Finally--a collection of duologues from the best-selling author of Winning Monologs for Young Actors and her granddaughter. These humorous and thoughtful scenes present distinctive viewpoints on issues meant to provoke and inspire discussion as well as to entertain. Most roles can be played by either gender.

Matt is missing.
Bonnie's brother left his classroom to use the bathroom --and disappeared.
A police dog traces his scent to the curb, where he apparently got into a vehicle. But why would Matt go anywhere with a stranger?
Overwhelmed with fear, Bonnie discovers that her dog is gone, too. Was Pookie used as a lure for Matt? Bonnie makes one big mistake in her attempt to find her brother.
In a chilling climax on a Washington State ferry, Bonnie and Matt must outsmart their abductor or pay with their lives. 

The worst vacation ever
Thirteen-year old Kyle thought spending a vacation on the Oregon coast with his family would be great. He'd never flown before, and he'd never seen the Pacific Ocean.
Kyle's perfect vacation becomes a nightmare while he's babysitting his sister, BeeBee. An earthquake hits the coast and starts afire in their hotel. While fighting their way through smoke and flame, Kyle remembers seeing a sign at the beach that said after an earthquake everyone should go uphill and inland, as far from the ocean as possible. Tsunamis, giant waves that often follow earthquakes, can ride in from the sea and engulf anyone who doesn't escape fast enough.
Can Kyle and BeeBee outwit and outrun nature's fury to save themselves from tsunami terror?

Pete the cat can't actually talk to his owner, Alex, but he's a crime-solving cat, and he knows when things aren't right. And now, Pete knows something is wrong. Someone's been breaking into houses in the neighborhood, and they're not just stealing people's property--they're kidnapping pets! When the burglars come to Alex's house, they nab Pete! Lucky for Pete, Alex's brother, Benjie, comes to the rescue, but gets himself kidnapped by the thieves. Can Pete and Alex uncover the clues and rescue Benjie?

After Jonathan?s mother breaks her ankle on a family camping trip, Jonathan and his younger sister Abby are left alone on a deserted island. Then a devastating earthquake hits?and suddenly, Jonathan and Abby are fighting for their lives. Fast-paced and frighteningly believable, this is a sure bet for fans of wilderness adventures and thrillers alike. ?Tight and involving.? -- The Bulletin of the Center for Children?s Books ?The tautly written story sustains the suspense without ever becoming melodra-matic.? -- School Library Journal Peg Kehret is the author of many popular suspense novels for young readers, including Danger at the Fair, Horror at the Haunted House, Nightmare Mountain (all Cobblehill and Minstrel), and most recently, Searching for Candlestick Park (Cobblehill). She lives in Redmond, Washington.

Matt is missing. Bonnie's brother left his classroom to use thebathroom --and disappeared. A police dog traces his scent to the curb, where he apparently got into a vehicle. But why would Matt go anywhere with a stranger? Overwhelmed with fear, Bonnie discovers that her dog is gone, too. Was Pookie used as a lure for Matt? Bonnie makes one big mistake in her attempt to find her brother. In a chilling climax on a Washington State ferry, Bonnie and Matt must outsmart their abductor or pay with their lives.

In this addition to the Iowa Children's Choice Award nominated series, Warren and Betsy travel back to the Johnstown Flood of 1889 to save a survivor's young sister and help fulfill her dreams. Warren Spalding and Betsy Tyler have been assigned to do a paper on the Johnstown Flood of May 31, 1889. This time they've decided not to use the Instant Commuter time-travel device... It's just too dangerous. After all, they nearly died on two previous assignments. Instead, they interview ninety-five-year-old Doc Keaton, whose parents survived the flood. But when they learn that Doc still mourns his little sister who died, Warren and Betsy secretly agree to travel back to 1889 to find eight-year-old Anna and save any lives they can.

Mountain terror!

Rosie Saunders and Kayo Benton were in the woods, watching bald eagles through their binoculars, when they saw the red-jacketed man climbing below the nest. Suddenly he reached up, snatched an eaglet and scrambled down the mountain as two eagles screamed above. Rosie and Kayo rushed from their hiding place, desperate to follow the poacher and free the endangered eaglet. But soon they were lost in the dense wilderness of the Cascade Mountains -- tired, thirsty, and scared. That's when they saw the cabin filled with stuffed birds -- and the poacher, who vowed to stop them in their tracks...

Ginger Shaw first sees the odd woman following her during a party. Then the strange phone calls start and the woman confronts Ginger. She claims to hold the key to a secret from the past. But when the confrontations turn violent and the woman's idle threats turn deadly, Ginger is forced into a crisis of loyalty and honor-a crisis from which her family might not recover.

A new Pete the Cat mystery in paperback for the first time!

Alex and his friends witness a pig falling from a speeding red truck. Working with the police and an animal rescue group, the kids get permission to keep the pig. But after a local TV station runs a story about the rescue, the angry truck driver shows up at Alexas house, determined to take the pig to slaughter. Who is this man? What is he hiding? Pete uses his skills to solve the mystery but, as usual, his humans donat understand. When the dangerous situation turns deadly, can Pete save himself?

What Josh thought would be the dullest summer of his life, spent with his eccentric great-aunt, turns chilling when he meets the ghost of a miner killed in a mine explosion and then finds a box of cash buried in the miner's grave.

In a moment of madness, Jeremy Holland's parents were killed by a gunman in a Seattle mall. Now he faces a new life with his uncle Ed, a man with a vastly different lifestyle from the one Jeremy is used to.

