Materials from Europe
In the nineteenth century, ten-year-old Florence Crutchfield leaves a London orphanage to live with her great-uncle, great-aunt, and sickly cousin James, but she soon realizes the home has another resident, who means to do her and James harm.
When seventeen-year-old Harry Fogg undertakes a race against time to win a wager with a member of his famous father’s club, he puts to good use the recklessness and fascination with all things mechanical that have caused him trouble in Victorian England.
Sir Dinadan and his friend Sir Palomides, Sir Gaheris, Sir Terence, and other knights of the Round Table and their associates try to stop Mordred and his White Horsemen from ending King Arthur’s rule of Great Britain.
Captured by slave-takers, Decimus Rex is forced to endure a series of trials in the dreaded Arena of Doom. With his five cellmates, Decimus faces a race over burning hot coals. He is then forced into violent hand-to-hand combat with a fellow slave. Escaping this dreaded fate is the only thing keeping Decimus going.
Lucy knew Lob was there, from the way she felt inside. There was a sparking of mischief in her head, a tingle of energy in her arms and legs. She wanted to run, jump, climb, be everywhere at once. You have to be a special person to see Lob, that’s what Lucy’s Grandpa Will says. Lucy’s parents don’t believe in him. But Lucy does. And then she finally catches sight of the Green Man in Grandpars’s garden. And then she knows. Lob is here, and he is real-now and forever and ever!
Meet Decimus Rex, who has been kidnapped by slave-takers and taken to an arena in Rome. Decimus is intent on escaping from captivity, and knows he must outshine his fellow slaves and endure the trials set before him: crossing burning coals, hammers, spikes, and hand-to-hand combat. He never gives up his hope of escape . . . if he only knew that this is just the beginning of his troubles.
Ten-year-old Frederick, who is surreptitiously watched over by a household elf, is plucked from a London orphanage to be a servant to a wealthy wizard, and eventually his uncanny abilities lead him to become the wizard’s apprentice.
Mr. Stink stank. He also stunk. And if it was correct English to say he stinked, then he stinked as well. . . .Ó Chloe sees Mr. Stink every day, but sheÕs never spoken to him. Which isnÕt surprising, because heÕs a tramp, and he stinks. But there’s more to Mr. Stink than meets the eye (or nose) and before she knows it, Chloe has an unusual new friend hiding in her garden shed. As Chloe struggles to keep Mr. Stink a secret, and her dad tries to hide a secret of his own, the stage is set for an epic family confrontation. But there’s one other person with an extraordinary secret Mr. Stink himself.
John and Philippa Gaunt are all ready for their lives to return to normal now that their mother has given up her djinn powers. But the siblings are quickly drawn into yet another mystery when the world’s luck tips wildly out of balance (to the world’s detriment). The key to the world’s fate lies with five fakirs who were buried alive, each of whom guards a secret that can answer a great question of the universe. But there’s an evil djinn desperate to dig up the secrets. Without their mother’s powerful magic, John and Philippa must face this djinn alone. Traveling around the globe, from London, to Morocco, to Yellowstone National Park, to snowy Himalayan peaks of Shangri-La, can the twins harness their own powers to defeat a new evil?
Branwen has accepted the role of Chosen One, and now, with a growing army including her half-owl half-human friend Rhodri and the dashing yet maddening Iwan, she must overcome terrifying odds if she is to succeed in saving Wales from the Saxon invaders.