Natalie is astonished to discover that she belongs to this world -- and that now she has to save it. The sinister Lord Hawk, exiled to the human world, is planning his revenge against the Spell Lords. Only Natalie suspects he's developed a poison to kill the soul trees -- and only Natalie can stop him.With the help of a loyal magehound, a herd of unicorns, and the spirit of her dead mother, Natalie must do battle with an evil force determined to spread its power across both worlds.

    I call myself Lucy now. I cannot hate California and be California. I know you will understand.California doesn't suit Lucy Whipple -- not the name, not the place. But moving out West to Lucky Diggins, California, was her mama's dream-come-true. And now her brother, Butte, and sisters, Prairie and Sierra, seem to be Westerners at heart, too. For Lucy, Lucky Diggins is hardly a town at all -- just a bunch of ramshackle tents and tobacco-spitting miners. Even the gold her mama claimed was just lying around in the fields isn't panning out. Worst of all, there's no lending library! Dag diggety!So Lucy vows to be plain miserable until she can hightail it back East where she belongs. But Lucy California Morning Whipple may be in for a surprise -- because home is a lot closer than she thinks... When California Morning Whipple's widowed mother uproots her family from their comfortable Massachusetts environs and moves them to a rough mining camp called Lucky Diggins in the Sierras, California Morning resents the upheaval. Desperately wanting to control something in her own life, she decides to be called Lucy, and as Lucy she grows and changes in her strange and challenging new environment. Here Karen Cushman helps the American Gold Rush spring to colorful life, just as she did for medieval England in her previous two books, Catherine, Called Birdy and The Midwife's Apprentice, which won Newbery Honor status and a Newbery Medal respectively.

    He is a Marine stationed in Vietnam. She is at home in America, far away from her brother's war zone, fighting for peace. As the marine writes in his journal about his experiences as a soldier, fighting an enemy he can't see, his sister seeks peace. In these gripping installments of DEAR AMERICA and MY NAME IS AMERICA, Ellen Emerson White captures the unique time period when America was at war both in a far-off place, and at home where adults and children alike marched in the streets for peace and freedom. Poignant and complex, these two characters will give readers a glimpse into perhaps the most tumultuous time in modern American history.

    Franklin asks Bet to go out to the field and read aloud from a book about earthworms. Why? Who is listening? Soon, Bet becomes the most trusted friend of her listener, who turns out to be a bewitched mole.At first she and the mole simply sit together in their field, reading, talking, sharing hopes and fears. But soon Bet is helping the Little Gentleman unravel his long and legendary past -- a past that includes the death of a king and a pouch of magic herbs. Bet begins to believe the mole's powers are stronger than he knows. She thinks he can even shift her size and take her exploring in his tunnels if he tries. Nothing is impossible. When the mole finally reveals his deepest wish, Bet knows she can help him.But will it change everything?

    They were great tall things, the ironwork all twisted leaves and queer-looking flowers. And they were very definitely shut.'Tilly's heart sinks. Will's at the door of their cottage, daring her to come ice-skating up at Frost Hollow Hall. No one goes near the place these days. Rumour has it that the house is haunted . . . Ten years ago the young heir, Kit Barrington, drowned there in the lake. But Tilly never turns down a dare.Then it goes horribly wrong. The ice breaks, Tilly falls through and almost drowns. At the point of death, a beautiful angel appears in the water and saves her. Kit Barrington's ghost.Kit needs Tilly to solve the mystery of his death, so that his spirit can rest in peace. In order to discover all she can, Tilly gets work as a maid at Frost Hollow Hall. But the place makes her flesh crawl. It's all about the dead here, she's told, and in the heart of the house she soon discovers all manner of dark secrets . . .'Frost Hollow Hall' is a thrilling historical fiction debut. Told in Tilly's unique voice, it is a tale of love and loss, and how forgiveness is the key to recovery.

    Moffat, the new substitute teacher, gets everyone in class to keep a journal, Lucy bears her soul to him, while Andy, the bane of Lucy's existence, reveals a secret in his journal that he can no longer bear. Illustrations.

