The Greatest story ever told - about a Giraffe called Ginny and her friends. "Me!!!! In show bizz - you're kidding me." Ginny. "Let's all sing Smile Ginny Smile." Hopscotch. "It's all a dream." Emily. "I don't like it here - I want to go home." Jessica. "I'm loved - Meeeeee!" theManintheMoon. "A full moon - a night of amazing consequences." Icicle. "I thought you'd never ask." Chrystal. "You only have to look at me... to see that I am the greatest star in the whole universe." Miss Starlight. This story takes you on a magical adventure with a short-necked Giraffe. From the sweeping plains of the Serengeti to Ginny's new life as a major attraction in a zoo. She's transformed by her new friend Hopscotch, becoming a top star in pantomime. Emily and Jessica, two crazy sisters, love her and persuade her to take them on a secret mission out into space, arriving on a cloud to meet theManintheMoon and a host of way-out-in-space living, exciting, life-changing characters. Is it a dream is it for real? Maybe it's time to ?nd out and enjoy! Is it a dream is it for real? Maybe it's time to find out and enjoy!
Two pugs have built a robot labrador to steal the world's tastiest bone.The story is set in the United Kakedom, an island bigger than Iceland and smaller than Greenland. It is a circular island containing four countries of exactly the same size – like four quarters of a cake. These countries are Eggland, Sconeland, Pieland and Waffles. The people who live there are called crumbs. The crumbs are ruled by a Queen and she is helped by her Prime Minister. At the time of this story the Queen's name is Cranberry and the Prime Minister's name is Mrs Cheese Sandwich. Cheese Sandwich is married to Ham, a writer. They have two pugs called Louie and Zucchie, adopted from a rescue home. Unknown to the Sandwiches, prior to meeting the pugs Louie made a promise to a lady pug; that he and Zucchie would give her the world's tastiest bone. The world's tastiest bone belonged to the Ancient Egyptian King, Pug Tootandfarten. It has been lent by the Egyptian Queen, Juniper, to the Museum of Bones in Eggdon, the capital city of Eggland. No pugs are allowed inside the museum, only labradors. Louie decides to build a robot labrador to steal the bone. The robbery is successful, but Queen Cranberry has ordered two hounds from the Dog Police to catch the thieves. If the bone is not returned to the Cairo Museum, Queen Juniper has threatened that Egypt will not sell the United Kakedom any Bogtrax toilet paper. The United Kakedom will be in the poop, as Egypt is the only manufacturer of toilet paper in the world. If the pugs are caught they face a trial, watched by the crumbs of the United Kakedom, and a prison sentence. If the pugs are found guilty Cheese Sandwich will lose her job, and the pugs will lose their home.
Dock and Nettle are two adventurous sibling squirrels who live in a peaceful little cottage with their adopted mother and grandpa. Curious, adventurous, and resourceful, the two brothers just can't seem to keep themselves out of trouble. As the seasons change, Dock and Nettle find themselves trapped in dangerous situations with some of the woodland's most vicious creatures. Will they overcome these challenges? If so, they will need to draw upon every lesson they have ever learned, along with a little help from their friends and family, but above all, they will need each other.
