A quirky and mysterious tale of friends, fire-twirlers and ghosts from one of Australia's best storytellers. Ever since Aurelie Bonhoffen was a child, she has juggled, played the dead girl on the ghost train and the back end of the cow in the marquee of Bonhoffen's Seaside Pier. She adores her family - especially her uncles Rolo and Rindolf - but on her twelfth birthday, she stumbles on her family's remarkable secret. It's hard to accept at first, but when her new friend at school reveals a dangerous plot against the pier, the secret helps Aurelie confront the greatest threat her family has ever faced.

A quirky and mysterious tale of friends, fire-twirlers and ghosts from one of Australia's best storytellers. Ever since Aurelie Bonhoffen was a child, she has juggled, played the dead girl on the ghost train and the back end of the cow in the marquee of Bonhoffen's Seaside Pier. She adores her family - especially her uncles Rolo and Rindolf - but on her twelfth birthday, she stumbles on her family's remarkable secret. It's hard to accept at first, but when her new friend at school reveals a dangerous plot against the pier, the secret helps Aurelie confront the greatest threat her family has ever faced.

A heartwarming story about a girl who's afraid to follow her dreams, and the family who help make them happen. The perfect book for middle school girls, The Stupendously Spectacular Spelling Bee, is a wonderful way to inspire children to believe "I can do hard things", too! India Wimple can spell. Brilliantly. Every Friday night, she and her family watch the Stupendously Spectacular Spelling Bee on TV. When the Wimples suggest she enter the next Bee, India feels nothing but trepidation. She's sure she's not good enough—but with the support of her family, India finds the courage to sign up. There are plenty of obstacles to reaching the finals, like Summer Millicent Ernestine Beauregard-Champion, a spoiled rich girl who isn't afraid to step on anyone who gets in her way of winning. India also needs to overcome stage fright, shyness, and anxiety. Full of lovable characters, new vocabulary words, and more, this is the perfect spelling bee book for girls 8-12. The whole thing seems rather calamitous to India. But with hope, hard work, and a little bit of heart, something splendiferous might be on the horizon...

“A dazzling tale of wild hope, lingering grief, admirable self-sufficiency, and intergenerational adoration.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review) “Vita tests her own limits, and readers will thrill at her cleverness, tenacity, and close escapes.” —Booklist “A satisfying adventure.” —Kirkus Reviews From award-winning author Katherine Rundell comes a fast-paced and utterly thrilling adventure driven by the loyalty and love between a grandfather and his granddaughter. When Vita’s grandfather’s mansion is taken from him by a powerful real estate tycoon, Vita knows it’s up to her to make things right. With the help of a pickpocket and her new circus friends, Vita creates the plan: Break into the mansion. Steal back what’s rightfully her grandfather’s. Expose the real estate tycoon for the crook he truly is. But 1920s Manhattan is ever-changing and full of secrets. It might take more than Vita’s ragtag gang of misfits to outsmart the city that never sleeps. Award-winning author Katherine Rundell has created an utterly gripping tour de-force about loyalty, trust, and the lengths to which we’ll go for the ones we love.

Reading the World’s Stories is volume 5 in the Bridges to Understanding series of annotated international youth literature bibliographies sponsored by the United States Board on Books for Young People. USBBY is the United States chapter of the International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY), a Switzerland-based nonprofit whose mission is bring books and children together. The series promotes sharing international children’s books as a way to facilitate intercultural understanding and meet new literary voices. This volume follows Children’s Books from Other Countries (1998), The World though Children’s Books (2002), Crossing Boundaries with Children’s Books (2006), and Bridges to Understanding: Envisioning the World through Children’s Books (2011) and acts as a companion book to the earlier titles. Centered around the theme of the importance of stories, the guide is a resource for discovering more recent global books that fit many reading tastes and educational needs for readers aged 0-18 years. Essays by storyteller Anne Pellowski, author Beverley Naidoo, and academic Marianne Martens offer a variety of perspectives on international youth literature. This latest installment in the series covers books published from 2010-2014 and includes English-language imports as well as translations of children’s and young adult literature first published outside of the United States. These books are supplemented by a smaller number of culturally appropriate books from the US to help fill in gaps from underrepresented countries. The organization of the guide is geographic by region and country. All of the more than 800 entries are recommended, and many of the books have won awards or achieved other recognition in their home countries. Forty children’s book experts wrote the annotations. The entries are indexed by author, translator, illustrator, title, and subject. Back matter also includes international book awards, important organizations and research collections, and a selected directory of publishers known for publishing books from other countries.

