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The Edge Chronicles, which includes 14 titles, begins with Beyond the Deepwoods, where we meet Twig, a human who has been raised by woodtrolls., and is now wondering about his roots. Twig’s journey to discover the truth about his past introduces the wild, weird flora and fauna that make up the world that is the Edge.

Barnaby Grimes is a “tick-tock lad,” a messenger whose specialty is very fast deliveries, which he achieves by taking the most direct route over the rooftops otherwise known as “highstacking.” In Barnaby’s first adventure, his deliveries for the strange Dr. Cadwallader lead to his discovery of a monstrous secret. There are additional books in the series.

Fergus Crane, the first title in the Far Flung Adventures series, is the tale of nine-year-old Fergus Crane, an ordinary boy who happens to attend an unusual school aboard a ship. Fergus’s life changes one night when a mysteriously delivered message arrives from a long-lost uncle who believes that Fergus’s life is in danger. Corby Flood and Hugo Pepper are other titles in the series.

With a bit of a nod to J.R.R. Tolkein’s The Lord of the Rings, Muddle Earth follows the quest of Joe, an ordinary boy from Earth who has been summoned to Muddle Earth by the wizard Randalf to fight evil in this realm where things are quite muddled and anything can happen — from stampeding silverware to exploding gas frogs.

Even though she’s a little on the small side, Termite can take care of herself-and has been through twelve foster homes. Her newest “home” in Forest Glen, California, is home to many other foster kids. As logging operations there have been suspended due to the discovery of a rare owl, many logging families have taken in foster kids to help ends meet. After coming to appreciate the beauty of the forest and getting attached to a giant redwood, Termite finds herself between those whose lives depend on trees and those who live to protect the trees and the wildlife that depends on them.

Mother Paula’s newest (#469) All American Pancake House is about to be built in Coconut Grove, Florida, on a site where a colony of endangered burrowing owls live. Mullet Fingers, who has been quietly committing acts of sabotage at the construction site to save the owls, is befriended by Roy Eberhardt, the quiet, new kid in town. Together with Mullet’s stepsister Beatrice, the three make it their mission to expose the restaurant company’s wrongdoing.

Cap (short for Capricorn) Anderson is at a bit of a cultural disadvantage when he arrives at Claverage (aka C average) Middle School. He’s been raised, homeschooled, and protected by his grandmother Rain at an isolated and deserted 1960s farm commune. But when Rain is hospitalized, Cap is sent to live in civilization (with his social worker) and to public school. At school, his innocence exposed to all the corruption Rain has been protecting from, Cap’s flower power starts to blossom in others.

Margaret Rose Kane loves her uncles, their house and their garden, but holds especially dear the magnificent artistic towers that they’ve built and added to over the past forty years. After her Uncle Alex rescues her from summer camp, Margaret Rose discovers the city council has ordered the demolition of the towers. Growing used to the idea of standing up for herself and what she believes in, Margaret Rose launches a plan to save the towers and art for art’s sake.

In Katsa’s world, those with a Grace, or special talent, such as singing or storytelling, are marked by eyes that are different colors. Katsa’s Grace is killing, which she has tempered to fighting and been put to use by her manipulative uncle, one of the kings of the seven kingdoms, to torture people. Katsa despises her uncle and being forced to hurt people so she moonlights as a rescuer as part of a secret council she’s formed to promote fairness and honesty over cruelty and abuses of power.

Harper Evans wants to help. She’s always been passionate about the planet, but also desires to help people who live on it. So when her father suggests she spend the summer with Homes from the Heart, she jumps at the chance to help build a new house for a family in a Tennessee community devastated by a tornado. She feels a little guilty though because it’s not just an opportunity for her to help; it’s her chance to run away from her dad’s divorce, stepsister’s hostility and her boyfriend situation.

In this first of a series fantasy, two children (children are possessions until their 12th birthday), Lily and Mark, cross paths when they both find themselves in the service of an astrologer, but they each have other plans: Mark outsmarts his master and learns how to thrive in barter system; Lily chooses to strike out on her own in an unheard of direction-she starts a charity.

They say opposites attract. That is very true in the case of Max and Kevin. Max, a self-described “butthead goon,” is an extra large eighth grader labeled learning disabled. Kevin, known as Freak, is highly intelligent and suffers from a rare dwarfism syndrome. Literally put the two together — Freak rides on Max’s shoulders — and you’ve got Freak the Mighty, brawn and brains out for adventure, fighting the good fight for good causes.

This novel is told mostly through a collection of short stories that feature the interactions of Eliot Rosewater, the primary trustee of the philanthropic Rosewater Foundation, and the people of Rosewater County, Indiana. Eliot, a drunk and a volunteer firefighter, has decided to actually give money to the needy, an action which calls into question his sanity by his family and their legal counsel.

Dream Freedom is based on a real-life teacher and her students who worked to make a difference in the lives of Dinka slaves in modern day Africa. After reading a newspaper article to her class about atrocities in Sudan, Miss Hazel’s class wants to help. Their research uncovers a way to buy back slaves and the students work to raise money to purchase liberty for as many slaves as they can and to educate others about human rights and freedoms.

A very poor, young couple, who are deeply in love, want to buy each other Christmas presents but have no money to do so. They each figure out a way to get the money to buy each other gifts. What unpleasant surprises await them on Christmas Day?

This powerful story concerns a wife who learns that her overbearing husband has been killed. The short period of mourning turns to the hope of her new freedom - but then comes the very unexpected climax.

Rainsford, an accomplished hunter, is shipwrecked on an island inhabited by another hunter, General Zaroff. Zaroff has become bored with hunting animals and decides he needs a greater challenge: humans. Will Zaroff get his new trophy or will Rainsford prove to be more dangerous than Zaroff anticipates?

Mary Maloney, a homemaker, is content with her husband and her life until he tells her something terrible and implies that he is leaving her. Upset, she does the unthinkable. What will she do with her unusual murder weapon? Will she get away with her crime?

A trained sniper doing his job during the Irish Civil War faces a shocking turn of events, after killing an enemy.

How much would you allow someone else to suffer so that you could be happy? When the residents of Omelas, a place with no sadness, come of age, they are forced to make the decision: live happily but with the knowledge of someone’s extreme suffering or leave their beloved city.

A family with a talkative grandmother comes across a hardened and extremely dangerous criminal, The Misfit. Can the grandmother convince him to leave her family alone or will they be his next victims?

Bone confronts illegitimacy, poverty, the troubled marriage of her mother and stepfather, and the stigma of being considered “white trash” as she comes of age in South Carolina.