Before they were the Boxcar Children, Henry, Jessie, Violet, and Benny Alden lived with their parents on Fair Meadow Farm. Although times are hard, the Aldens are happy—“the best family of all,” Mama likes to say. One day, a blizzard hits the countryside, and a traveling family needs shelter. The Aldens take them in, and the strangers soon become friends. But things never stay the same at the farm, and the spring and summer bring events that will forever change their lives.

An approved textbook at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry since its first publication, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is an indispensable guide to the magical beasts of the wizarding world. It showcases a menagerie of magical creatures, explained enchantingly by noted magizoologist, Newt Scamander, who you may remember from the film series of the same name.

This is the story of Despereaux Tilling, a mouse in love with music, stories, and a princess named Pea. It is also the story of a rat called Roscuro, who lives in darkness but covets a world filled with light. And it is the story of Miggery Sow, a slow-witted serving girl with a simple, impossible wish. These characters are about to embark on a journey that will lead them down into a horrible dungeon, up into a glittering castle, and ultimately, into each other's lives.

For Milo, everything’s a bore. When a tollbooth mysteriously appears in his room, he drives through only because he’s got nothing better to do. But on the other side, things seem different. Milo visits the Island of Conclusions (you get there by jumping), learns about time from a ticking watchdog named Tock, and even embarks on a quest to rescue Rhyme and Reason. Somewhere along the way, Milo realizes something astonishing. Life is far from dull. In fact, it’s exciting beyond his wildest dreams.

When Brystal Evergreen stumbles across a secret section of the library, she discovers a book that introduces her to a world beyond her imagination and learns the impossible: She is a fairy capable of magic! But in the oppressive Southern Kingdom, women are forbidden from reading and magic is outlawed, so Brystal is swiftly convicted of her crimes and sent to the miserable Bootstrap Correctional Facility. But with the help of the mysterious Madame Weatherberry, Brystal is whisked away and enrolled in an academy of magic!

Disney’s Encanto is the tale of an extraordinary family that lives hidden in the mountains of Colombia in a wondrous, charmed place called an Encanto. Everyone in the Madrigal family has a unique gift, ranging from superstrength to the power to heal. Everyone except Mirabel. But when the magic surrounding the Encanto is in danger, Mirabel decides she might just be her exceptional family’s last hope. Encanto: The Junior Novelization retells the vibrant story!

Four years ago, two girls went looking for monsters on Bodmin Moor. Only one came back. Lee thought she'd lost Mal, but now she's miraculously returned. But what happened that day on the moors? And where has she been all this time? Mal's reappearance hasn't gone unnoticed by MI5 officers either, and Lee isn't the only one with questions. Julian Sabreur is investigating an attack on top physicist Kay Amal Khan. This leads Julian to clash with agents of an unknown power - and they may or may not be human.

What is more real? A world we are born into or one we create for ourselves? Legendary creator, master storyteller, and cultural icon Stan Lee sets off into a new universe in search of answers to some of the most pressing questions of our time! The only question left: Will you join him on this journey?

Coco Wells hasn’t seen another living person since she was a teenager. All of Manhattan is reliving the same few seconds, minutes, or hours on a loop…and they have been for years. Everything looks normal from a distance, but up close, it’s a nightmare.

I designed and started to write The Ancestor in the Mirror as a cross-curricular material while I was working as a Earth Space Science and Biology teacher in Lauderdale Lakes, Florida. The main point was to provide support to a group of ELL students who were struggling with different subjects. I started to gather information in 2012 and finished my research when I moved to Boston, Massachusetts.

On December 21st, 2012, the world was supposed to end. When the apocalyptic date came and went, the world concluded the Mayan prophecy was a myth. But it was not. The Earth was saved by extraordinary intervention from planet Akara — home to an awakened civilization far more evolved than our own.

Jon Ryan was supposed to be dead. He wanted to be dead. But Jon wakes up in the far future with an alien burrowing in his chest for salvage. Someone was going to pay for this. Check that. Lots of people were going to pay for this. Jon was the first astronaut to download to an android host to find the population of doomed Earth a new home. But that was so long time ago. He is now literally lost in time.

This contemporary fiction book is an anthology of several short stories: Story 1: A man is in search for his beloved bird, which keeps flying away to different areas. However, the bird's pattern isn't random. Story 2: Nora has a gothic look and a secret superpower to teleport from one spot to another within sight. Story 3: Norman, a man with ADHD, finds a hidden treasure in the middle of the desert, and his bravery and entrepreneurial skills are put to the test. Story 4: Benjamin comes across a wishing well.

Meet Roger. Skilled with words, languages come easily to him. He instinctively understands how the world works through the power of story. Meet Dodger, his twin. Numbers are her world, her obsession, her everything. All she understands, she does so through the power of math. Roger and Dodger aren’t exactly human, though they don’t realize it. They aren’t exactly gods, either. Not entirely. Not yet. Meet Reed, skilled in the alchemical arts like his progenitor before him. Reed created Dodger and her brother. He’s not their father. Not quite. But he has a plan.

In Contemporary Short Stories, you'll find controversies and moral dilemmas. All of them evolve around themes you may be familiar with in your own life. In a fictional setting, these issues come to light to help you think and enjoy the entertainment value of it at the same time. The stories will help you ponder the significance of questions you may ask yourself every day. All of these stories are integrated into a lighthearted setting in each of them.