Mr. Penguin returns for another sidesplitting adventure in this abundantly illustrated detective series chock-full of silly antics and good-spirited, page-turning peril. Mr. Penguin and his kung-fu spider sidekick, Colin, are in for another wild and daring escapade! After arriving in the bustling desert town of Laghaz, their good friend Edith Hedge goes missing! Then someone strikingly familiar appears, and the Adventuring gang is snared in a web of clues that lures them right into...THE VALLEY OF PERIL: hidden crypts, cursed treasure, and nefarious figures skulking in the shadows! Could Edith's disappearance be connected with the treasure in the tombs? Will the gang be reunited to find out? And will someone please get rid of that spooky eyeball that's been following Mr. Penguin before it catches up to him? This fourth madcap mystery in the Mr. Penguin series from Alex T. Smith is sure to thrill transitional readers with quick pacing and plenty of comical, two-tone illustrations.

Dashing detective Mr. Penguin and his Adventuring gang are in for a wild ride after they crash-land on a snow-drenched mountain. From Alex T. Smith's delightfully illustrated, mystery-detective series. After escaping a plane wreckage unscathed, Mr. Penguin and his kung fu spider sidekick, discover strange noises coming from an old, ruined fortress nearby. New friends, twins Dieter and Liesel, are convinced it's related to the pets in their village going missing. When one of Mr. Penguin's pals disappears in the middle of the night, the gang leaps into action and unveils an evil hypnotist's plan to take over the world. Can Mr. Penguin foil this perilous plot and get home in time for a fish finger sandwich? Alex T. Smith's Mr. Penguin is a page-turning, illustrated middle grade series that is sure to thrill young readers looking for a good adventure and major laughs. Two color illustrations throughout.

Dashing detective Mr. Penguin and his Adventuring gang are in for a wild ride when they're hired to find a treasure before bandits do! From Alex T. Smith's delightfully illustrated, mystery-detective series. When Bouddica Bones from the Museum of Extraordinary Objects calls for help in locating prized valuables, Mr. Penguin and his kung fu spider sidekick, Colin, swing into action. Following a map and clues, Mr. Penguin stumbles onto secret staircases, alligators, and falling toilets. Things really take a turn for the worse when Mr. Penguin learns the real crooks are closer to snatching the loot than he thought! Can Mr. Penguin foil this perilous plot and get home in time for a fish finger sandwich? Alex T. Smith's Mr. Penguin is a page-turning, illustrated middle grade series that is sure to thrill young readers looking for a good adventure and major laughs. Two color illustrations throughout.

From the bestselling author of The Ascent of Money and The Square and the Tower “A dazzling history of Western ideas.” —The Economist “Mr. Ferguson tells his story with characteristic verve and an eye for the felicitous phrase.” —Wall Street Journal “[W]ritten with vitality and verve . . . a tour de force.” —Boston Globe Western civilization’s rise to global dominance is the single most important historical phenomenon of the past five centuries. How did the West overtake its Eastern rivals? And has the zenith of Western power now passed? Acclaimed historian Niall Ferguson argues that beginning in the fifteenth century, the West developed six powerful new concepts, or “killer applications”—competition, science, the rule of law, modern medicine, consumerism, and the work ethic—that the Rest lacked, allowing it to surge past all other competitors. Yet now, Ferguson shows how the Rest have downloaded the killer apps the West once monopolized, while the West has literally lost faith in itself. Chronicling the rise and fall of empires alongside clashes (and fusions) of civilizations, Civilization: The West and the Rest recasts world history with force and wit. Boldly argued and teeming with memorable characters, this is Ferguson at his very best.

With kaleidoscopic, trenchant, path-breaking insights, Elizabeth D. Samet has produced the most ambitious edition of Ulysses Grant’s Memoirs yet published. One hundred and thirty-three years after its 1885 publication by Mark Twain, Elizabeth Samet has annotated this lavish edition of Grant’s landmark memoir, and expands the Civil War backdrop against which this monumental American life is typically read. No previous edition combines such a sweep of historical and cultural contexts with the literary authority that Samet, an English professor obsessed with Grant for decades, brings to the table. Whether exploring novels Grant read at West Point or presenting majestic images culled from archives, Samet curates a richly annotated, highly collectible edition that will fascinate Civil War buffs. The edition also breaks new ground in its attack on the “Lost Cause” revisionism that still distorts our national conversation about the legacy of the Civil War. Never has Grant’s transformation from tanner’s son to military leader been more insightfully and passionately explained than in this timely edition, appearing on the 150th anniversary of Grant’s 1868 presidential election.

Little Red sets off to visit her auntie who is poorly. A Very Hungry Lion approaches Little Red, wanting to gobble her up. But despite all the cunning plans by Lion, Little Red outsmarts him and soon has him saying sorry and eating doughnuts instead. A classic fairy tale with a twist by the bestselling Alex T. Smith.

Quila MacFarlane is devastated by the death of her mother, especially now that it’s just her and her father on Devils Rock where her father is the lighthouse keeper. They can’t leave and almost no one ever comes to visit them. But the morning after a storm, something floats ashore that changes their lives forever: Two small mattresses strapped together, and inside, a baby! They name her Cecelia, which means “a gift from the sea,” and call her Celia. She makes them a family again–and helps heal the hurt left by Quila’s mother’s passing. Two years later, though, another stranger arrives, one who changes everything all over again: A woman named Margaret, come looking for the final resting place of her sister, whose ship had gone down in a storm two years before. Her sister’s baby had never been found, either, she explains, and now she has no family of her own. Could this be Celia’s aunt? Will Quila have to give up Celia so Margaret can have her own family back? This is a gripping tale full of love, loss, and healing.

The experience of modernization -- the dizzying social changes that swept millions of people into the capitalist world -- and modernism in art, literature and architecture are brilliantly integrated in this account.

Lev Grossman’s new novel THE BRIGHT SWORD will be on sale July 2024 The New York Times bestselling novel about a young man practicing magic in the real world, now an original series on SYFY “The Magicians is to Harry Potter as a shot of Irish whiskey is to a glass of weak tea. . . . Hogwarts was never like this.” —George R.R. Martin “Sad, hilarious, beautiful, and essential to anyone who cares about modern fantasy.” —Joe Hill “A very knowing and wonderful take on the wizard school genre.” —John Green “The Magicians may just be the most subversive, gripping and enchanting fantasy novel I’ve read this century.” —Cory Doctorow “This gripping novel draws on the conventions of contemporary and classic fantasy novels in order to upend them . . . an unexpectedly moving coming-of-age story.” —The New Yorker “The best urban fantasy in years.” —A.V. Club 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 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 prequel to the New York Times bestselling book The Magician King and the #1 bestseller The Magician's Land, 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.

LET THE BATTLE FOR CHRISTMAS BEGIN It isn't always easy, growing up as a human in Elfhelm, even if your adoptive parents are the newly married Father Christmas and Mary Christmas. For one thing, Elf School can be annoying when you have to sing Christmas songs everyday - even in July - and when you fail all your toy-making tests. Also it can get very, very cold. But when the jealous Easter Bunny and his rabbit army launch an attack to stop Christmas, it's up to Amelia, her new family and the elves to keep Christmas alive. Before it's too late . . .