Fairy Child

Cole is about to face his biggest peril yet. Since arriving in the Outskirts, Cole and his friends have fought monsters, challenged knights, and battled rampaging robots. But none of that has prepared them for Necronum. In this haunting kingdom, it’s hard to tell the living from the dead, and secret pacts carry terrifying risks. Within Necronum lies the echolands, a waystation for the departed where the living seldom venture. Still separated from his power, Cole must cross to the echolands and rely on his instincts to help rescue his friends.

Listen and relive exciting tales from Highlights, now on audio! Learn about a boy at a Spanish market who knocks over a stand of avocados down a hill and makes guacamole and about a jungle that is full of terror at the thought that a monster could be lurking in the shadows, along with other stories.

Prince Liam. Prince Frederic. Prince Duncan. Prince Gustav. You've never heard of them, have you? These are the princes who saved Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, Snow White, and Rapunzel, respectively, and yet, thanks to those lousy bards who wrote the tales, you likely know them only as Prince Charming. But all of this is about to change.

Kitsune are fox spirits that take on human form and play tricks on people. One such man fell in love with a kitsune disguised as a beautiful woman.

On the shores of Madra, tradition is law. For Princess Helena Rhodipus, this means wearing masks to hide from common eyes. For the people, it means bowing down to a king who cares little for them. Wanting to rid herself of the rules holding her back, Helena escapes into the city, unrecognizable without her mask. She only wants a taste of life outside her walls before returning to the only place she's known, but she hadn't counted on him. The boy who makes her forget about her brothers' worries or her father's wrath.

It’s 1955, and Laurie Valentine’s best friend Dickie has contracted polio. Confined to a breathing machine in the hospital, he begs Laurie to stay by his side and tell him a story. As Laurie creates the tale of the giant Collosso and the young boy destined to stop him, Dickie starts to believe he’s part of the story. But when Laurie is forced to stop telling the story, Dickie has to reach within himself to create his own ending.

Outlaw Princess of Sherwood is award-winning author Nancy Springer's third delightful tale of Rowan Hood. Her popular adventure novels provide a fresh new vision of the medieval period. When Princess Ettarde refuses to marry the man her father, King Solon, has chosen for her, she flees to Sherwood Forest and joins Rowan Hood's band of outlaws.

Happenstance, a boy with unusual green eyes, awakens with no memories. Falling in with the adventurer Lord Umber and his band of misfits, this boy with many uncanny gifts soon discovers that he may be the strangest one of all.

Nancy Springer is a two-time recipient of the Edgar Award for Best Young Adult Mystery. Her beloved Rowan Hood books are favorites of young readers. Wild Boy, the fourth book of the series, tells the story of Rook - a feral, homeless orphan who stalks Sherwood Forest like a wild animal. Ever since the Sheriff of Nottingham killed his father, Rook has screamed for vengeance. Now with the evil Sheriff 's son caught in one of his man-traps, Rook may finally get the chance to exact his revenge.

Ella Brook can't wait to grow up, because one day she will become a fairy and have her own sparkly wings and a teacher on Fairy Tube, just like her mom! Until then, Ella has to learn by watching her mom in action. But sometimes spells go wrong, and Ella's mom can never seem to remember the right magic codes on her Computawand. A lot of the time, it's up to Ella to come to the rescue. Does she have what it takes to be a fairy one day? Or will there be more glitches than glitter?

When people die, do they leave part of themselves behind? Throughout history, people have heard and seen ghostly evidence of a world beyond the grave. Learn about a doomed English queen, a creepy talking doll, and a shape-shifting wolf. Then whistle past the graveyard if you dare.

Number one New York Times best-selling author John Flanagan returns to the world of Ranger's Apprentice, beginning a new story arc starring fan favorites, Will and Maddie (Ranger's Apprentice: The Royal Ranger). Picking up where Ranger's Apprentice: The Royal Ranger left off, this next installment continues the story arc featuring young apprentice, Maddie, and the student-turned-master, Will Treaty. The time has come for the next generation to assume the mantle and become protectors of the kingdom of Araluen.

Thirteen-year-old Sik wants a simple life going to school and helping at his parents' deli in the evenings. But all that is blown to smithereens when Nergal comes looking for him, thinking that Sik holds the secret to eternal life. Turns out Sik is immortal but doesn't know it, and that's about to get him and the entire city into deep, deep trouble.

After years as a Ranger's apprentice, Will is now the protector of his first fief. Not long into his service, everything that can go wrong does: Keren, a renegade knight, has taken over Castle Macindaw, a strategic gateway to the North - poisoning the royal family in the process - and is holding Will's friend Alyss captive. The situation grows direr when Will uncovers Keren's secret alliance with the Scotti, who have plans to plunder Araluen. Time is of the essence; Will must recruit a motley crew to rescue Alyss and reclaim Castle Macindaw - before the Scotti can make it their own.

Detective Princess King is taking on her toughest case yet: find the "pea"—a priceless emerald that's disappeared from Mrs. Snell's jewelry collection. But as Princess searches for clues, she discovers that Snell Manor holds many mysteries—from secret passageways to a towering bed of stacked mattresses.

Around the world, black handprints are appearing on doorways, scorched there by winged strangers who have crept through a slit in the sky. In a dark and dusty shop, a devil's supply of human teeth grown dangerously low. And in the tangled lanes of Prague, a young art student is about to be caught up in a brutal otherwordly war. Meet Karou. She fills her sketchbooks with monsters that may or may not be real; she's prone to disappearing on mysterious "errands"; she speaks many languages—not all of them human; and her bright blue hair actually grows out of her head that color.

After a bump on the head in gym class on April Fool's Day, Nikki has a wild dream in which she, her BFFs Chloe and Zoey, her crush Brandon, and mean girl Mackenzie all end up playing the roles of some familiar classic fairy tale characters. Of course, the stories don’t go quite as expected - because they each have a very special Dork Diaries spin!

Slow but steady Turtle exhibits wisdom, perseverance, and cunning in these world folktales. Full of adventure that's sure to captivate young listeners, these tales hold meaning for all ages. Turtle is alive with possibilities. Living on land and in the water and breathing air, Turtle joins these three elements of creation, becoming symbolic of the earth itself. Always clever, always wise, and ever patient, Turtle never fails to find humor in any situation.

"What is your favorite story?" is the question children across the country often ask professional storyteller Pleasant DeSpain. As he attempts to answer, his list grows longer and longer, until he confesses he likes them all. An untiring researcher of oral traditions, DeSpain is known for his concise versions of world folktales specifically crafted for retelling. This new, digital recording of 10 stories is excerpted from DeSpain's 22 Splendid Tales to Tell from Around the World, Volume One.

A classic fable from Rudyard Kipling's Just So Stories, read by Johnny Morris. Have you ever wondered how and why the animals came to be as they are? In these magical tales, drawn from stories he heard as a child in India as well as on folk traditions he later collected all over the world, Rudyard Kipling gives some wonderfully imaginative explanations.