Only a few short days from turning ten, disaster strikes for Bernie! While babysitting her stepbrother Kirby, she watched helplessly as he fell from a tree and now he's in a deep sleep the doctors call a coma. Bernie tries everything to wake him--from prayers she's not very good at to intimidation, her second nature. Nothing works until Bernie visits Mr. Ralston, the oldest person in the neighborhood. His house is old, smelly, cluttered and kind of creepy. But Mr. Ralston makes wonderful cookies and has a mysterious secret box he opens only after telling a story from his childhood filled with wonder and a little magic...the kind that might wake Kirby from his long sleep.

Feisty and fun, liberated and opinionated, nine-and-a-half-year-old Bernie Bolton's ready to take on the world. Not all gifts are the ones you receive... Bernie is taking her first trip to New York City. Angry at the lack of Christmas presents she's received, she decides to explore the city on her own. Eventually she makes her way to Central Park, where she meets remarkable homeless man named Ellis Duncan. As evening falls, Ellis Duncan tells Bernie about a long ago Christmas and a wonderful and unforgettable gift.

When Bernie was in third grade, she thought Mr. Soren was the most amazing teacher in the universe. He played games, did wood shop, and every Friday they'd had movies and popcorn. Now that she's in fifth grade, Mr. Soren, the coolest teacher in the Universe, is her teacher once again. But unfathomably, he's now worse than Miss Boggs, all because he's making the class keep a journal of all the things that happen in their lives. What'd Bernie expected to be a wonderful fifth-grade year is off to a really revolting start.

Crabbo: Ten-year-old Mark would rather be at home with his computer than holidaying at the beach. He certainly wouldn't admit he'd be pretty lonely doing that either. But everything changes when he meets Crabbo, a talking crab. Together they take on the camping ground bullies and turn his holiday into the best Mark's ever had. Clever Crabbo: Mark, Ellie and Crabbo, the talking crab, are on holiday at the beach where the Cripps are very unhappy. Fred and his mean gang are stealing from their milk bar, endangering their ability to stay in business. Can clever Crabbo come up with a plan to trap the bullies or will the Cripps be forced to close their shop?

Ali's life is about to change forever when she flies with her new friend Bern through the Shimmering into the beautiful land of Isshuay. Shy, dreamy Ali is the only one with the power to save the magical land of Isshuay. When Bern, a boy she has only just met, convinces her she must go with him to a place she's never heard of, her life is on the verge of changing forever. Who are the mystical Silver Ones who have chosen her for this special task? Can she find the courage to recover the stolen Lifestone and save the land of Isshuay?

Twin boys accidentally beam the ghost of 14th century Sir Henry de Bohun into their father's spaceship in 3000 AD. Let the fun begin as they take a virtual trip back in time to visit Sir Henry's English castle!

Goran the troll plots revenge by coercing two silversmiths into attempt the forbidden act of opening a path through the Shimmering to Ali's world. Ali's mother Jane is mistakenly kidnapped by the smiths and held prisoner in the Isshuayan tundra. Ali knows she must return to Isshuay, but the only way back is through the Shimmering, which has become unstable. In a failed attempt to make the crossing, she almost loses her life. Both Ali and Jane are tested to their limits on different worlds. Aided by good friends, each must seek a solution to end Goran's malicious plans.

Mike, Alinea and their alien pet, Beeper, are expected to stay out of trouble during their holiday on an archaeological dig in Central Australia. While in the cave of the dreaming, they inadvertently trigger a time gate that sends them to another universe else entirely! To get back to the dig site, they'll have to escape an intergalactic lost property office until claimed, help their new friends, and avoid being eaten by the deadly Kloog raiding the protected planets--again. Somehow Mike doesn't think his father will accept "It's not our fault!" if he finds out they haven't been where they were supposed to be the whole time...

Jane Smith is the unhappy, resentful, eleven-year-old daughter of a single parent. Her escape from the unpleasantness she considers her life is through another world. There, she's one of the four powerful Patrollers sworn to the service of the Princess in the Far Tower. Their quest: To choose the bravest warriors in all space and time to fight the Red Wizard. Jane's ordinary life improves as she makes friends. She's picked for the school play and the prestigious trampoline team. But her otherworldly life with its epic adventures continues to be more important to her than the one she lives in...until the warriors' battle causes a merging of Jane's ordinary world and her otherworldly one.

Once a fairy princess made mortal, Rebecca discovers treachery among the dwarves in the kingdom. In the race to reach the ogres who have imprisoned the missing royal heir, Lejon, Rebecca, her owl, dwarf George, and Billy the house goblin use dangerous underground streams.