As he sits on the train hurtling toward Chicago, he can barely believe the terrible truth. He has no mother, no father, no home. Suddenly the impossible happens -- again -- as the train crashes in a blaze of fire, twisted metal, and screaming people. Jeremy staggers off, wandering aimlessly.

He finds a deserted cabin in the woods, which seems to be just waiting for him. He thinks he can hide out and escape form the grief of his past and his future with his uncle. Instead, Jeremy faces more danger than he bargained for when he discovers evidence of bear poachers. When he hears gun shot at night, Jeremy decides to leave his refuge and put his own life at stake in a desperate race to unmask the villains and save the bears.

As soon as Molly arrives at her aunt and uncle's ranch in rural Washington, things start to go very wrong. Her cousin hates her on sight. Her aunt falls into a mysterious coma. Then, left alone on the huge property, Molly and her cousin discover an intruder lurking in the barn! Armed and desperate, he drags them to the top of a nearby mountain--and triggers an avalanche with a gunshot. Can they make it down the mountain alive?

When Katie Osborne goes to visit her new friend Shannon Lindstrom, a stranger says Shannon's at her piano lesson. The next day Shannon is reported missing and Katie is the victim of a hit-and-run driver. Katie doesn't realize that she's the only one who can identify Shannon's kidnapper--or that she's still in grave danger.

SWEPT AWAY... Twelve-year-old Emma Bolton is determined to join her father and her sick mother on their voyage to France. She'll do anything to escape Aunt Martha and hateful cousin Odolf! So she disguises herself as a boy and sneaks aboard a vessel she's told is her parents' ship. Too late, Emma discovers that she's a stowaway on Black Lightning, the most notorious slave ship afloat! Her only hope is to hide in plain sight as "William," ship's boy for the cruel Captain Isaac Bacon?until a violent storm causes a shipwreck, leaving her marooned on the raging seas off the coast of Africa, with only her wits to keep her alive...

Kidnapped! Recklessly she threw herself from the moving truck and ran into the desert, pursued by the kidnapper who had just snatched her best friend, Kayo Benton. Desperate, Rosie Saunders fled, far from the campground and her unsuspecting parents, into the desolate Arizona wasteland. the perfect vacation had suddenly become a nightmare. Rosie was running for her life, with only her wits as weapons, determined to save herself and rescue Kayo at any cost...

Bone Breath to the rescue! Bone Breath is now called Dr. Dog! Rosie Saunders' pet has become Oakwood Nursing Center's favorite visitor. But one day when Rosie and her friend Kayo Benton are making a "pet therapy" visit to Oakwood, old Mr. Winters rambles on about "the mustache man" with a gun. They pay no attention...until the night's news. A man in the house across from Oakwood has been shot -- and senile Mr. Winter is the only witness! The next day he's missing. Rosie and Kayo race to find him. But suddenly, they're prisoners themselves!

Doll museum burglarized Kayo Benton and Rosie Saunders race to the museum to check on their favorite dolls. Everything seems okay. But the keys to the display cases are missing. And the musical mohair cat is playing a song...as if squeezed by unseen hands. Someone...something...is watching them. But who? And who is the strange-looking soldier in the rumpled uniform who's following them, beckoning them to return? Rosie thinks it's a ghost -- a ghost with a tragic secret. Soon they're back again, locked in the museum after closing time, trapped between two ghosts -- and a pair of ruthless thieves...

Join the stars of the Frightmares thrillers, Rosie and Kayo, as they take on bright lights and dark deeds to uncover the art thief responsible for stealing the most valuable painting of the Oakwood Art Museum. Rosie's dog is a star! Rosie Saunders and Kayo Benton are thrilled when their new friend Lyle Guthrie recommends Bone Breath the dog for a carry-on part in Pirate's Plunder at the Oakwood Community Theater. The girls are so busy working backstage that they nearly forget about the scandal at the Oakwood Art Museum-the museum's most valuable painting is a forgery! But when Rosie finds a Van Gogh painting in the theater's storeroom, she knows the thief is too close for comfort. Is the painting real or is it another fake? Someone is willing to do anything to conceal the crime...and if they don't act quickly, Rosie, Kayo, and Lyle will become the next victims!

It takes a dog to smell danger!

Before Rosie could stop him, Bone Breath shot out from behind the car where she and Kayo hid and began barking at the vandals who were destroying the school statue. Recklessly, Rosie tried to rescue Bone Breath -- only to be caught by the vandals herself! They're big. They're bad. And they're determined to make sure she disappears. Rosie's running for her life -- hoping her best friend Kayo can bring help before it's too late!

Kit never means to steal the bracelet; it is just a dumb mistake. But when she is caught Kit is sentenced to twenty hours of volunteer work at the humane society. Kit knows how it feels to be stuck in a cage like those animals and soon she begins to learn that the key to her own cage is right in front of her.

"Readers will relate to [Kit's] anguish and her spirit and courage."
-Booklist

Life has been tough for Spencer since his dad left. His mom complains constantly, they never seem to have enough money, and they're always having to move. He knows his father works for the Giants baseball team and lives somewhere in San Francisco--and Spencer's sure that if he can somehow get there, his dad will take him in. But California is a long, dangerous way from Seattle if you've only got fourteen dollars, you're twelve?and you're alone.

Warren Spaulding and Betsy Tyler have teleported themselves back to Minnesota, 1940, to see the Blizzard of the Century and write an eyewitness class report. But their interest in the storm turns to horror when they realize that the Instant Commuter is frozen!