Showing results for "Science Fiction Confidential" in Family Life

Achim is 11 years old when he moves from the orphanage to the house by the sea. Here everything is strange and new. But one day he discovers an unusual door that leads to a circular room with walls made of rough stone. The light coming through the window is hazy, as if the room is under water. It is a magic room - which he calls “The Adopted Room” - belonging to another world. And on a bed in the room sits a boy who is waiting to take Achim with him into the realm of the powerful Nameless One.

What begins with a sense that Michael's deceased grandfather might be inhabiting his body soon escalates to "slipping" into to the river of the dead. When Michael slips, he relives moments of his grandfather's life and tries to help him find peace. But each time he ventures into the river it's harder to come out again. Michael will have to depend on an unlikely group of friends to keep him from slipping... permanently. A penetrating twist on the classic ghost story, full of humor and insight about family relationships.

Dominic Cantori is an orphan. Ashamed of his situation, Dominic avoids making friends for fear of exposing his terrible secret. One day on a class trip to Ellis Island, a tour guide asks everyone about their families. Immediately, Dominic flees from the class and hides in a closet, where he falls asleep for hours.

Twelve-year-old Gordy Stitser is one of the few people who knows the truth about the secret society of potion masters, because not only is Gordy's mom on the Board of Ruling Elixirists Worldwide (BREW), but she has also been training Gordy in the art of potion-making. Gordy is a natural, and every day he sneaks down to the basement lab to invent new potions using exotic ingredients like fire ant eggs, porcupine quills, and Bosnian tickling juice. One afternoon, Gordy receives a mysterious package containing an extremely rare potion known as "The Eternity Elixir."

Meet Kiranmala: interdimensional demon slayer (only she doesn't know it yet): On the morning of her 12th birthday, Kiranmala is just a regular sixth grader living in Parsippany, New Jersey...until her parents mysteriously vanish and a drooling rakkhosh demon slams through her kitchen, determined to eat her alive. Turns out there might be some truth to her parents' fantastical stories - like how Kiranmala comes from a secret place not of this world. Plus, two crush-worthy princes ring her doorbell, insisting they've come to rescue her.

Once our world was full of dragons who lived in harmony with humans. Dragons counseled kings and queens. They fought in human battles. And they gave humans the most precious gift of all: magic. But after a group of rogue dragons, the Raptors, tried to take over Earth, all dragons were banished to another realm. Most humans forgot about the dragons, claiming they never existed. Eleven-year-old Sirin knows the truth - she grew up with stories passed down through the generations. However, when her mother falls ill, even Sirin has trouble believing in magic...until she sees a dragon.

In the The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, you join Dorothy on her first adventure in the land of Oz. After a cyclone transports Dorothy to Oz, she must seek out the great wizard in order to return to Kansas. You follow her adventures as she travels with the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodman, and the Cowardly Lion to see the Wizard of Oz then to see Glinda, the good witch.

This second audiobook in Sarah Mlynowski's charming new series puts a fresh spin on the Cinderella story! Once upon a time my brother and I found a magic mirror. Tonight the mirror swept us into Cinderella's fairy tale. Now, we are not messing this story up. No way. Cinderella is going to marry her prince just like she's supposed to. Uh-oh. Cinderella broke her foot and there's massive swelling. The glass slipper won't fit, the prince won't know she's the one for him, and they won't live happily ever after. And it's all our fault!

When Fionn Boyle sets foot on Arranmore Island, it begins to stir beneath his feet.... Once in a generation, Arranmore Island chooses a new Storm Keeper to wield its power and keep its magic safe from enemies. The time has come for Fionn’s grandfather, a secretive and eccentric old man, to step down. Soon, a new Keeper will rise. But deep underground, someone has been waiting for Fionn. As the battle to become the island’s next champion rages, a more sinister magic is waking up, intent on rekindling an ancient war.

A statue, a coin, an old book - they look as dusty as everything else in the Faulkner Antiquarian Bookstore. But when Sam Falkner slips the coin into the statue, he's swept back to Scotland in A.D. 900 - the age of the Vikings. He must find both the statue and another coin in order to escape. It's the first journey in an adventure that will take him to ancient Egypt, World War I, even Dracula's castle...and a mystery that will end only if Sam can find his father in time - literally.

