These traditional reads are brimming with spirited characters and positive values--but with a little extra excitement and bite, so hold on to your hats! Written expressly for the middle grade struggling reader, the series does not contain strong language, edgy themes, or dysfunctional families. In fact, family is the main theme of these titles. And one particular Latino family is the focus with their uncanny knack for finding humor, hope, and colorful personalities--even in unusual circumstances. Written at the lowest reading levels, the 50-page story structure is straightforward and moves the reader through the text quickly and efficiently. The bus should have arrived at the Heights at five o'clock. Two hours later, there was no sign of it. Everyone was scared and confused. A bus full of students had vanished.
Antonio slid down the rope. He held on for dear life. It got darker as the twister moved closer. It was loud. Like a giant freight train! These traditional reads are brimming with spirited characters and positive values—but with a little extra excitement and bite, so hold on to your hats! Family is the main theme of these titles. And one particular Latino family is the focus with their uncanny knack for finding humor, hope, and colorful personalities—even in unusual circumstances.
Our favorite pretend princess, Angelica, aka Jelly, is back! A case of mistaken identity, a wild imagination and a love of storytelling leads Jelly to tell her friend Joon and the new kid she's just met, Leo, that she's a part-time lion trainer at the local animal rescue center. Her inventiveness has them completely convinced, but things get a bit more complicated when the resident lioness, Mwezi, escapes from her enclosure and the kids look to Jelly’s "expertise" to save the day.
The Dunces—Josh, Magnolia, Wang and Wilmot—are back, and this time they’re going up against a formidable foe: Principal Hale, who has canceled their school’s drama and music program just when Wilmot needs it most. He has a guitar (given to him by a teen named Headcase), but no teacher and nowhere to practice (his dad hates rock ’n’ roll). The Dunces’ plan to convince Principal Hale to reinstate the program involves Josh’s reluctant participation in a hockey team, Magnolia’s enthusiastic role-playing and Wang’s disillusionment with a suspicious character named Hui Bing (aka Larry). But can the Dunces really rock, even when they rebrand themselves as Cousin Willy and the Wang Dang Doodles?
No one is more surprised than Rennie to hear that his late grandfather, whom he hardly knew, has left a mission for him to fulfill. Rennie is to fly to Iceland and deliver a message from beyond the grave, but when he gets there, nothing is simple or straightforward. For one thing, Brynja, the teenage daughter of the family he's staying with, is downright hostile. Her father Einar, who is to be Rennie's guide in Iceland, is preoccupied with looking after his elderly father-in-law, an old friend of Rennie's grandfather. Bored and a little bit annoyed, Rennie explores the town and becomes aware that the family is dealing with more than their grief over Brynja's mother's death the year before. Before he realizes what is happening, his curiosity puts Rennie in grave danger, with no one to trust and no one to save him except himself. Rennie's adventures start in Slide, part of The Seven Prequels and continue in From the Dead, part of The Seven Sequels.
Cyrus and Rudy spend the last days of summer selling dahlias, blackberries and tomatoes at their roadside stand. When a neighbor drops off a bin full of red wigglers, California earthworms that break down compost into fertilizer, Rudy and Cyrus become worm moguls as they discover just how in demand the Eisenia fetida are. Black Gold is the third book featuring Cyrus and Rudy’s adventures on the farm, following Not for Sale and Blackberry Juice.
Billy Stuart is a young raccoon who aspires to be just like his grandfather, a globe-trotting adventurer who knows no fear. When he learns that his grandfather has found a way to travel through time and is leaving on another great voyage, he sets out to see him off (and maybe sneak along). Billy Stuart follows his grandfather's puzzling clues through a maze of caves and caverns to find him before he leaves, trailed by his Scout pack, the Zintrepids. What Billy doesn't know is that once they go down the fateful path his grandfather has taken, there will be no turning back. Brightly illustrated and enhanced with games and puzzles throughout, Billy Stuart and the Zintrepids is Billy's first adventure and is sure to amuse readers of all ages.
Houston Williams was thrilled to win a scholarship to attend a space program at NASA. What he didn’t realize was that organizers were recruiting people for a top-secret research project aimed at studying how space travel affects people of different ages. After months spent on the International Space Station conducting a variety of experiments, Houston is surprised to learn that he and his two friends Ashley and Teal have been chosen to join a highly political mission to Mars. But after tragedy strikes, the teens are forced to continue the mission on their own. This is the third book in the Teen Astronauts series, following Houston, Is There A Problem? and Boldly Go.
