California Adventure

At the height of California's Gold Rush, men left everything behind for the chance at striking it rich. Now, some 30 years after its peak, gold fever still entices adventurous Easterners like James Macklin Chance, a poor Pennsylvanian who is drawn to California by the dream of lasting wealth - a dream so powerful he'll stop at nothing to see it through.

Meg Cabot is the New York Times best-selling author of The Princess Diaries series. Susannah Simon is a teenager who can see ghosts. As a bridge between the living and the dead, she gets called on to help ghosts take care of unfinished business. After she and her mother move from New York City to sunny California, Suze meets the sexiest boy she's ever seen, too bad he's a ghost, too.

Dream Park, the ultimate in amusement parks, was about to embark on the greatest game ever: the California Voodoo Game. Across the world bets were being placed; fortunes and reputations hung in the balance. Gaming careers would be made - or destroyed. And the most advanced software package ever invented was going to be tested. But one of the players was a murderer - and worse. Only Alex Griffin, head of Dream Park Security, and Game Master Tony McWhirter guessed the extent of the treachery tainting the Game.

Sophie Foster is struggling. Grieving. Scrambling. But she knows one thing: She will not be defeated. The Neverseen have had their victories - but the battle is far from over. It’s time to change tactics. Make sacrifices. Reexamine everything. Maybe even time for Sophie to trust her enemies. All paths lead to Nightfall - an ominous door to an even more ominous place - and Sophie and her friends strike a dangerous bargain to get there. But nothing can prepare them for what they discover.

Carmen Sanchez is a tough Homeland Security agent who plays by the rules. But when her sister is attacked, revealing a connection to a series of murders across Southern California, she realizes a conventional investigation will not be enough to stop the ruthless perpetrator. With nowhere else to turn, Sanchez enlists the aid of Professor Jake Heron, a brilliant and quirky private security expert who, unlike Sanchez, believes rules are merely suggestions. The two have a troubled past, but he owes her a favor and she’s cashing in.

One of Newbery Medalist Sid Fleischman's most beloved books, this rip-snortin' saga of a young man and his butler bound for California during the great Gold Rush was just made to be read by a full cast. Our collection of coots, codgers, geezers, and outlaws will have you laughing out loud...when you're not holding your breath in suspense!

Journalist Susan Casey was in her living room when she first glimpsed this strange place and its resident sharks, their dark fins swirling around a tiny boat in a documentary. These great whites were the alphas among alphas, the narrator said, some of them topping 18 feet in length, and each fall they congregated here off the northern California coast.

The biggest redwood trees are over 1,000 years old, rising more than 35 stories in what's left of the once-vast, ancient redwood forest. Believed to be impossible to ascend, these majestic giants have remained unexplored until recently, when a tiny group of daring botanists and amateur naturalists discovered a lost, dangerous, and hauntingly beautiful world high above California.

A recent finishing school graduate, 18-year-old Garnet Cameron is desperate for direction. Too driven for the restrictive manners of the upper class, Garnet is naturally drawn to Oliver Hale, a frontier trader from the West. Unlike the men to whom she's accustomed, Oliver treats Garnet as an equal and respects her independence. His tales of adventure on the plains thrill her. And his proposal of marriage is accepted. Then Garnet discovers how ill-prepared she is for the punishing landscape of the Jubilee Trail and the even harsher realities of human nature.

James Capen Adams roamed the Sierra Nevada when California was wild. He slept on the ground, ate what he could kill, mended his own wounds, and made friends with the Native Americans he encountered. Adams captured animals in elaborate traps he built by hand and delivered his prey to zoos, museums, and certain famous exhibitions. Many of his stories became the inspiration for a popular TV show in the 1980s, featuring a mountain man and his pet bear. This is the true story behind the legend, as told by Adams to respected California historian Theodore Hittell.