Bestselling author Deborah Abela brings us a heroine to love and a great deal of danger to overcome in this thrilling novel set in a post-apocalyptic, flooded world. Grimsdon is in ruins. Three years ago a massive wave broke its barriers and the sea flooded this grand city. Most were saved, some were lost - and some were left behind. Isabella Charm and her best friend, Griffin, live with three other children in the top of an opulent mansion. They've survived with the help of Griffin's brilliant inventions, Isabella's fighting skills and their vow to look after each other. But what will happen when a newcomer arrives in his flying machine? Grimsdon is full of hidden perils, from bounty hunters to sneaker waves. Could Xavier's daredevil risks put all their lives in danger?

Move over Matilda and Madeline, there's a charming miniature heroine ready to make her mark! Her name is Alice-Miranda--and she's full of spunk! Alice-Miranda Highton-Smith-Kennigton-Jones can't wait to start boarding school. When she arrives at Winchesterfield-Downsfordvale Academy for Proper Young Ladies, the adventure begins . . . only not quite as Alice-Miranda expects. The minute she sets foot on the school's manicured grounds, she senses that something is wrong: Miss Grimm, the headmistress, is nowhere to be seen, the gardens have no flowers, and a mysterious stranger seems to be hiding out on the premises. But that's not all. Some girls are mean and spoiled, like Alethea Goldsworthy. Can Alice-Miranda defeat Alethea in one of three difficult tests she must pass to remain at school? Will she discover Winchesterfield-Downsfordvale's big secret—and make things right? Well, if anyone can, it's spunky Alice-Miranda!

One of the 20th century's most beloved novels is still winning hearts, Dodie Smith's I Capture the Castle! “This book has one of the most charismatic narrators I've ever met.” -- J.K. Rowling, author of the Harry Potter series Adapted to a feature film in 2003, I Capture the Castle tells the story of seventeen-year-old Cassandra and her family, who live in not-so-genteel poverty in a ramshackle old English castle. Here she strives, over six turbulent months, to hone her writing skills. She fills three notebooks with sharply funny yet poignant entries. Her journals candidly chronicle the great changes that take place within the castle's walls, and her own first descent into love. By the time she pens her final entry, she has "captured the castle"-- and the heart of the reader-- in one of literature's most enchanting entertainments.

Bear has plans to change his world, one space adventure at a time, and discovers just how far you can go with someone by your side. Bear is different. When he dreams of going into space, the other bears laugh. But Bear has plans to change his world, one space adventure at a time. In space he feels at home, but also alone, until something extraordinary happens. He discovers just how far he can go with someone by his side. A richly imagined story that celebrates difference, self-belief and the way friendship and acceptance can empower someone to build a better world.

Isabella and her friends are nervous about what they'll find in the New City. It's inland and it's dry - far from the flooded city they've just left. Will their lives here be as luxurious and carefree as Xavier says? In fact, bleak, uncertain times have brought darkness and danger to New City. The city has been divided in two- the citizens who have, and those who the ruling Major General says have come to steal from them - the refugees who have fled the rising waters, who are imprisoned in a camp on the edge of the city. The kids of Grimsdon once faced sea monsters and evil harbour lords, but now they face new threats. From freakish weather events that whip up with little warning to the fierce misinformation that swirls around the city to the theft of their freedom, now they face the prison-like restrictions and control of the New City. Unlike the refugees, they're heralded as heroes. But what does the Major General really want from them?