Cricket McKay is on the case! Cricket McKay and her best friend, Shilo, are enjoying the last few weeks of summer vacation when they discover that something is killing bats around Grandpa McKay's farm. Could the new wind turbines be the cause? The kids do some detective work and then jump into action coming up with a plan to save the bats. Bats in Trouble is the third book featuring animal-activist Cricket MacKay.
Magic loves going to school. However, when he is asked to paint, Magic freezes. In Mr. Gray's class, Magic and his buddies Rex and Reva enter a magic picture of an amusement park and learn the three fundamentals of painting: sketch, fill in, and finish. The book also includes a page for caregivers and teachers that suggests guiding questions to help aid in reading comprehension. Downloadable Teacher Notes available.
When a friend of Grandpa's complains of ghostly shrieking in the long-ago burned-out Waverly hotel on the edge of their town, Murky Creek, Phantom Finders Abby and Theo use a hotel master key and brave a raging snowstorm to find out what all the noise is about and hopefully stop it. Aligned to Common Core Standards and correlated to state standards.
When the famous portrait of Murky Creek's founding family goes missing from Town Hall just before the town's 100-year anniversary celebration, Phantom Finders Abby and Theo sift through old photographs and search a crypt after dark to find the culprit and rescue the painting. Aligned to Common Core Standards and correlated to state standards. ated.
When a train mysteriously appears at the long-abandoned Murky Creek station and a young man says he lost his ticket to go meet his love, Phantom Finders Abby and Theo review museum records to help him, especially because the voyage he's talking about happened almost a century ago! Aligned to Common Core Standards and correlated to state standards. d.
When Grandpa finds a mysterious compass washed up on the seashore, Phantom Finders Abby and Theo review museum artifacts and brave a raging storm to discover whom it belonged to and what it means for their town, Murky Creek. Aligned to Common Core Standards and correlated to state standards.
When flickering lights and a ghastly screech begin plaguing Murky Creek at the turn of each hour, the Phantom Finders investigate the clock tower by the high school football stadium. They discover that the tower is dedicated to a star player who would have plenty of reason to curse his old stomping ground. Aligned to Common Core Standards and correlated to state standards.
An old, silent music box has strangely begun to play its tune, and when Anya Ivanovich asks for the Phantom Finders' help, Abby and Theo follow the trail of clues to Murky Creek's once-ornate theater, the Kirby Center. Aligned to Common Core Standards and correlated to state standards.
Betrayed by his friends, Frog Boy ventures off alone only to learn the truth about the Disco Queens--they too were born as hybrids inside the Tin Can. Aligned to Common Core Standards and correlated to state standards.
As Frog Boy and the Disco Queens battle their enemies at the jam-packed Moonwalk Stadium, the people of Pop City will be forced to come to terms with a new reality: Hybrids exist. Aligned to Common Core Standards and correlated to state standards.
With the assault on the Tin Can drawing to a close, Frog Boy will have to make a decision--become a frog, adapt to be fully human, or remain the hybrid he has always been. Aligned to Common Core Standards and correlated to state standards.
Turning their backs on the government, Frog Boy and the Disco Queens look to take down the organization behind the Tin Can. But first, they must dig into their own uncomfortable pasts. Aligned to Common Core Standards and correlated to state standards.
After 17 years trapped in the prison-like Tin Can at the heart of Pop City, the human/animal hybrid Frog Boy orchestrates his own escape in hopes of securing his freedom. Aligned to Common Core Standards and correlated to state standards.
Upon meeting the bank-robbing Disco Queens, Frog Boy finds himself entangled in a government conspiracy where he is forced to track down other hybrids just like him. Aligned to Common Core Standards and correlated to state standards.
Ring and Asia Wilde's wild life is anything but ordinary. Instead of attending school, they travel the world with their tutor and parents (scientists who work to protect endangered species). On their last adventure, they swung through the Amazon rainforest to save their mom from vile kidnappers--while defending the forest's population of golden lion tamarins. Now they're in Baja, Mexico--the Sea of Cortez to be exact--searching for the endangered vaquita and finding danger and conspiracy instead.
Sherlock Holmes thinks that Inspector Lestrade's latest case is a waste of his time. But when the details of several Napoleon statues being destroyed are revealed, he decides it may be worth looking into after all. Follow the clues with Holmes and Dr. John Watson as they uncover their biggest find yet.
When the prime minister and the secetary of foreign affairs ask Sherlock Holmes for help, Dr. John Watson knows this is an important case. The investigative duo must find a stolen letter that could lead to war. If Holmes solves the case by uncovering a second stain, he could save England and a marriage all at the same time.