Recruitment Day is here...if you fail, a loved one will die. For Lucian "Lucky" Spark, Recruitment Day means the Establishment, a totalitarian government, will force him to become one of five Recruits competing to join the ruthless Imposer task force. Each Recruit participates in increasingly difficult and violent military training for a chance to advance to the next level. Those who fail must choose an "Incentive" - a family member - to be brutally killed. If Lucky fails, he'll have to choose death for his only living relative: Cole, his four-year-old brother.

When 13-year-old Valor is sent to jail, she couldn't be happier. Demidova's prison for criminal children is exactly where she wants to be. Valor's twin sister, Sasha, is serving a life sentence for stealing from the royal family, and Valor is going to help her escape...from the inside. Never mind that no one has escaped the prison in centuries. Valor has a master plan and resources most people could only dream about. But she didn't count on having to outsmart both the guards and her fellow prisoners.

It’s been four months since Taemon got rid of psi, or telekinesis, in the secluded city of Deliverance. But rather than ushering in a new era of peace and prosperity, Taemon’s actions seem to have driven a deeper wedge between the people. Worse yet, Taemon soon discovers that he alone still has psi - a revelation that is sure to make him a target of the angry populace. make him a target of the angry populace. With society in disarray, his mother in a coma, and a target on his back, Taemon decides to attempt to rescue his father.

For nearly a century, Victorian London relied on “climbing boys” - orphans owned by chimney sweeps - to clean flues and protect homes from fire. The work was hard, thankless, and brutally dangerous. Eleven-year-old Nan Sparrow is quite possibly the best climber who ever lived - and a girl. But when Nan gets stuck in a deadly chimney fire, she fears her time has come. Instead, she wakes to find herself in an abandoned attic. And she is not alone. Huddled in the corner is a mysterious creature - a golem - made from ash and coal. This is the creature that saved her from the fire.

Oh, it's not the very cute kitten that appears out of nowhere and demands to go home with her. It's not the sudden arrival of her cousin Zee, who believes he's the cause of a mysterious sickness that has struck his friends back in England. It's not her creepy English teacher Mr. Metos, who takes his mythology lessons just a little too seriously. And it's not the white-faced, yellow-eyed men in tuxedoes, who follow Charlotte everywhere. What's so extraordinary is not any one of these things.... It's all of them.

Theodosia Throckmorton is in a fix. Allowed to attend a reception given by one of the directors of her parents museum, she stumbles across Mr. Tetley of the British Museum in most unusual circumstances! Since Theo has last seen him in a showdown in an ancient Egyptian tomb, his reappearance could mean only one thing: the Serpents of Chaos are back.

Theodosia Throckmorton has her hands full at the Museum of Legends and Antiquities in London. Her father may be head curator, but it is Theoand only Theowho is able to see all the black magic and ancient curses that still cling to the artifacts in the museum. Sneaking behind her fathers back, Theo uses old, nearly forgotten Egyptian magic to remove the curses and protect her father and the rest of the museum employees from the ancient, sinister forces that lurk in the museums dark hallways.

Acclaimed author Maiya Williams has written and produced several children’s television programs, including Rugrats and The PJ’s. When their mother dies suddenly, 13-year-old Rowan and 11-year-old Nina move in with their aunts. Soon after, Rowan and Nina begin to suspect their aunts possess psychic powers. With friends in tow, the two siblings embark on an adventure through time to discover the origins of their aunts’ strange powers. Kevin Free’s playful narration perfectly suits this mysterious tale.

The three Oakenfeld children, Susan, Charles, and Murray, are perplexed. Their parents aren't letting them turn on the television. Something strange is going on in the city, that's for sure. And now Mom and Dad are sending them off to Canada to stay with their Uncle Farley - who they've never even met! New York-based author and teacher Dale Peck was inspired to write this amazing story after the events of September 11, 2001.

Rufus and his snooty cousin Abigail soon become entangled in the tantalizing world of the feylings, mischievous fairy-like creatures desperate to find their way home. In helping the feylings, Rufus tumbles down a dark path rich with age-old secrets and difficult truths. Any move he makes might be his final fatal error - or perhaps, his most spectacular beginning. Award-winning author Dashka Slater spins a tale of friendship, magic, and eternal life in this evocative and witty middle-grade fantasy.