Learning Library

Twelve-year-old Danny Walker may be the smallest kid on the basketball court, but don't tell him that. Because no one plays with more heart or court sense. But none of that matters when he is cut from his local travel team, the very same team his father led to national prominence as a boy. Danny's father knows Danny isn't the only kid who was cut for the wrong reason, and together, this washed-up former player and a bunch of never-say-die kids prove that the heart simply cannot be measured.

The year is 79 A.D. The place is Ostia, the port of Rome. Flavia Gemina, a Roman sea captain's daughter, is about to embark on a thrilling adventure.

Nick is one of the chosen few at his high school: intelligent, popular, wealthy. People think his life is pretty easy. Except for one thing. Nick has never told anyone about his father's violent temper. In a harrowing journey of self-discovery, Nick learns the truth about himself - and that the phrase "like father, like son" can carry terrifying possibilities.

What makes a country fall to a dictator? How are authoritarian leaders - strongmen - capable of killing millions acquire their power? How are they able to defeat the ideal of democracy? And what can we do to make sure it doesn't happen again? By profiling five of the most notoriously ruthless dictators in history - Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, Joseph Stalin, Mao Zedong, and Saddam Hussein - Kenneth C. Davis seeks to answer these questions, examining the forces in these strongmen's personal lives and historical periods that shaped the leaders they'd become.

In Pirates Past Noon, it's a treasure trove of trouble when the Magic Tree House carries Jack and Annie back to the days of deserted islands, secret maps, and dangerous pirates! Will they discover the hidden buried treasure, or will the pirates discover them? Jack and Annie are put to the test when they are accidentally brought on board a pirate ship. They are forced to think fast or face the possibility of walking the plank!

Eight-year-old Jack, his seven-year-old sister, Annie, and Peanut the mouse ride in a tree house to the Amazon rain forests, where they encounter giant ants, flesh-eating piranhas, hungry crocodiles, and wild jaguars.

Jim Frayne has run away from Sleepyside, before Trixie could tell him that he is the sole heir to a huge fortune. With her best friend, Honey, Trixie sets out in a trailer across upstate New York to track Jim down...and stumbles upon another mystery along the way!

Join Ann Brashares' beloved sisterhood once again in a dazzling, fearless novel. It's a summer that will forever change the lives of Lena, Carmen, Bee, and Tibby, here and now, past and future, together and apart.

Lawrence M. Friedman is Professor of Law at Stanford University and author of 23 books about law and legal history. Hailed as American law's greatest living historian, Friedman traces the evolution of America's legal system from the colonial period to the present. A Modern Library Chronicle, this book is concise, insightful, and graced with wit.

The only thing Jean Honeychurch hates more than her boring name (not Jean Marie, or Jeanette, just...Jean) is her all-too-appropriate nickname: Jinx. Misfortune seems to follow her everywhere she goes, which is why she's thrilled to be moving in with her aunt and uncle in New York City. Maybe when she's halfway across the country, Jinx can finally outrun her bad luck. Or at least escape the havoc she's caused back in her small hometown.

One Friday night, Emma, Anna, and Mariah, three best friends, are out doing something they shouldn't. Then a cell phone rings. One girl's mother wants to know why they aren't where they said they'd be. They make up a story so they won't get into trouble at home. It seems like the easy way out. What happens next challenges their friendship, their community, their relationship with their families, and their sense of themselves. What happens next shows the harm one lie can do.

Igraine, who turns 12 tomorrow, dreams of becoming a famous knight. But today, like most days, life at the family castle remains...rather boring.

Mafatu's name means "Stout Heart," but his people call him a coward. Ever since the sea took his mother's life and spared his own, he has lived with deep fear. By the time he is twelve years old, Mafatu can bear it no longer. He must conquer his fear alone...even if it means certain death. This classic tale of a young boy's hidden strength has been a favorite of readers of all ages since 1940.

Trixie has been friends with Diana Lynch for years, even before Di's family became fabulously rich. When a long-lost uncle shows up at the Lynches' doorstep and starts ruining Di's social life, Di asks Trixie for help. But Trixie thinks Uncle Monty isn't just an annoying relative, she thinks he's an imposter!

Can Zack save the earth from butts gone berserk? Can he defeat the biggest, ugliest, meanest butt the world has ever seen? More importantly, will Zack and his butt ever find true happiness? It's an adventure you and your butt will never forget!

For Hart Evans, being the most popular fifth grader has its advantages: kids look up to him and teachers let him get away with everything. But during one choir practice, Hart zones out too far, accidentally flinging a rubber band at his teacher. Mr. Meinert realizes that if Hart is ever going to discover his musical potential, his punishment must march to a different drummer.

One of the world’s foremost writing teachers invites listeners on a joyful journey into the reading and origins of haiku.

It isn't easy being a pioneer in the state of Washington in 1899 - particularly when you are the only girl ever born to the new settlement. With seven older brothers and a love of adventure, May Amelia Jackson just can't seem to abide her family's insistence that she behave like a Proper Young Lady. Not when there's fishing to be done, sheep to be herded, and real live murderers to be captured!

Through sloppy usage and low standards on the internet, in email, and now text messages, we have made proper punctuation an endangered species. In Eats, Shoots & Leaves, former editor Lynne Truss dares to say, in her delightfully urbane, witty, and very English way, that it is time to look at our commas and semicolons and see them as the wonderful and necessary things they are. If there are only pedants left who care, then so be it. This is a book for people who love punctuation and get upset when it is mishandled.

Based on the story by Arthur Conan Doyle.... Dr. Huxtable has a school for boys in the north of England. When the Duke of Holdernesse decides to send his young son there, that is good news for the school. The Duke is a very important person, and Dr. Huxtable is happy to have his son in the school. But two weeks later Dr. Huxtable is the unhappiest man in England.