Join 11-year-old Josh as he leaves his affluent New Jersey home for the rural Northern California town where his mother was born and raised. Still reeling from the life-changing challenges that propelled him and his mother across the country, Josh struggles to adapt to a more rustic, down-to-earth lifestyle. Josh and his cousin Eleanor bond during an overnight camping trip. But they suddenly find themselves in the path of a fast-moving firestorm, a super-heated monster that will soon lay waste to millions of acres of wilderness.

Michael Hawk is shocked and enraged when an old friend becomes the victim of a professional hit team. His investigation into the grisly death leads him from the sultry Caribbean to the air conditioned towers of big business and the danger-filled dreamworld of Hollywood sets. Along the way he discovers a monstrous corporate cover-up - and a hot-blooded lady V.P. who loves mixing business with pleasure. Michael Hawk is an investigative journalist with a knack for getting the scoop.

Syrah Carthan doesn’t know why she accepted a job as the first female fire chief at Sequoia National Park, where, decades earlier, a forest fire killed her parents. That day, her brother, Romelo, disappeared, as if pulled into the scorched earth itself. Syrah has always had an uncanny affinity for the natural wonders of the park she protects, but after she sanctions a prescribed burn that goes terribly wrong, she quits her position in disgrace.

A series of violent shark attacks off the shores of northern California draw the attention of pessimistic Detective Luke Jansen. Despite reports of shark sightings, the injuries are more reminiscent of a chainsaw-wielding maniac. Things get stranger when marine biologist Elise Sheldon encounters the creature. Exhausted and traumatized, her claims that the beast is a Helicoprion are dismissed. With little help from the police department, Luke and Elise form an unlikely alliance that puts them face-to-face with a violent man-eating shark, and its terrifying reason for existing.

This rapidly aging bird flew the coop - via TWA! I left my tear-soaked, empty nest in the California dust, and joyously migrated to Paris, France! I took to the air with two bulging K-Mart wide-belly suitcases; one seriously emaciated bank account; an excess of self-confidence; and last, but not least, my little "hotdog" and main squeeze...Sport Dachshund!

Two friends in 1950s San Francisco Bohemia explore Buddhism Zen - hipster style. On the road to finding Dharma, or truth, the story's narrator, Raymond Smith comes to a spiritual roadblock. Smith, based on Kerouac himself, discovers a role model in his friend Japhy Ryder, modeled after the real poet-Buddhist Gary Snyder. This autobiographical novel is one of Kerouac's most popular, and has served as an inspiration to the beat culture, hippies, and dharma seekers since the 1950s.

After his adventure on the Highland Falcon, amateur sleuth Hal Beck is excited to embark on another journey with his journalist uncle. This time, they're set to ride the historic California Comet from Chicago to San Francisco. Hal mostly keeps to himself on the trip, feeling homesick and out of place in America. But he soon finds himself drawn into another mystery when the young daughter of a billionaire tech entrepreneur goes missing!

Retired private detective and current seventh grader Steve Brixton has a new career: taking out the garbage on Wednesdays for five bucks a week. But it’s hard to leave the old game behind, and on a train trip down the California coast, Steve finds himself pulled back into sleuthing. Soon he’s in over his head in four feet and eleven inches of mystery involving a fleet of priceless automobiles, a deadly assassin (or maybe just a faulty lock on a sauna door), and a secret train car filled with intrigue. Plus there’s a girl involved, which complicates everything.

A wondrous, uproarious, and surprisingly informative account of a year spend surfing, Caught Inside marks the arrival of an exuberant new voice of the outdoors. This remarkable narrative of Daniel Duane’s life on the water is enhanced by good-humored explanations of the physics of wave dynamics, the intricate art of surfboard design, and lyrical, sharp-eyed descriptions of the flora and fauna of the Pacific wilderness.

The Mountains of California: Explore the Towering Sequoias, Glacial Valleys, and Wild Landscapes That Shaped John Muir’s Love for Nature. The book is both a personal adventure and a call to preserve the beauty of California’s wilderness, making it a classic piece of environmental literature.