Adventures

Noah Barleywater Runs Away

Eight-year-old Noah’s problems seem easier to deal with if he doesn’t think about them. So he runs away, taking an untrodden path through the forest. Before long, he comes across a shop. But this is no ordinary shop: it’s a toyshop, full of the most amazing toys, and brimming with the most wonderful magic. And here Noah meets a very unusual toymaker. The toymaker has a story to tell, and it’s a story of adventure and wonder and broken promises. He takes Noah on a journey. A journey that will change his life.

Geek Fantasy Novel

What happens when a science geek and magic collide? Be careful what you wish for. Wishes can get you trapped in fantasy worlds full of killer bunny rabbits, evil aunts, and bothersome bacteria. Or at least that’s Ralph’s experience. He’s been asked to spend the summer with his strange British relatives at their old manor house in order to set up their Wi-Fi network. But there’s much more to it than that, of course. It’s just that nobody told Ralph. He’s a gamer, sure. But this game is much stranger–and funnier–than anything to be found on his xbox. He is a geek. This is his story.

A Templar’s Gifts

The second book in Kat Black’s historical fantasy trilogy full of intrigue, mystery, and adventure! Something’s wrong with Tormod MacLeod. Ever since returning home his visions have become more intense and disorienting, making him increasingly ill and constantly on the verge of collapse. But then he meets Aine, a fiery, no-nonsense Scottish lass who has powers of her own and a special supernatural connection with Tormod–when they’re actually getting along. Together they must find the healer who can save Tormod’s life, all the while dodging King Philippe le Bel’s ruthless soldiers, who will stop at nothing to find Tormod and information about the secret he keeps.

The Kneebone Boy

Life in a small town can be pretty boring when everyone avoids you like the plague. But after their father unwittingly sends them to stay with an aunt who’s away on holiday, the Hardscrabble children take off on an adventure that begins in the seedy streets of London and ends in a peculiar sea village where legend has it a monstrous creature lives who is half boy and half animal. In this wickedly dark, unusual, and compelling novel, Ellen Potter masterfully tells the tale of one deliciously strange family and a secret that changes everything.

Flat Stanley’s Worldwide Adventures #7: The Flying Chinese Wonders

There’s no place on Earth a flat kid can’t go! Stanley accidentally caused twin acrobats Yin and Yang to take a tumble, right before their Chinese New Year show. Yang’s foot is broken–but luckily, Flat Stanley is flexible enough to take his place. To make up for his mistake, Stanley travels to China to help out–but can he learn all their amazing tricks in time?

Previously

The adventures of various nursery rhyme and fairy tale characters are retold in backward sequence with each tale interrelated to the other. Includes Goldilocks, Jack and the beanstalk, Jack and Jill, the frog prince, Cinderella, and the gingerbread man.

Bubble in the Bathtub

Tiny dynamo Nilly and his friend Lisa, first introduced in Doctor Proctor’s Fart Powder (S and S, 2010), return to save the day (and the doctor). At the end of their last outing, Doctor P. headed back to Paris to save the love of his life, Juliette Margarine, from having to marry evil Claude Cliché. A mysterious postcard from the past sends Nilly and Lisa on a mission to rescue him, both helped and hindered by the doctor’s crazy inventions, including a time-traveling bathtub and translating nose plugs. A whirlwind tour of French history ensues, including stops at the Moulin Rouge, the Tour de France, Waterloo, the Bastille, Monsieur Eiffel’s workroom, and Joan of Arc’s jail cell, with our heroes changing history right and left. Chasing them through time is Raspa, Proctor’s one-legged former assistant, inventor of time-travel soap, who makes the ultimate sacrifice to atone for past misdeeds.

The Little Polar Bear

Your favorite little polar bear in a BIG board format.  What makes Lars, the little polar bear, so special?  Stories that “incorporate the unexpectedness of life events, the power of experiences to help form personal values, and the importance of both friendly help and self-reliance.” (School Library Journal)  Now available as a 9×9 “lap edition” board book!

The Pet Dragon: A Story about Adventure, Friendship, and Chinese Characters

When Lin’s beloved pet dragon disappears, she searches for him far and wide until a witch helps her to reach the dragon’s new home. This book introduces a different Chinese character on each step of Lin’s adventure.