Charles Dickens is probably the best-known and, to many people, the greatest English novelist of the nineteenth century. Since its publication in 1843, "A Christmas Carol" has been adapted for film, television, and the stage, proving that Dickens's characters and themes continue to captivate generation after generation.

This Newbery Honor book by award-winning, bestselling author Nancy Farmer is being reissued in paperback
The year is 2194, and Tendai, Rita, and Kuda are the children of Zimbabwe's wealthy and powerful chief of security. They've escaped from their father's estate to explore the dangerous city of Harare--and promptly disappear. Their parents call in the Ear, the Eye, and the Arm, detectives whose exposure to nuclear waste has given them special powers. Together they must save the children from the evils of the past, the technology of the future, and criminals with plans much more sinister than anyone could have imagined.

At his coming-of-age party, Matteo Alacrán asks El Patrón's bodyguard, "How old am I?...I know I don't have a birthday like humans, but I was born."

"You were harvested," Tam Lin reminds him. "You were grown in that poor cow for nine months and then you were cut out of her."

To most people around him, Matt is not a boy, but a beast. A room full of chicken litter with roaches for friends and old chicken bones for toys is considered good enough for him. But for El Patrón, lord of a country called Opium -- a strip of poppy fields lying between the U.S. and what was once called Mexico -- Matt is a guarantee of eternal life. El Patrón loves Matt as he loves himself for Matt is himself. They share identical DNA.

Sometime in the near future, the U.S. government discovers that it doesn't have enough money to cover Social Security and Medicare. Thus are born the new Senior Laws. These are aimed at making sure no one lives much past age sixty-five. The Diminished Culpability Act, for example, states that if you kill someone aged twenty-one, you go to prison for life. But if you kill a seventy-year-old you only get two years in the slammer and for an eighty-year-old you only have to do two weeks of community service. This has alarmed the spirit world, from where our ancestors watch over us. In particular, the old gods of Africa are outraged by the lack of respect given to the elderly. Being spirit, they can do nothing physical, but they can recruit the living. They select five seniors to correct the situation. These five must elude capture and figure out a way to take over the government. The subject is serious, but the story is hopeful, upbeat and wickedly funny. This is an adult book.

This Newbery Honor book by award-winning, bestselling author Nancy Farmer is being reissued in paperback
Eleven-year-old Nhamo lives in a traditional village in Mozambique, where she doesn't quite fit in. When her family tries to force her into marrying a cruel man, she runs away to Zimbabwe, hoping to find the father she's never met. But what should have been a short boat trip across the border turns into a dangerous year-long adventure, and Nhamo must summon her innermost courage to ensure her survival.