The entire #1 New York Times bestselling Magicians trilogy, including The Magicians, The Magician King, and The Magician's Land, now available in one ebook bundle The Magicians Quentin Coldwater is brilliant but miserable. A high school math genius, he’s secretly fascinated with a series of children’s fantasy novels set in a magical land called Fillory, and real life is disappointing by comparison. When Quentin is unexpectedly admitted to an elite, secret college of magic, it looks like his wildest dreams may have come true. But his newfound powers lead him down a rabbit hole of hedonism and disillusionment, and ultimately to the dark secret behind the story of Fillory. The land of his childhood fantasies turns out to be much darker and more dangerous than he ever could have imagined . . . The Magicians is one of the most daring and inventive works of literary fantasy in years. No one who has escaped into the worlds of Narnia and Harry Potter should miss this breathtaking return to the landscape of the imagination. The Magician King Quentin Coldwater should be happy. He escaped a miserable Brooklyn childhood, matriculated at a secret college for magic, and graduated to discover that Fillory—a fictional utopia—was actually real. But even as a Fillorian king, Quentin finds little peace. His old restlessness returns, and he longs for the thrills a heroic quest can bring. Accompanied by his oldest friend, Julia, Quentin sets off—only to somehow wind up back in the real-world and not in Fillory, as they’d hoped. As the pair struggle to find their way back to their lost kingdom, Quentin is forced to rely on Julia’s illicitly learned sorcery as they face a sinister threat in a world very far from the beloved fantasy novels of their youth. The Magician's Land Quentin Coldwater has lost everything. He has been cast out of Fillory, the secret magical world of his childhood dreams that he once ruled. With nothing left to lose he returns to where his story began, the Brakebills Preparatory College of Magic. But he can’t hide from his past, and it’s not long before it comes looking for him. Meanwhile, the magical barriers that keep Fillory safe are failing, and barbarians from the north have invaded. Eliot and Janet, the rulers of Fillory, embark on a final quest to save their beloved world, only to discover a situation far more complex—and far more dire—than anyone had envisioned. Along with Plum, a brilliant young magician with a dark secret of her own, Quentin sets out on a crooked path through a magical demimonde of gray magic and desperate characters. His new life takes him back to old haunts, like Antarctica and the Neitherlands, and old friends he thought were lost forever. The Magician’s Land is an intricate and fantastical thriller, and an epic of love and redemption that brings the Magicians trilogy to a magnificent conclusion, confirming it as one of the great achievements in modern fantasy.
Follow the wondrous and challenging life of our friend, the leaf, living alone and happy and confident that only he controls his surroundings and his good fortune. Then one day, Mother Nature teaches a lesson we all can learn from. Through the journey in this heartfelt book, you will gain a new appreciation when taking a walk past your favorite tree. Our friend, the leaf, is given a gift of knowledge and understanding about the beauty and wonder of the world around us.
A New York Times bestseller, Safari is a magical journey for the whole family. Readers, as if on African safari, encounter eight wild animals that come alive using never-before-seen Photicular technology. Each full-color image is like a 3-D movie on the page, delivering a rich, fluid, immersive visual experience. The result is breathtaking. The cheetah bounds. The gazelle leaps. The African elephant snaps its ears. The gorilla munches the leaves off a branch. It’s mesmerizing, as visually immediate as a National Geographic or Animal Planet special. Accompanying the images is Safari, the guide: It begins with an evocative journal of a safari along the Mara River in Kenya and interweaves the history of safaris. Then for each animal there is a lively, informative essay and an at-a-glance list of important facts. It’s the romance of being on safari—and the thrill of seeing the animals in motion— in a book unlike any other.
"Who are we?" Ms. Johansson asks her class of fifth graders. Her perplexed students soon discover the lesson she wants them to learn. While studying the founding of their country, the class is challenged to understand the melting pot that makes up the American people-both past and present. With the help of a genealogist, students learn to navigate websites that introduce them to written records that have documented their families' histories. Because the class is comprised of students with roots to many nationalities and ethnic groups, including African American, Native American, Mexican, Cuban, Irish, Italian, Polish, Scandinavian, Lebanese, and Japanese immigrants, the diversity in their own class becomes apparent. To assist in their research, the teacher gives the students an assignment of interviewing their parents and grandparents, to learn more about the members of their families. One by one, the young people hear family stories connecting them to America's earliest immigrants and settlers. The students also learn about historical events their ancestors witnessed or experienced, including the early settlement of Virginia, the American Revolution, the Underground Railroad, the Trail of Tears, the Lewis and Clark Expedition, early immigration processing at Ellis Island, the Tuskegee Airmen, and the Holocaust. As the story unfolds, some personal conflicts occur among the students, long-standing family tensions surface, and intergenerational relationships evolve. Complex issues such as privacy, adoption, diversity, immigration, slavery, and antisemitism are addressed in an age-appropriate manner. Excited by what they have discovered, the students plan a program to share their findings with their families. Working together in small groups, they create a slide presentation of vintage photographs, a fashion show demonstrating various ethnic attire, music and food from different cultures, and visual displays showcasing military medals, artifacts, musical instruments, and family heirlooms. Their family history project further inspires the students to want to do something more to honor past generations. With the help of a cemetery preservationist, they plan a clean-up day at a local graveyard in need of attention. Parents, grandparents, brothers, and sisters join the class on a Saturday to help restore the final resting place of those who came before them. As a result of their research project, the students not only discover personal connections to the past but also, in some cases, to each other.
