Who's it going to be?Spencer's the smart kid. Shelly's the diva. Miranda's the scaredy-cat. Matthew's just average (so far). In fact, there's nothing about any of the nine middle-schoolers on Mrs. B's bus route that screams "fame." But before the end of the year, somebody on this bus is going to be famous.Every morning, their school bus waits at an empty bus stop. Nobody ever gets on. Nobody ever gets off.And Mrs. B refuses to answer questions about it. Strangest of...

Our story begins in a dusty little town in California, a bustling place called Hollywood…Isobel Ransom is anxious. Her father is away treating wounded soldiers in France, leaving Izzy to be the responsible one at home. But it's hard to be responsible when your little sister is chasing a fast-talking, movie-obsessed boy all over Hollywood! Ranger is directing his very own moving picture… and wants Izzy and Sylvie to be his stars.Izzy is sure Mother wouldn't ...

The year is 1597. Elizabeth is queen. Shakespeare and the Lord Chamberlain’s Men are packing London’s Globe Theatre. And the severed heads of Catholic insurgents are impaled on the Tower’s gates. One 14-year-old boy should arouse no one’s interest.But within a week of his arrival, Richard Malory is robbed, beaten, and threatened at knifepoint. Someone wants him to leave London, and Richard is determined to find out why. There’s only one place he’ll be safe: as an actor on the stage...

Intrigue abounds both on and off the stage in this rollicking mystery set within Shakespeare’s theater company.Kit Glover is London’s finest boy actor. Audiences flock to see him portray imperious queens and scheming noblewomen. But off the stage Kit’s manner is harder to make out. Now cool and disdainful, next fierce and angry, then madcap and bawdy–his personality changes so rapidly and so often that fellow actor Richard is unsure which is the real Kit, or if his true nature is so...

VERONICA SPARKS IS hitting the road and she is going to shake the dust of her little town off her shoes and see the world!Well, someday. For now, she’s hitting the road in an RV with her cantankerous grandfather and her hyperactive little brother. Ronnie’s grandfather is a wind prospector, and they are heading across Kansas in search of a good stiff breeze. Okay, so it’s not the trip of her dreams. But with her newly affirmatized attitude, Ronnie figures that traveling somewhere is...

Hating the Japanese was simple before she met Sogoji.Pearl Harbor was bombed on Hazel Anderson’s birthday and she’s been on the lookout for enemies ever since. She scours the skies above Mount Hood with her binoculars, hoping to make some crucial observation, or uncover the hideout of enemy spies.But what she discovers instead is a 15-year-old orphan, hiding out, trying to avoid being sent to an internment camp. Sogoji was born in America. He’s eager to help Hazel with the ...

McSpadden provides a solid addition to the Robin Hood canon. The most notable feature in this work, then, is its mastery of a language that suggests an archaic flavor without ever seeming stilted; readers can believe that Robin and his men would speak the kinds of words McSpadden assigns to them. Snippets of ballads also intersperse the work, most often appearing as introductions to episodes, but sometimes forming a part of the narrative itself. This technique connects the book to the earl...

The classic story of social justice and outrageous cunning.Robin Hood, champion of the poor and oppressed, stands against the cruel power of Prince John and the brutal Sheriff of Nottingham. Taking refuge in the vast Sherwood Forest with his band of men, he remains determined to outwit his enemies.Brilliantly introduced by bestselling author John Boyne.

WINNER OF THE NEWBERY MEDAL • A PARADE BEST KIDS BOOK OF ALL TIME • An uplifting story of resilience set in medieval times about a boy who learns to overcome obstacles and ultimately save the castle. This historical fiction novel is a classic for all ages!“An enthralling and inspiring tale of triumph.” —The New York TimesEver since he can remember, Robin, child of Sir John de Bureford, has been told what is expected of him...

This collection of the first five books in Laura Ingalls Wilder's treasured Little House series features Garth Williams’s classic illustrations, which appear in vibrant full color on a full-color device and in rich black-and-white on all other devices.This collection includes Little House in the Big Woods, Farmer Boy, Little House on the Prairie, On the Banks of Plum Creek, and By the Shores of Silver Lake.The Little House books are inspir...

There is a big old sledding hill not more than two or three good snowballs’ worth of distance from our home, just behind Hank Macabee’s house. That hill was waiting for me and my brand new toboggan. It’s one of those sneak-up kind of hills with a long slow ride down that picks up speed as it goes with a bump-hump at the end that you never see coming.I didn’t see what was coming next, either.The Christmas tree crashed through Hank Macabee’s bay window. The tree stand clatter...

Spencer loves movies, but real life is boring, right? When his late grandfather's will reveals the tasks he wants his grandsons to undertake, Spencer thinks he got screwed. He's not going to France or Spain or Africa. He's not even getting a cool tattoo, like his younger brother. No, he's going to Buffalo to get a kiss from an ancient movie star. Gross. And he's supposed to film it. Grosser. But Spencer hasn't bargained on Gloria Lorraine, star of the silver screen back in the day. Gloria ...