Family Adventure

The Aldens spend the summer on their own private island. There they meet a new friend with an amazing secret!

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.

Luke Garner is a third-born in a restrictive society that allows only two children per family. Risking his life, he came out of hiding to fight against the Population Police laws. Now, in the final volume of Margaret Peterson Haddix's suspenseful Shadow Children series, Luke inadvertently sets off a rebellion that results in the overthrow of the government. The people are finally free. But who is in charge now? And will this new freedom be everything they had hoped?

Fourteen-year-old Amy Cahill and her younger brother, Dan, thought they could return to their regular lives when they found the 39 Clues that safeguard their family’s great power. But they were wrong. Powerful enemies – the Vespers – have been waiting in the shadows. And they’ll stop at nothing to grab the Clues. Four powerhouse authors unite to expose the 500-year-old secret struggle between the Cahills and the Vespers. The Vespers are rising . . . and the world is in jeopardy.

Shay Remby arrives in Hollywood with $58 and a handmade knife, searching for her brother, Odin. Odin’s a brilliant hacker but a bit of a loose cannon. He and a group of radical animal-rights activists hit a Singular Corp. research lab in Eugene, Oregon. The raid was a disaster, but Odin escaped with a set of highly encrypted flash drives and a post-surgical dog. When Shay gets a frantic 3 a.m. phone call from Odin - talking about evidence of unspeakable experiments, and a ruthless corporation, and how he must hide - she’s concerned.

On the hunt for the 39 Clues, Amy and Dan Cahill uncovered shocking information about their past - from what happened the night their parents died to the shattering discovery of their family branch. Will Book Nine be the end of Amy and Dan? Or just the end of everything they think they know?

New York Times best-selling author Cinda Williams Chima is well known for her Seven Realms fantasy series. When commoner Han Alister finds his friend Rebecca on the edge of death, saving her life becomes his number one priority. Then he learns that Rebecca is really Raisa ana’Marianna, heir to the Queendom of the Fells, and he’s devastated - for more than one reason. But he’ll have to ignore his personal feelings to fulfill a promise he made long ago.

Some of the best philosophers in the world gather in surprising places—preschools and playgrounds. They debate questions about metaphysics and morality, even though they’ve never heard those words and can’t tie their shoes. They’re kids. And as University of Michigan professor of philosophy and law Scott Hershovitz shows, they can help grown-ups solve some of life’s greatest mysteries.

As Lieutenant Rory Nance lay dying after the battle of Cedar Creek in the Shenandoah Valley, Captain Josh Logan gave his word to his best friend. Now, two years later, deep in the Comancheria, Josh Logan rides to accomplish his dying friend’s request. As he rides through the rolling, West Texas hills, blood-thirsty Comanches could wait in the next ravine or around the next hill. Yet, he is determined to fulfill his promise.

Everyone tells Sophie that she was orphaned in a shipwreck – found floating in a cello case on the English Channel on her first birthday. But Sophie is convinced her mother also survived. When the Welfare Agency threatens to separate her from her guardian and send her to an orphanage, Sophie takes matters into her own hands, starting with the only clue she has – the address of a cello-maker in Paris.

Eleven-year-old Japanese American Owen has been in Japan for his sixth-grade year. By March he finally feels like he's getting the hang of the new culture, making friends at school, and feeling at home with the "weird" food. But early one morning, everything changes - and Owen suddenly finds himself just trying to survive one of history's most devastating disasters.

Tilly Pages is a bookwanderer; she can travel inside books and even talk to the characters she meets there. But Tilly’s powers are put to the test when fairy tales start leaking book magic and causing havoc. On a wintry visit to Paris, Tilly and her best friend Oskar bravely bookwander into the land of fairy tales to find that characters are getting lost, stories are all mixed up, and mysterious plot holes are opening without warning. Can Tilly work out who, or what, is behind the chaos so everyone gets their happily ever after?

Smoke Jensen looks forward to spending a quiet holiday with the family. But an unexpected arrival from south of the border has him reaching for his guns, defending his land - and risking everything he loves. Sally Jensen strikes up a friendship with a lovely Mexican woman - who turns out to be married to the mysterious stranger plotting to steal her ranch. Ace and Chance prepare to fight a gang of outlaws trying to kill the man who raised them - but they're going to need the help of the father they never knew.

Holy unanticipated occurrences! It begins, as the best superhero stories do, with a tragic accident that has unexpected consequences. The squirrel never saw the vacuum cleaner coming, but self-described cynic Flora Belle Buckman, who has read every issue of the comic book Terrible Things Can Happen to You!, is the just the right person to step in and save him. What neither can predict is that Ulysses (the squirrel) has been born anew, with powers of strength, flight, and misspelled poetry - and that Flora will be changed too.

The four Melendy children live with their father and Cuffy, their beloved housekeeper, in a worn but comfortable brownstone in New York City. There's thirteen-year-old Mona, who has decided to become an actress; twelve-year-old mischievous Rush; ten-year-old Randy who loves to dance and paint; and thoughtful Oliver, who is just six-years-old.

Wicked wolves and a grim governess threaten Bonnie and her cousin Sylvia when Bonnie's parents leave Willoughby Chase for a sea voyage. Left in the care of the cruel Miss Slighcarp, the girls can hardly believe what is happening to their once happy home. The servants are dismissed, the furniture is sold, and Bonnie and Sylvia are sent to a prison-like orphan school. It seems as if the endless hours of drudgery will never cease.

It's Christmas Eve and Detective Alex Cross has been called out to catch someone who's robbing his church's poor box. That mission behind him, Alex returns home to celebrate with Bree, Nana, and his children. The tree decorating is barely underway before his phone rings again - a horrific hostage situation is quickly spiraling out of control. Away from his own family on the most precious of days, Alex calls upon every ounce of his training, creativity, and daring to save another family.

It’s 1936, in Flint Michigan. Times may be hard, and ten-year-old Bud may be a motherless boy on the run, but Bud’s got a few things going for him. 1. He has his own suitcase full of special things. 2. He’s the author of Bud Caldwell’s Rules and Things for Having a Funner Life and Making a Better Liar Out of Yourself. 3. His momma never told him who his father was, but she left a clue: flyers advertising Herman E. Calloway and his famous band, the Dusky Devastators of the Depression!!!!!! Bud’s got an idea that those flyers will lead him to his father.

Theo Stein-Meyer loves being part of the Magic Misfits. Armed with his trusty violin bow, he completes the team with his levitation skills, unflappable calm, and proper manners. But when a girl named Emily begins to spend time with the group, Theo is surprisingly drawn to her. She seems to understand the pull he feels between music and magic, between family and friends. Then a famous ventriloquist arrives in town, and the Misfits are sure he (and his creepy dummy) are up to no good.

In this second installment of the Family Spies series, set in the best-selling world of Valdemar, the children of Heralds Mags and Amily must follow in their parents' footsteps to protect the realm. Mags, Herald Spy of Valdemar, and his wife, Amily, the King’s Own Herald, are happily married with three kids. Their daughter, Abidela, dreams of building on her parents' legacy by joining her father's network of spies, hoping to offset her seeming lack of a Gift. But then Abi senses the imminent collapse of a bridge only moments before it happens....