Whisker is a cyclone-surviving circus rat with a troublesome tail and a boat load of luck. When a strange ship pulls him out of the ocean, Whisker's new life as a Pie Rat apprentice begins. Welcome aboard the good ship Apple Pie - a peculiar pastry-inspired ship where cannons shoot mouldy pies, coloured pencils are used as peg-legs and the champion swords-rat fights with two scarlet scissor swords.

X-Men meets Spy Kids in the thrilling second installment in The Forgotten Five fantasy/adventure series that began with the instant New York Times bestseller Map of Flames. The forgotten five have made it to Estero to search for their missing supernatural criminal parents. With the help of their new allies, Lada and The Librarian, they’ve managed to find Birdie and Brix’s mother, Elena, and free her from captivity in the presidential palace. Now the president’s henchmen are searching everywhere for the children who broke out Elena, driving the group into hiding in the ancient underground tunnels beneath the city. Meanwhile, President Fuerte is making headlines for his nighttime flights to other countries accompanied by an invisible man. But why would the president who outlawed supernaturals be working with the people he supposedly hates? And could it be that some of the five’s own parents are helping him? The fantasy adventure that began with the New York Times and Indie bestseller Map of Flames continues as the five join the fight against the oppression of supernaturals in Estero, face off against an unexpected enemy, and undertake a new mission that will put all of their abilities—and their loyalties—to the test.

"Prisoners of Geography meets Bill Bryson: a funny, fascinating, beautifully illustrated—and timely—history of countries that, for myriad and often ludicrous reasons, no longer exist. “Countries are just daft stories we tell each other. They’re all equally implausible once you get up close.” Countries die. Sometimes it’s murder, sometimes it’s by accident, and sometimes it’s because they were so ludicrous they didn’t deserve to exist in the first place. Occasionally they explode violently. A few slip away almost unnoticed. Often the cause of death is either “got too greedy” or “Napoleon turned up.” Now and then they just hold a referendum and vote themselves out of existence. This is an atlas of 48 nations that fell off the map. The polite way of writing an obituary is: dwell on the good bits, gloss over the embarrassing stuff. This book refuses to do so, because these dead nations are so full of schemers, racists, and con men that it’s impossible to skip the embarrassing stuff. Because of this – and because treating nation-states with too much reverence is the entire problem with pretty much everything – these accounts are not concerned with adding to the earnest flag saluting in the world, however nice some of the flags might be."

One paper plane flies straight and fast and true. Dylan's. Twelve-year-old Dylan Webber lives in outback Western Australia in a small country town. When he discovers he has a talent for folding and flying paper planes, Dylan begins a journey to reach the World Junior Paper Plane Championships in Japan. Along the way he makes unlikely new friends, clashes with powerful rivals and comes to terms with his family's past before facing his greatest challenge – to create a paper plane that will compete with the best in the world. Steve Worland brings you the exciting, heartwarming story of Paper Planes, adapted from the award-winning family film that features a cast of Australia's finest actors, including Sam Worthington, Deborah Mailman, David Wenham and Ed Oxenbould.

&‘You approach family stories with caution and care, especially when a thing long forgotten is uncovered in the telling.'In this deft memoir, Richard Shaw unpacks a generations-old family story he was never told: that his ancestors once farmed land in Taranaki which had been confiscated from its owners and sold to his great-grandfather, who had been with the Armed Constabulary when it invaded Parihaka on 5 November 1881.Honest, and intertwined with an examination of Shaw's relationship with his father and of his family's Catholicism, this book's key focus is urgent: how, in a decolonizing world, Pakeha New Zealanders wrestle with, and own, the privilege of their colonial pasts.

Alastair Bonnett explores extraordinary, off-grid, offbeat places including micro-nations, moving villages, secret cities, and no man's lands. Consider Sealand, an abandoned gun platform off the English coast that a British citizen claimed as his own sovereign nation, issuing passports and making his wife a princess. Or Baarle, a patchwork city of Dutch and Flemish enclaves where crossing the street can involve traversing national borders. Or Sandy Island, which appeared on maps well into 2012 despite the fact it never existed.

A New York Times Bestseller In this third book in New York Times bestselling, Newbery Honor-winning author Shannon Hale's Princess Academy series, Miri goes from student . . . to teacher! Miri has spent a year at the king's palace, learning all about being a proper princess. But instead of returning to her beloved Mount Eskel, Miri is ordered to journey to a distant swamp and start a princess academy for three sisters, cousins of the royal family. Unfortunately, Astrid, Felissa, and Sus are more interested in hunting and fishing than becoming princesses. As Miri spends more time with the sisters, she realizes the king and queen's interest in them hides a long-buried secret. She must rely on her own strength and intelligence to unravel the mystery, protect the girls, complete her assignment, and finally make her way home. Don't miss any of these other books from New York Times bestselling author Shannon Hale: The Princess Academy trilogy Princess Academy Princess Academy: Palace of Stone Princess Academy: The Forgotten Sisters The Books of Bayern The Goose Girl Enna Burning River Secrets Forest Born Book of a Thousand Days Dangerous Graphic Novels with Dean Hale Illustrated by Nathan Hale Rapunzel's Revenge Calamity Jack Illustrated by Victoria Ying Diana: Princess of the Amazons Illustrated by LeUyen Pham Real Friends Best Friends The Princess in Black series For Adults Austenland Midnight in Austenland The Actor and the Housewife

Until the end of World War II, East Prussia was the German empire's farthest eastern redoubt, a thriving and beautiful land on the southeastern coast of the Baltic Sea. Now it lives only in history and in myth. Since 1945, the territory has been divided between Poland and Russia, stretching from the border between Russia and Lithuania in the east and south, and through Poland in the west. In Forgotten Land, Max Egremont offers a vivid account of this region and its people through the stories of individuals who were intimately involved in and transformed by its tumultuous history, as well as accounts of his own travels and interviews he conducted along the way. Forgotten Land is a story of historical identity and character, told through intimate portraits of people and places. It is a unique examination of the layers of history, of the changing perceptions and myths of homeland, of virtue and of wickedness, and of how a place can still overwhelm those who left it years before.

The New York Times bestselling author of The Unwanteds brings us an epic animal adventure story perfect for fans of Pax and A Wolf Called Wander. Clarice is a young ship mouse grieving the loss of her mother when a mutiny forces her onto a small, leaky boat with a dangerous cat. Worse, she is separated from her younger brother, Charles Sebastian, who is trapped aboard the great ship. Clarice and Charles Sebastian were taught to always be careful—but they will need to grow bold if they are to survive . . . and find one another again.