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In this delightful sequel, award-winning author-illustrator dePaola shares engaging childhood memories about siblings, school, and life as a five-year-old.

In this eagerly awaited sequel to A House Called Awful End, Eddie Dickens narrowly avoids being blown up, trampled by horses, hit by a hot-air balloon, and arrested...only to find himself falling head over heels for a girl with a face like a camel's and into the hands of a murderous gang of escaped convicts, up on the misty moors, who have a "little job" for him to do.

Grandpa and Noah are sitting on a bench in a square that keeps getting smaller every day. The square is strange but also familiar, full of the odds and ends that have made up their lives: Grandpa's work desk, the stuffed dragon that Grandpa once gave to Noah, the sweet-smelling hyacinths that Grandma loved to grow in her garden. As they wait together on the bench, they tell jokes and discuss their shared love of mathematics. Grandpa recalls what it was like to fall in love with his wife, what it was like to lose her.

Maggie Fishbone is not expecting much when she’s sent to the Midwatch Institute for Orphans, Runaways, and Wayward Girls—the last resort after causing a ruckus at the orphanage where she was living. Except . . . the Institute isn’t some dreadful, dreary place like she thought. Instead it’s full of curious girls training to solve mysteries, fight bad guys, and keep the city safe. In between fencing lessons and discovering all the shortcuts in the building, Maggie finds herself making friends at the Midwatch and finally feeling like she’s home.

What if John Henry had a son? Twelve-year-old Ray is haunted by the strangest memories of his father, whom Ray swears could speak to animals. Now an orphan, Ray jumps from a train going through the American South and falls in with a medicine show train and its stable of sideshow performers. The performers turn out to be heroes, defenders of the wild, including the son of John Henry. They are hiding the last of the mythical Swamp Sirens from an ancient evil known as the Gog.

Autumn leaves are falling in Hedge Hollow, and the change in season brings with it a spiny surprise...another hedgehog! Is it friend or foe? Or is it...family? On the one paw, Hedgehog is excited to meet one of her own kind, but on the other paw, she has never felt so different—or distant—from her old friends. Where does Hedgehog belong, and who does she belong with? A journey upriver through an unfamiliar forest just might lead her home….

Can you hear the distant howling of hounds and the thunder of ghostly hooves? It's All Souls' Eve, and Zamiel the Demon Huntsman has come to claim his prey! He's headed straight for Castle Karlstein, where the evil count has hatched an evil plan; he'll sacrifice his two young nieces to save himself. Can Lucy and Charlotte outwit their uncle and his oily henchmen to escape their dreadful fate? From the award-winning author of The Golden Compass and The Subtle Knife comes a spooky, funny thriller just right for those middle-grade listeners looking for horror - and humor.

Four orphans have escaped from the Home for Friendless Children. One is Lucy, who used to talk and sing. No one knows why she doesn't speak anymore; silence is her protection. The orphans find work and new friends at a traveling circus. Lucy loves caring for the elephants, but she must be able to speak to them, and to warn others of danger. If Lucy doesn't find her voice, she'll be left behind when the circus goes on the rails. Meanwhile, people are searching for Lucy, and her puzzling past is about to catch up with her.

The year is 1926. Dave's beloved father is dead and his stepmother doesn't want him. Only the HHB will take him in. "Hebrew Home for Boys" better known as the "Hell Hold for Brats". But Dave is tough and a troublemaker. He can take care of himself. If he doesn't like the Home, he'll run away and find a better place. Only it's not that simple.

Orphan Benjamin Bartholomew Piff closed his eyes, blew out the candle, and wished with all his might. Soon after, sirens wailed all over the Wishworks Factory: Ben had followed every rule of birthday wishing to a T and had made the most dangerous wish of all...a wish for unlimited wishes.

A lifetime ago Noah and Katie began their lives together...they bought and decorated their new home, planted a garden, made plans for their future...then everything changed...Always is the tenth novella in the ongoing story of the Andersen Family Saga....a heartwarming story of a family held together by the strong bonds of love and loyalty...but not everything is always as it seems. Livia Andersen was a woman who held her family together with a quiet smile and an iron will. It’s only been months since her death and the four children she leaves behind continue to grapple with the shifting ...

