London, 1601. Honesty, a storyteller seeking fame and fortune, befriends Alice, a maid to Queen Elizabeth I. But can Alice be trusted? A tale of intrigue, scheming and plots set in the spellbinding world of the Elizabethan court. A thrilling adventure where nothing is as it seems.

It's the summer of 1903 in Brooklyn and all fourteen-year-old Joseph Michtom wants is to experience the thrill, the grandeur, and the electricity of the new amusement park at Coney Island. But that doesn't seem likely. Ever since his parents--Russian immigrants--invented the stuffed Teddy Bear five months ago, Joseph's life has turned upside down. No longer do the Michtom's gather family and friends around the kitchen table to talk. No longer is Joseph at leisure to play stickball with the guys. Now, Joseph works. And complains. And falls in love. And argues with Mama and Papa. And falls out of love. And hopes. Joseph hopes he'll see Coney Island soon. He hopes that everything will turn right-side up again. He hopes his luck hasn't run out--because you never know. Through all the warmth, the sadness, the frustration, and the laughter of one big, colorful family, Newbery Medalist Karen Hesse builds a stunning story of the lucky, the unlucky, and those in between, and reminds us that our lives--all our lives--are fragile, precious, and connected.

Fifteen year old Nikki got more than he bargained for when traveling abroad with his parents and his private tutor in Cairo, Egypt. Little did he suspect that while he and his tutor Amanda Tilson, and his older Scottish friend Ian, where exploring the great ruins of Egypt that they would find themselves on an adventure of a lifetime searching for the supposed treasure of Queen Hatshepsut. Amanda lead by the mystical appearance and guiding voice of a young Egyptian Princess from centuries past, soon finds clues that speak of the enormous treasure. By joining the golden clues together, they are transported back through time soon after the mysterious disappearance of the Pharaoh herself. Could they find more clues that would take them back to their own time or would they be stuck in the year 1458 B.C. forever? Would survive the evil intentions of the Magi to destroy them? Could they use the clues to find the hidden treasure of the forgotten Pharaoh?

Shirley Temple did a lot to make Rebecca famous when she won the world's heart in the movie we all remember. But the story is more than Temple, the film, or our memory of it: this is the tale of the little showgirl who, sent to the country to live with prim and proper relatives, is forbidden to do anything, well, showy.

But Rebecca has other ideas, of course, and you know she'll win over the hearts and minds of everyone who'll see her show. . . .

Certainly she won over Jack London. In 1904 he wrote to Wiggin herself: "May I thank you for Rebecca. . . ? I would have quested the wide world over to make her mine, only I was born too long ago and she was born but yesterday.... Why could she not have been my daughter? Why couldn't it have been I who bought the three hundred cakes of soap? Why, O, why?" And Mark Twain, too: he described "Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm" as "beautiful and warm and satisfying."

This is the story of a sixteen-year-old boy who finds his way to the beginning of manhood during a great and memorable adventure in the world of nature. Geordie Sutton was more interested in the wildlife of the prairie slough and along the Iowa River than he was in following his father's footsteps into the practice of law. His world stretched comfortably from quiet, tree-lined streets with well-spaced houses to clandestine adventures on the river. But the turn of the century was still not far behind, and not even the impact of Darwin could persuade Geordie's father than a career in natural science was anything more than an excuse to loaf in the outdoors. Questioning his own right to choose a life of which his father disapproved, Geordie joined an expedition to Laysan Island, an atoll in the Pacific, where five species of oceanic birds unique to that island were threatened with extinction. There, among colonies of albatross, miller birds, shearwaters, honey eaters and teal, finch and little flightless rails, as well as seals, huge turtles, and most surprisingly of all, rabbits which the expedition had come to kill, Geordie learned that life is full of cruelty as well as beauty, and that no man can stand aside from involvement with both these forces. A Certain Island is Robert Murphy's fourth novel, a story of a classic adolescent conflict set against a background of true natural adventure.

This heart-warming story is about Bella, a 13-year-old girl in Tampa, Florida, in the 1930s. Her grandfather is a "lector" at a cigar factory, which means he reads fiction, newspapers, and union news to the workers as they roll cigars. Being a "lector" is an important role in their Cuban American immigrant community. But the hard times of the Depression mean that Bella must go to work in the factory. Her hope of getting the education a "lector" needs seems impossible.

Would she ever find a real-life husband? Would she even find a partner to dance with at tonight's ball? She just didn't know. Anna Austen has always been told she must marry rich. Her future depends upon it. While her dear cousin Fanny has a little more choice, she too is under pressure to find a suitor. But how can either girl know what she wants? Is finding love even an option? The only person who seems to have answers is their Aunt Jane. She has never married. In fact, she's perfectly happy, so surely being single can't be such a bad thing? The time will come for each of the Austen girls to become the heroines of their own stories. Will they follow in Jane's footsteps? In this witty, sparkling novel of choices, popular historian LUCY WORSLEY brings alive the delightful life of Jane Austen as you've never seen it before.