Birth Science

A hilarious and heart-warming tale for children and grown-ups of all ages. What Simon wanted for his seventh birthday was a set of action figures from Planet Patrol, his favourite cartoon. What he got was a tatty, second-hand teddy bear. What Simon doesn't know is that the teddy bear is alive and can do magic. What the bear doesn't know is that he's not as good at magic as he thinks he is. When the bear tries to grant a wish for Simon, everything goes wrong, and poor Simon's life is turned inside out, upside down, and sideways. Will things ever go back to the way they were?

Wesley is incredibly excited about waking up the morning he finally turns seven years old; a magic door would open for him at last! He had wondered what was on the other side of that door ever since it first appeared when he turned four. Wesley's Birthday Wish is a moving fantasy story about a small boy's rite of passage as he turns seven, and one can't help but get excited for him as he surveys the new and limitless world that awaits him. This tale illustrates most eloquently why force is never the solution, even when you really desire something.

The Murphy Family Farm is an enchanted farm that owes much of its success to an agreement made between the Murphys and the Fairy Folk over a century ago in Ireland. With over a hundred acres of farm land, the fairies and enchanted creatures work together to help the Murphy Family keep the farm prosperous enough to be generous to the community. The fairy folk call the Murphy Farm Lismore Baile, their words for "Bountiful Home."

When his brother bumbles a burglary, Finn Bates blasts into space with the cops hot on his heels and his brother's DNA broadcast to every spaceport around. With the number of places he can land approaching zero, Finn must plan one final score that his brother can't possibly screw up, or risk getting kicked off every decent planet in the universe.

A new city, a new life. It was all the same to William Carter. After the disappearance of his mother, Isabelle, two years ago, he and his father, Jonathan, were always heading to a new place, never stopping for more than a few months. Upon reaching his new home in Colorado, a mysterious man named Michael thrusts him into a world of magic. For Will to be able to make it in this new world of Crystallia, he must learn to hone his new skills and rely on unexpected allies. He must cast away everything he once believed and learn a new way to survive.

Princess Kitty will be nine this year, but unlike other birthdays, where her present list was as long as the palace corridors, this year she couldn't think of a single thing. For days she thought and paced, and paced and thought. She wrote and rubbed, and rubbed and wrote.

This essay comes from the NPR series This I Believe, which features brief personal reflections from both famous and unknown Americans. The pieces that make up the series compel listeners to rethink not only what and how they have arrived at their beliefs, but also the extent to which they share them with others.

La milenaria, compleja y convulsa historia de China, acaso uno de los procesos históricos más llamativos de todo el planeta, estudiada con precisión y detalle en un período que comprende desde las Guerras del Opio, a la lucha entre Mao Zedong y Chang Kai-Shek y la posterior proclamación del comunismo y el nacimiento de la nueva República Popular China.

Als ein Junge sieben Jahre alt wird, entdeckt er eine neue Welt, indem er eine magische Tür durchschreitet.Wesley ist unheimlich aufgeregt, als er an dem Morgen aufwacht, an dem er endlich sieben Jahre alt wird. Schließlich würde sich für ihn endlich eine magische Zaubertür öffnen! Seit seinem vierten Geburtstag hatte er sich immer wieder gefragt, was sich auf der anderen Seite dieser Tür verbirgt. Welche Abenteuer würden ihn wohl dort erwarten?

Wesley está emocionado al despertarse la mañana en que cumple siete años. ¡Por fin se le abriría una puerta mágica! Se había preguntado qué había al otro lado de esa puerta desde que apareció por primera vez cuando cumplió cuatro años. ¿Qué aventuras le esperan? El deseo de cumpleaños de Wesley es una conmovedora historia de fantasía sobre el rito de iniciación de un niño pequeño, y uno no puede evitar emocionarse por él mientras observa el nuevo e ilimitado mundo que le espera.

These three exciting chapter books feature some of your favorite Disney heroines on fun adventures as young girls.

These three exciting chapter books feature some of your favorite Disney heroines on fun adventures as young girls.

They are not zombies. Or any other supernatural creature that has ever been dreamt up by man. They are The Changed. They are real. And they are everywhere. It happened all at once, all over the planet - every man, woman, child, and animal suddenly changing into a murderous, mindless, twisted version of their former selves. All at once, life as we know it came to an abrupt end. All that survives is one small family: a girl, her mother, and their faithful dog, Maxx.

When Natalie receives an ornament for her birthday, she pushes the rest of her collection aside to make room for the new. Upset at losing their space, the old ornaments argue and jostle, leading to a catastrophe! Join the ornaments on the shelf in this fun, rhyming story as they discover the importance of accepting others and welcoming those who are new.

Un garçon qui fête ses sept ans découvre un nouveau monde, en passant par une porte magique. Wesley est incroyablement excité à l'idée de se réveiller le matin où il aura enfin sept ans. Une porte magique allait enfin s'ouvrir pour lui ! Il s'est demandé ce qu'il y avait de l'autre côté de cette porte depuis sa première apparition lorsqu'il a eu quatre ans. Quelles aventures l'attendent ?

In Modern Families, Joshua Gamson brings us extraordinary family creation tales - his own included - that illuminate this changing world of contemporary kinship. Combining personal memoir and ethnographic storytelling, Modern Families tells a variety of unconventional family-creation tales - adoption and assisted reproduction, gay and straight parents, coupled and single, and multi-parent families - set against the social, legal, and economic contexts in which they were made.

A medida que su octavo cumpleaños se acercaba, Sophia podrá visitar la Gran Roca de las Hadas, como ella lo planeaba. Pero el Hada no estaba allí. Sin darse por vencido, el espíritu aventurero de Sofía la lleva a la oscura cueva que tiene un secreto oculto. ¿Qué decidirá Sophia cuándo deba olvidarse de su deseo para ayudar a alguien que realmente la necesita?

Full of balloons, presents and birthday fun (and a sprightly unicorn and her friends), little listeners will love this calming tale before bed. It's Twinkle the unicorn's birthday, and she's having a sleepover party! There are party games, presents, cake, balloons and even fireworks! But as Twinkle's dad counts down to bedtime, there's still a lot going on...will Twinkle and her friends go to sleep in time?

Mucho está cambiando para Cici. Sus padres se están separando, su abuela se mudó con ellos, y en su décimo cumpleaños, ¡se despierta con alas de hada! Los nuevos poderes mágicos de Cici le permiten ver a las personas como realmente son. Pero lo que descubre acerca de sus amigos y su familia no es fácil de aceptar. Tiene solo un día para decidir si se queda con sus alas. Cuando Cici solo desea que la vida sea normal de nuevo, ¿elegirá creer en el poder de las hadas?

It’s Robin’s eighth birthday and it seems like everyone has forgotten. But things take a sudden turn when the Cat-Headed Wanderer shows up and sweeps Robin away to a magical party in a fantastical treehouse. It’s a joyful celebration full of song, dance, and newfound friends, but Robin soon realizes there’s another reason they’ve been brought there. To uncover that reason, all Robin needs to do is walk through the half-open door in the back—but what lies beyond.