Spending Christmas alone was their plan…but things didn’t quite work out according to plan…all the better because no one should spend Christmas alone…The last thing Mac would ever have believed that he’d be doing a few days before Christmas was to find himself driving through a couple feet of water…but he was. His RV was filled with neighbors and friends and a couple of kids they picked up along the way after their car flooded out. Emily wasn’t expecting guests when she woke up that morning but that’s exactly what she’s getting ready for… And Christmas is just around the...

When the Stupendous Switcheroo—Switch, for short—set out to rescue his mom from supervillain jail, he never imagined he could be captured instead. Now, Switch is plotting his escape—but a failed attempt quickly proves it’s an impossible mission. But then, mastermind Vin Valor offers Switch a bargain: he can remain a prisoner…or he can join the Valor Innovations Academy instead.

Nobody wants to adopt the Shluffmuffin twins. Wally's feet stink something awful, and Cheyenne is allergic to everything. Then why are the Mandible sisters so eager to take them home? And what sort of old maids would choose to live in a place called Dripping Fang Forest, where zombies wander the woods singing "Itsy Bitsy Spider" and 10-foot-long glowing slugs want to suck the feet right off your ankles?

Dewey is the heartwarming story of Dewey Readmore Books, the beloved library cat of Spencer, Iowa, as told by his owner and companion of 19 years, Vicki Myron, the librarian who found him on a frigid January morning when he was abandoned as a kitten in the book drop slot. It is also the story of a remarkable small town, which burned down at the beginning of the Depression, only to rebuild itself again.

It's 1944. World War II is raging. Jayna's big brother, Rob, is her only family. When Rob is called to duty on a destroyer, Jayna is left in their small town in upstate New York with their cranky landlady. But right before he leaves, Rob tells Jayna a secret: they may have a grandmother in Brooklyn. Rob found a little blue recipe book with her name and an address for a bakery. When Jayna learns that Rob is missing in action, she's devastated. Along with her turtle, Theresa; the recipe book; and an encouraging, ghostly voice as her guide, Jayna sets out for Brooklyn in hopes of finding the family she so desperately needs.

So much...life...family...all that is most important to us...can change in a single day...a single moment...Home Again is the second book in the ongoing story of the Return to Summit Falls series. Summit Falls is a small town in the middle of nowhere that could be anywhere. It’s small enough that even though you might not know everyone…you know who everyone is. And they know you. Years ago four young men left their hometown of Summit Falls. Each of them ready to take on whatever the world had to throw at them. Now, years later, two of them have returned home. Adam Dane and Jonah ...

A ghost saved 12-year-old Maddie's life when she was an infant, her Granny Lane claims, so Maddie must always remember that she is special. But it's hard to feel special when you've spent your life being shuttled from one foster home to another. And now that she's at the East Tennessee Children's Home, Maddie feels, well, less than ordinary. Six-year-old Ricky Ray, who came to the Home after his parents failed to come back from a party, thinks Maddie's the cat's meow. But what does a little boy like that know?

Ten-year-old Aniyah and her little brother Noah find themselves living in foster care after the sudden disappearance of their mom. With her life in disarray, Aniyah knows just one thing for sure: her mom isn't gone forever. Aniyah believes that the people with the brightest hearts never truly disappear. They become stars. When scientists discover a new star acting strangely, Aniyah knows it's really her mom.

Puppies Hocus and Pocus are still waiting to be adopted from the Shelter for Slightly Magical Pets. Even though Hocus can see two minutes into the future and Pocus can turn bad feelings into bubbles (which he eats!), nobody seems to want them. This could be because the two keep causing mischief so they won’t be separated. When Jinx the witch uses a “spell for home” potion to help a color-changing tortoise find his match, the puppies know what to do: sneak both their hairs into the mixture to ensure they get adopted together.