Nature Adventure

*This is a kisses-only sweet romantic comedy.* The day Brodie Kent kissed me was the beginning but also the end. Heartbroken and angry doesn’t come close to how I felt when he left town, and me, to pursue his football dreams. Fine. Good. He has his life. And I have mine. Except, Brodie’s mega-star, hard-partying player’s flirty love-life is all over the news and social media channels. He’s pretty hard to ignore. Annoyingly, his boyish good looks are on every screen and other people’s phones. Then, years after Our Kiss, and out of the blue, Brodie is back in Oak River. Cool. I can ...

When Gregor falls through a grate in the laundry room of his apartment building, he hurtles into the dark Underland, where spiders, rats, and cockroaches coexist uneasily with humans. This world is on the brink of war, and Gregor's arrival is no accident. A prophecy foretells that Gregor has a role to play in the Underland's uncertain future. Gregor wants no part of it, until he realizes it's the only way to solve the mystery of his father's disappearance.

The mice of Brambly Hedge have many adventures, but they always have time for fun, too. All through the year, they mark the seasons with feasts and festivities, and, of course, the mice never miss an opportunity to meet and celebrate. These four classic stories, read by John Moffatt and Harriet Carmichael, follow the mice’s adventures throughout the year.

When robot Roz opens her eyes for the first time, she discovers that she is alone on a remote, wild island. Why is she there? Where did she come from? And, most important, how will she survive in her harsh surroundings? Roz's only hope is to learn from the island's hostile animal inhabitants. When she tries to care for an orphaned gosling, the other animals finally decide to help, and the island starts to feel like home. Until one day, the robot's mysterious past comes back to haunt her....

Chaya, a nobleman’s rebellious, outspoken, no-nonsense daughter, just can’t resist the shiny temptations the king’s palace has to offer. But playing Robin Hood for her impoverished community doesn’t come without risks, and when Chaya steals the queen’s jewels from a bedside table - a messy getaway jeopardizes the life of a close friend. After an equally haphazard prison break, Chaya barely escapes on the king’s prized elephant! With leeches and revolution lurking in the jungle, Chaya leads her companions on a thrilling adventure.

Nikki Roberts feels very grown up when her parents leave her alone in their mountain lodge for a few days. The 13-year-old has promised them she will not take any long horseback rides or canoe trips, so she saddles Goblin and heads for a nearby sheep meadow for the afternoon. It’s not long before Nikki’s trail leads her into perilous territory. She surprises deadly poachers at work who are shooting bighorn rams for trophies. Her CB radio picks up a distress call from two children stranded in a forest fire that has broken out down river.

A series of robberies has disrupted the peaceful life at the Bean Farm. First, food disappears from The First Animal Bank. Then sheets and shirts vanish from a clothesline. By the time oats are stolen from the barn, everyone is suspicious and upset. Soon, the animals even suspect Freddy! Who, or what, is responsible for the crimes? What is the mysterious white shape in the Great Woods?

Sam Gribley is terribly unhappy living in New York City with his family, so he runs away to the Catskill Mountains to live in the woods - all by himself. With only a penknife, a ball of cord, 40 dollars, and some flint and steel, he intends to survive on his own. Sam learns about courage, danger, and independence during his year in the wilderness, a year that changes his life forever.

The Fishing Life is an entertaining anthology of fishing anecdotes and well-researched articles from across Paul Schullery’s research and fishing career. The author offers up stories, essays, farces, daydreams, and ruminations that will engage listeners of all kinds. Of course, being a fisherman and living the fishing life goes beyond just those days spent with rod and reel in hand. It is something that occupies your mind and your heart, not just your hands.

Lacey Chu has always dreamed of working as an engineer for MONCHA, the biggest tech firm in the world and the company behind the "baku" - a customizable "pet" with all the capabilities of a smartphone. But when Lacey is rejected by the elite academy that promises that future, she's crushed. One night, Lacey comes across the broken form of a highly advanced baku. After she repairs it, the cat-shaped baku she calls Jinx opens its eyes and somehow gets her into her dream school. But Jinx is different than any other baku she's ever seen.... He seems real.

