dad he's following in his footsteps, he'll make him proud. But Dad is stuck in a world of imaginary threats.When Ash's grieving best friend pushes him away too, his world suddenly seems lonely and threatening. So Ash retreats to the mountains, to his punishing training runs. But in the mountains dark things are stirring - the hound boys of old haunt his running steps and Ash hears the death cry of a stag boy. Ash starts to wonder how much of the sinister pagan stories about the Stag Chase are true, and what it all has to do with his friend's anger and grief.As death haunts his every step, Ash has to find a way to live again.

    After all, who's really going to miss a few tarnished coins?The well witch does.And she demands payback: Now Ryan, Josh, and Chelle must serve her . . . and the wishes that lie rotting at the bottom of her well. Each takes on powers they didn't ask for and don't want. Ryan grows strange bumps--are they eyes?--between his knuckles; Chelle starts speaking the secrets of strangers, no matter how awful and bloody; and Josh can suddenly--inexplicably--grant even the darkest of wishes, the kind of wishes that should never come true.Darkly witty, wholly unexpected, and exquisitely sinister, Frances Hardinge's Well Witched is one well-cast tale that readers didn't know they were wishing for.

    Dark and funny, lyrical and earthy, these fifty stories are part of an important and enduring historical tradition that dates back hundreds of years. Described by Neil Gaiman as the "master", Crossley-Holland's unforgettable retellings will capture the imagination of readers young and old alike.

    They include stories of princes and princesses who have been transformed into animals, trolls, and maneating giants who possess magical powers, and good-hearted, clever young men and women, often poor and ridiculed, who eventually come away with wealth and love beyond measure.In addition to such well-known favorites as "Dapplegrim," "Katie Woodencloak," "Tatterhood," and "Legend of Tannhäuser," this collection also brings to light many gems difficult to find elsewhere. In "The Werewolf," a cruel stepmother thwarts a beautiful princess's marriage plans by transforming her fiancé into a hunted denizen of the forest. The hilarious "Such Women Are" proves the world is never without a sufficiency of fools, while "The Three Dogs" tells of a youth whose four-legged friends defeat a serpent with the nasty habit of devouring a town's young women. Among many other hard-to-find stories are "King Gram," "The Magician's Pupil," "The Outlaw," "Temptations," "The Widow's Son," "The Three Sisters Trapped in a Mountain," and "The Goatherd" (the inspiration for Washington Irving’s story of Rip van Winkle).These stories preserve the ancient myths of Western Europe that have been passed down from generation to generation, but aside from their importance as seminal folktales, they are simply good reading — full of passion and excitement, magic, mystery, and sheer storytelling power. Popular Tales from Norse Mythology will delight any student or admirer of myths and mythology.Excerpt:The Dasent family is believed to have been originally of French extraction, the name having been traced to an ancient Norman source. It has owned property in the West Indies since the Restoration, and is repre sented in the island of St. Vincent at the present day. Some of its members were amongst the earliest colonists in St. Christopher's at a time when that island and Martinique were held jointly by the French and the English; and the highest judicial and administrative offices in St. Christopher's, in Nevis, in Antigua, and, more recently, in St. Vincent itself were filled by Sir George Dasent's ancestors.

    But the quiet English village is a sinister, unsettling place. Is there a dark heart beating beneath the thatched roofs of Triskellion?

    Piggle-Wiggle series: Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle; Hello, Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle; Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle's Magic; Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle's Farm; Happy Birthday, Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle.

    Lila's learned from her father almost all there is to know about making fireworks. But he's held back the final secret, the most dangerous one, saying Lila's not ready to know. Not to be deterred, the headstrong girl enlists the help of her friend Chulak, and discovers that anyone who wants to be a true Firework-Maker must face down the Fire-Fiend of Mount Merapi, and bring back some of the Royal Sulphur. So Lila sets off fearlessly, ready to face pirates and demons and anything else that gets in her way.

    In this spellbinding trilogy, Rosemary Sutcliff recreates all the mystique and mystery of the golden age of Camelot for a new generation.

    History is a big, fat lie. Before Hyacinth Hayward moves from Illinois to London, she reads up on the city's history. Too bad for her. Because the books are wrong. The truth is, London was built on magical rivers, and all the major events in its past have been about people trying to control the magic. Hyacinth discovers this when her mom is kidnapped. In the chase to get her back, Hyacinth encounters a giant intelligent pig in a bathing suit, a boy with amnesia, an adorable tosher (whatever that is), a sarcastic old lady, and a very sketchy unicorn. Somehow Hyacinth has to figure out who to trust, so she can save her mom and, oh yeah, not cause a second Great Fire of London."

    Mattotti's sweeping ink illustrations capture the terror and longing found in the classic Brothers Grimm fairy tale. Gaiman crafts an original text filled with his signature wit and pathos that is sure to become a favorite of readers everywhere, young and old.

    Are you the sort of person who tears the bandage right off, causing an enormous amount of pain in a short instance Or do you prefer to spread your pain out over a longer period of time, by slowly unpeeling the bandage from your injuryIf you are the first type of person, then this three-book box set might be for you. All of the misery and woe available in three Lemony Snicket volumes—The Miserable Mill, The Austere Academy, and The Ersatz Elevator—have been joined into one compactly miserable package, so readers foolish enough to read about the Baudelaire orphans can be unnerved in a slightly more economical fashion.If you are the second type of person, then volumes four through six in A Series of Unfortunate Events might be for you. Even if you unwisely choose to read them at a more leisurely pace, you will encounter such atrocities as poorly paid employees, a hypnotist, an evil scheme, a gym teacher, dripping fungus, another evil scheme, a fake accent, three mysterious consonants, a red herring, and at least one more evil scheme.Of course, most people would prefer not to be injured at all. We salute these sensible people, who will doubtless not purchase any books by Lemony Snicket, no matter how conveniently bundled.