    CREDIT CRUNCH THROWS LIBERTY PARFITT’S WORLD UPSIDE DOWNTaken away from the boarding school she loves, Liberty and her angry dad are forced to stay in a friend’s flat in a rough part of London where she finds herself in a school that’s locally known as ‘The Grave.' Without her best friend’s violin to play, Liberty feels as if her life couldn’t get any worse; then there’s the nasty Tyler boy and her dad’s depression and the gang by the canal… If only she had a mum, then things might be better – and what actually did happen to her mum? Well, there are the trunks in Dad’s bedroom and the violin on the bed and, once her curiosity is sparked, Liberty discovers a whole lot more about her past than she ever could have imagined.

    Includes the following four titles: The Mystery of the Mummy's Curse, The Mystery of the Star Ruby, The Pizza Mystery, The Radio Mystery, The Summer Camp Mystery.

    Suddenly allied with a winged horse she’d always thought was mythical, Emily is thrust into the center of a fierce battle between the Roman gods and a terrifying race of multiarmed stone warriors called the Nirads. Emily must team up with a thief named Paelen, the goddess Diana, and a boy named Joel in order to return Pegasus to Olympus and rescue the gods from a certain death. Along the way, Emily and her companions will fight monsters, run from a government agency that is prepared to dissect Pegasus, and even fly above the Manhattan skyline—all as part of a quest to save Olympus before time runs out.

    But when school's out, she becomes Queen of the Runway-whipping up cutting-edge designs.When Emma is discovered by a well-known fashionista, the pseudonym Allegra Biscotti is born to protect her from the lime light. She soon discovers balancing a secret identity, boys, school, and friends isn't as easy as she thought.This fashion-themed series features doodles throughout the book-two-color illustrations are found as chapter openers and in the margins-adding tons of delicious style detail!

    Perfect for fans of the author’s other middle grade novels: Liesl & Po and the Curiosity House series.Looking across the breakfast table one morning, twelve-year-old Liza feels dread wash over her. Although her younger brother, Patrick, appears the same, Liza knows that he is actually quite different. She is certain that the spindlers—evil, spiderlike beings—came during the night and stole his soul. And Liza is also certain that she is the only one who can rescue him.Armed with little more than her wits and a huge talking rat for a guide, Liza descends into the dark and ominous underground to save Patrick's soul. Her quest is far from easy: she must brave tree-snakes, the Court of Stones, and shape-shifting scawgs before facing her greatest challenge in the spindlers' lair, where more than just Patrick's soul is at stake.

    —Booklist, starred review.

    Four flashes of light erupt, and from them emerge the unmistakable shapes of incredible beasts - a wolf, a leopard, a panda, a falcon. Suddenly the paths of these children - and the world - have been changed for ever. Enter the world of Erdas, where every child who comes of age must discover if they have a spirit animal, a rare bond between human and beast that bestows great powers to both. A dark force has risen from distant and long-forgotten lands, and has begun an onslaught that will ravage the world. Now the fate of Erdas has fallen on the shoulders of four young strangers ...and on you.

    Madison is a junior bridesmaid at her dad and Stephanie's wedding, which means a walk down the aisle for her too. Plus, she has to do a reading at the ceremony in front of a zillion strangers. Madison is feeling way overloaded! It's shaping up to be a trip full of surprises and new experiences!

    When the pair are kidnapped from their homes and brought to live in the gothic mansion known as Hog House, they are adopted by the madcap Mr and Mrs Mayor and a series of bizarre encounters follows. Things do not add up and the children find that sinister plans are beginning to emerge. Why has the notorious Lord Aldor stolen the shadows of all of the town's residents and where are they being held? Assisted by a band of prisoners, the children must venture into the Taboo Territories, and battle the perils dished out by the Lurid Lagoon, in order to outwit Lord Aldor and prevent him from executing his secret master plan.Praise for The Shadow Thief: 'Clearly [Adornetto] is already an Australian literary phenomenon ... to read The Shadow Thief is to be thrust into a fast-moving plot full of menace and thrills, amply seeded with a magnificently precocious vocabulary' -The Courier-Mail'an impressive debut ... a wonderful fantasy story, full of adventure and scary, dark shadows' -The Australian Women's Weekly 'a comic fantasy full of magic' -The Sydney Morning Herald