Our hero, Jack, once finds himself trapped in an unexpected adventure. When Jack stumbles upon a new button labeled "Story Mode" during his usual video game play, he's transported into an exhilarating car racing game. Suddenly, he isn't just playing a game; he's living it. From feeling the grip of the steering wheel in his hands to the rush of cars zooming past him, Jack is no longer at his desk. He's in the driver's seat of a roaring race car on a real track. This isn't a game he can pause or reset. It's a race he must win.
Our hero, Jack, finds himself trapped in an unexpected adventure. When Jack stumbles upon a new button labeled ""Story Mode"" during his usual video game play, he's transported into a fantasy quest game complete with trolls, heroes, and dragons. Suddenly, he isn't just playing a game; he's living it.
When valuable cargo ships vanish from Rockfall Mountain's busiest port, crime-fighting goblin detective Fizz Marlow and his troll sleuthing partner, Tank Wrenchlin, know Detective Hordish is going to need their help (whether he wants it or not). But it's Tank's mom, the harbor master who is really feeling the heat. It's her responsibility to keep the harbor safe, and the lost ships quickly cost her her job. The Case of the Tentacle Terror is the fifth book in the Tank & Fizz series about two crime-solving monsters living under a mountain.
Bunny is in trouble. He’s been kidnapped from the skating rink at City Hall in Toronto, and now he’s locked in a cold basement room, still in his parka and skates. Where is he? And why do his kidnappers keep asking questions about his dead grandpa and some weird national anthem? Bunny may not always know what’s going on, but he has an innocent’s ability to get to the heart of things and find out what it’s all about. When he manages to escape, he skates across hockey rinks and down frozen highways, always a few strides ahead of his kidnappers. The Wolf and Me is the sequel to both Weerdest Day Ever!, part of The Seven Prequels and Ink Me, part of Seven (The Series).
For monster sleuths Tank and Fizz, proving fourth-grade bully Rizzo Rawlins is planning to cheat in the upcoming Battle Bot Cup should be a piece of cake. But cake crumbles fast, and the case soon leads the detectives to a mysterious hacker known only as the Codex, who threatens all of Rockfall Mountain with a very dark fate. With the help of their wizard-in-training partner, Aleetha, Tank and Fizz leap into action, dodging deadly battle bots and sinister spellbooks in a race to stop the return of a very angry ancient demon.
When their school bus veers off course while taking the kids from Gravelmuck Elementary on a field trip, monster detectives Tank and Fizz witness a crime that brings them snout to snout with Rockfall Mountain's oldest monster, the ancient dragon Firebane Drakeclaw. Thieves have stolen the Crown of Peace, which keeps the monster clans of the Dark Depths from fighting, and Tank and Fizz saw the whole thing. The Case of Firebane's Folly is the fourth book in the Tank & Fizz series.
The city of Terra Nova was founded on a lie: the spirits who cross over from the spirit world are evil and must be captured for the safety of humanity. But Molly Stout and her family have learned that the spirits are thinking, feeling beings, enslaved to enrich the wealthy, especially the spirit-harvesting company Haviland Industries and its founder, Charles Arkwright. With the help of her family and the aetheric spirits Ariel and Legerdemain, Molly has been fighting to free the spirits. But Terra Nova runs on spiritual machinery, and for each factory they shut down, another takes its place.
Would-be detectives Trevor, Nick and Robyn are hot on the trail of a sandwich thief when they learn that more than food has been going missing at school. A valuable hockey book has been stolen from the library, and the kids worry that the librarian might lose her job if it isn't found. Who would steal a hockey book? Could it be Robyn's arch-nemesis and hockey enthusiast Clay? Or could it be Ms. Thorson, the Oiler fan teacher?
Amateur detective and singing sensation Dinah Galloway has enough on her plate without having to worry about being pursued by a vengeful stalker. The red-headed twelve-year-old is in the running to sing in commercials promoting beautiful British Columbia. To clinch the job, Dinah has to get fit at a wellness retreat on Salt Spring Island. Off to Salt Spring she goes, along with the two other finalists: one friendly, the other the last word in sulky. Hoping to shed not only pounds but her crazed pursuer, Dinah learns the true meaning of personal best - it truly is how you play the game, not whether you win or lose.
Some of his new teammates--including "loud and obnoxious" home-run slugger Jimmie--are mean to him or to each other. His new coach doesn't tell the players everything to do like his old coach did. And some of the Manatees seem more interested in goofing off than in sportsmanship or working hard. Then Luis is surprisingly named captain of his new team, and he finds himself with a whole new set of problems. How will he get this odd-ball group of teammates to work together?
Fred’s emotions have gone to the dogs! In Book Three of the Frankinschool Mysteries, readers set off with Frankinschool through secret passageways and grand rooms of a mansion-turned-library. Along the way, they learn about managing expectations, anger, and friendships, and discover that sometimes going-to-the-dogs is a very good thing.
Fred and Luisa find themselves in trouble once again when the new student mixes up recipes at their class’s bakery field trip leading to snakes running amok. While the students scramble out of the school in fear, Fred and Luisa suspect their old friend Frank is behind the Great Cupsnake Escape. Once again they put their creativity, their cooperation, and their courage to the test—but will it be enough to save the school from the snakes?
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.
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.