Griffin is just a newborn bat when he falls through an underground fissure into the most dangerous of all places, the Underworld - the land of the dead. Though his father, the heroic Shade, will try to rescue him, Griffin bravely sets off on his own adventure to find the Tree that will take him home. Will he make it? This companion to Silverwing and Sunwing is mesmerizing, full of extraordinary details and vibrant imagery.

W. H. Beck's highly anticipated debut promises to delight young listeners with an imaginative tale about a rat who refuses to be judged by his appearance. Malcolm the rat loves the attention he gets as a pet at McKenna School. That' s where he meets the Midnight Academy, a secret society of classroom pets who've pledged to keep the students safe. The trouble is, rats have a bad reputation, so when their iguana leader is kidnapped, the Academy suspects Malcolm.

Nationally syndicated radio talk-show host Rush Limbaugh has long wanted to make American history come to life for the children of his listeners. In Rush Revere and the Brave Pilgrims, he created the character of a fearless middle-school history teacher named Rush Revere, who travels back in time and experiences American history as it happens, in adventures with exceptional Americans. In this second book in the series, Rush Revere is transported back to the people and events leading up to the American Revolution.

Shipwrecked on a remote, wild island, Robot Roz learned from the unwelcoming animal inhabitants and adapted to her surroundings—but can she survive the challenges of the civilized world and find her way home to Brightbill and the island? From bestselling and award-winning author and illustrator Peter Brown comes a heartwarming and action-packed sequel to his New York Times bestselling The Wild Robot, about what happens when nature and technology collide.

Mr. Boorschmidt's Stupendous and Unexcelled Circus is back in town. This time one of its attractions is really out of this world. In the big ring are six Martians and their flying saucer! But Boorschmidt doesn't stop there. He wants something even more spectacular to offer the audience, so he asks Freddy for help. Freddy knows what to do. He organizes an amazing baseball team.

At the beginning of his memoir Life Lived Wild: Adventures at the Edge of the Map, Rick Ridgeway tells us that if you add up all his many expeditions, he’s spent over five years of his life sleeping in tents: “And most of that in small tents pitched in the world’s most remote regions.” It’s not a boast so much as an explanation. Whether at elevation or raising a family back at sea level, those years taught him, he writes, “to distinguish matters of consequence from matters of inconsequence.” He leaves it to his listeners to do the final sort of which is which.

At 28,251 feet, the world's second-tallest mountain, K2 thrusts skyward out of the Karakoram Range of northern Pakistan. Climbers regard it as the ultimate achievement in mountaineering, with good reason. Four times as deadly as Everest, K2 has claimed the lives of seventy-seven climbers since 1954. In August 2008 eleven climbers died in a single thirty-six-hour period on K2–the worst single-event tragedy in the mountain's history and the second-worst in the long chronicle of mountaineering in the Himalaya and Karakoram ranges.

Erethizon Dorsatum—better known as Ereth, the self-centered, foul-tempered old porcupine—is having a birthday. And he fully expects his best friend Poppy, a deer mouse, to help him celebrate in a grand manner. But Poppy has gone off somewhere with her husband, Rye, and it appears she has forgotten all about it. "Belching Beavers," says Ereth, "I am not angry!" (Though perhaps he is—and more than just a little.)

When his mother, Barbara, turns seventy, Jedidiah Jenkins is reminded of a sobering truth: Our parents won’t live forever. For years, he and Barbara have talked about taking a trip together, just the two of them. They disagree about politics, about God, about the project of society—disagreements that hurt. But they love thrift stores, they love eating at diners, they love true crime, and they love each other. Jedidiah wants to step into Barbara’s world and get to know her in a way that occasional visits haven’t allowed.

The 300 dogs of Steamboat Springs, Colorado, all know their places. At the top is McKinley, a malamute who’s head dog of the whole town. All of the dogs - and McKinley’s human family - rely on him to protect them and maintain order. Avi, the Newbery Medal author of Crispin: The Cross of Lead, peeks into the secret lives of dogs in this thrilling adventure tale. Robert Ramirez’s narration gives voice to a dog willing to risk any peril to do the good thing.