Master storytellers Robin McKinley and Peter Dickinson, the team behind Water: Tales of Elemental Spirits, collaborate again to create five captivating tales incorporating the element of fire. In McKinley’s “First Flight,” a boy and his pet foogit unexpectedly take a dangerous ride on a dragon, and her “Hellhound” stars a mysterious dog as a key player in an eerie graveyard showdown. Dickinson introduces a young man who must defeat the creature threatening his clan in “Fireworm,” a slave who saves his village with a fiery magic spell in “Salamander Man,” and a girl whose new friend, the guardian of a mystical bird, is much older than he appears in “Phoenix.” With time periods ranging from prehistoric to present day, and settings as varied as a graveyard, a medieval marketplace and a dragon academy, these stories are sure to intrigue and delight the authors’ longtime fans and newcomers alike.
Europe
Materials from Europe
Exposure
Carnegie Medalist Mal Peet takes a searing look at the world of soccer and pop-celebrity culture — and the lives of three street kids caught in its glare. When a black South American soccer star signs on to a team in the country’s racist south, headlines blare. And when he falls for the sensual Desmerelda, a stunning white pop singer and daughter of a wealthy politician, their sudden and controversial marriage propels the pair to center stage, where they burn in the media spotlight. But celebrity attracts enemies; some very close to home. And its dazzle reaches into the city’s hidden corners, exposing a life of grit and desperation the glitterati could never imagine. When a girl is found murdered, reporter Paul Faustino is caught between worlds as he witnesses the power of the media in making — and breaking — lives. Inspired by Shakespeare’s OTHELLO, this modern tragedy of desire and betrayal, incisively and compassionately told, is a truly enthralling work of crossover fiction.
Fearless
A Whitbread Award-winning novelist tells a chilling dystopian tale about a heroic girl prepared to risk everything in the pursuit of justice.In the not-too-distant future, the world is safe from terrorists, the streets are clean, and girls labeled “juvies” or “mindcrips” have been hidden away behind the smartly painted exterior of the City Community Faith School. Their birth names are forgotten and replaced with a letter and number, but they give each other nicknames like Tattle or Stench or Little Fearless. As they slave away at chores, Little Fearless, who is actually the bravest girl in the school, tells the other girls stories, stories about the day their families will return for them. Little Fearless’s own hope and conviction spur her on a dangerous adventure — a bold and unthinkable plan that will either save the imprisoned girls or mean the end of Little Fearless herself, or both.
The Dragonfly Pool
A beloved New York Times bestselling author returns to paper! At first Tally doesn’t want to go to the boarding school called Delderton. But soon she discovers that it’s a wonderful place, where freedom and selfexpression are valued. Enamored of Bergania, a erene and peaceful country led by a noble king, Tally organizes a dance troupe to attend the international folk dancing festival there. There she meets Karil, the crown prince, who wants nothing more than ordinary friends. But when Karil’s father is assassinated, it’s up to Tally and her friends to help Karil escape the Nazis and the bleak future he’s inherited.
Singing for Mrs. Pettigrew: Stories and Essays from a Writing Life
Offers eleven short stories, accompanied by essays and commentaries that illuminate the craft of storytelling and the influences of people and places on the author’s works.
Revenge of the Witch (The Last Apprentice, Book One)
For years, Old Gregory has been the Spook for the country, ridding the local villages of evil. Now his time is comimg to an end. But who will take over 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 Tomas suceed? Will he learn the difference between a begign witch and a malevolent one? Does the Spook’s warning against giirls with pointy shoes include Alice? And what will happen if Thomas accidentally frees Mother Malkin, the most evil witch in the country…?
Vanishing Girl: The Boy Sherlock Holmes, His Third Case
The third case in the compelling Boy Sherlock Holmes series is full of as many twists and turns as the backstreets of Victorian London. When a wealthy young girl vanishes as if by magic in Hyde Park, Sherlock is once again driven to prove himself. In a heart-stopping race against time, an innocent boy’s survival depends on Sherlock’s ability to solve the mysterious puzzle of the Vanishing Girl. As complex as the maze that protects the missing girl’s hiding place, this case takes Sherlock racing to the countryside, the coast, and into the lair of a menagerie of exotic, dangerous creatures. Haunted by memories of his shattered family, goaded by his enemies, driven to heal the fragile relationship between him and the beautiful Irene Doyle, Sherlock makes an almost fatal mistake. In the end, his brilliant powers of deduction and the steadfast eccentric Sigerson Bell save the day. Soon, very soon, the world will come to know him as the master detective of all time.
Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows (Book 7)
The final book in the Harry Potter series.
Face Value
Two lifetimes. Two rising stars. One common danger. As a daughter starts her rise in the glamorous London fashion scene, she begins to uncover secrets and clues about the mother she never knew — a beautiful teenage model who became a victim in the high stakes, high pressure world where international fashionistas and mobsters intersect. The fast cars, flashy parties, and easy money can be so enticing. But in a world where everybody is taken at face value, there is always a high price to pay for such fleeting fame.
Lockdown
Furnace Penitentiary: the world’s most secure prison for young offenders, buried a mile beneath the earth’s surface. Convicted of a murder he didn’t commit, sentenced to life without parole, “new fish” Alex Sawyer knows he has two choices: find a way out, or resign himself to a death behind bars, in the darkness at the bottom of the world. Except in Furnace, death is the least of his worries. Soon Alex discovers that the prison is a place of pure evil, where inhuman creatures in gas masks stalk the corridors at night, where giants in black suits drag screaming inmates into the shadows, where deformed beasts can be heard howling from the blood-drenched tunnels below. And behind everything is the mysterious, all-powerful warden, a man as cruel and dangerous as the devil himself, whose unthinkable acts have consequences that stretch far beyond the walls of the prison. Together with a bunch of inmates—some innocent kids who have been framed, others cold-blooded killers—Alex plans an escape. But as he starts to uncover the truth about Furnace’s deeper, darker purpose, Alex’s actions grow ever more dangerous, and he must risk everything to expose this nightmare that’s hidden from the eyes of the world.