*Before there was a Mysterious Benedict Society, there was simply a boy named Nicholas Benedict. Meet the boy who started it all.... *Nine-year-old Nicholas Benedict has more problems than most children his age. Not only is he an orphan with an unfortunate nose, but also he has narcolepsy, a condition that gives him terrible nightmares and makes him fall asleep at the worst possible moments. Now he's sent to a new orphanage, where he encounters vicious bullies, selfish adults, strange circumstances -- and a mystery that could change his life forever. Luckily, he has one important thing in his favor: He's a genius. On his quest to solve the mystery, Nicholas finds enemies around every corner, but also friends in unexpected places -- and discovers along the way that the greatest puzzle of all is himself.

A collection of short stories by the popular and influential Russian author, a founder of the socialist realism literary method and arguably the greatest Russian literary figure of the 20th century. He wrote stories, plays, memoirs and novels which touched the imagination of the Russian people, and was the first Russian author to write sympathetically of such characters as tramps and thieves, emphasizing their daily struggles against overwhelming odds.

In a world that had to adapt to a drastic new climate, society follows the seasons and migration is law. When the son of the Exalted Leader decides to test his mettle against the unforgiving Summer, he learns that nothing is really what it seems, and the life he thought he understood may be no more than a mirage.After an asteroid collided with earth and changed the tilt of the axis, humanity had to adapt. The survivors of the impact slowly rebuilt, creating a migratory society that followed the short growing seasons. Migration was more than a suggestion, it was the law.Tenet Bradwin, the son of the nation's Exalted Leader, spent weeks gathering supplies and making plans to go through the modern day rite of passage and off-season through the Summer. Others had done it. Others had hidden from the transports and guards to test their mettle against the brutal elements. Others had done it and been considered heroes by their peers. He was certain he could handle it.But he hadn't planned on wraiths. He hadn't considered the enormous gilla and raptors and other preditors that prowled in the sun. He hadn't known his food would spoil in days, or that all his practical training at the Academy was useless in the brutal reality of Summer. In a very short time, Tenet learned that all he thought he knew was no more than a story. He didn't just have to prove his mettle. In the scorching Summer sun, he quickly learned that he had to prove himself.

On the very day that Jacky Faber is to wed her true love, she is kidnapped by British Naval Intelligence and forced to embark on yet another daring mission—this time to search for sunken Spanish gold. But when Jacky is involved, things don't always go as planned. Jacky has survived battles on the high seas, the stifling propriety of a Boston finishing school, and even confinement in a dank French prison. But no adventure has quite matched her opportunistic street-urchin desires—until now.

The short fiction of American literary cult figure Paul Bowles is marked by a unique, delicately spare style, and a dark, rich, exotic mood, by turns chilling, ironic, and wry—possessing a symmetry between beauty and terror that is haunting and ultimately moral. In "Pastor Dowe at Tecaté," a Protestant missionary is sent to a faraway place where his God has no power. In "Call at Corazón," an American husband abandons his alcoholic wife on their honeymoon in a South American jungle. In "Allal," a boy's drug-induced metamorphosis into a deadly serpent leads to his violent death. Here also are some of Bowles's most famous works, including "The Delicate Prey," a grimly satisfying tale of vengeance, and "A Distant Episode," which Tennessee Williams proclaimed "a masterpiece."

In 1935, young medic Stephen Pearce travels to India to join an expedition with his brother, Kits. The elite team of five will climb Kangchenjunga, the world's third highest mountain and one of mountaineering's biggest killers. No one has scaled it before, and they are, quite literally, following in the footsteps of one of the most famous mountain disasters of all time - the 1907 Lyell Expedition. Five men lost their lives back then, overcome by the atrocious weather, misfortune and 'mountain sickness' at such high altitudes. Lyell became a classic British hero when he published his memoir, Bloody, But Unbowed, which regaled his heroism in the face of extreme odds. It is this book that will guide this new group to get to the very top. As the team prepare for the epic climb, Pearce's unease about the expedition deepens. The only other survivor of the 1907 expedition, Charles Tennant, warns him off. He hints of dark things ahead and tells Pearce that, while five men lost their lives on the mountain, only four were laid to rest. But Pearce is determined to go ahead and complete something that he has dreamed of his entire life. As they get higher and higher, and the oxygen levels drop, he starts to see dark things out of the corners of his eyes. As macabre mementoes of the earlier climbers turn up on the trail, Stephen starts to suspect that Charles Lyell's account of the tragedy was perhaps not the full story...

Kurma and Santino lives will be changed dramatically.Santino is transformed into a carnivorous Phantom who feeds on humans.Kurma is transformed into a Raptor, a blue-winged creature that feeds on Phantoms.Both must come to terms with their new identity, and quickly. Only one species can come out on top.During the first seven days will Santino stand in Kurma's way and dominate over all?Two new species, Raptors and Phantoms, have been released upon the Mega-City of Alexandria and only one of them can come out on top of the food chain.Santino, an outgoing, handsome eighteen year old, is transformed into a flesh eating Phantom, who feeds on humans...decreasing the human population—one person at a time.In response to the new species that is now rampant and rapidly taking over Alexandria, Kurma, an insecure yet ambitious seventeen year old, is transformed into a Raptor, a blue winged creature that feeds on Phantoms. In the first seven days while Santino does the dirty work of eliminating the human species, Kurma is intent on building a race of Raptors that will have complete domination over the city of Alexandria.Kurma's old life is over and she has the opportunity to be someone that she never dared to dream about. Is Kurma overcompensating or will her ambitious attitude take her to the top? Will Santino stand in her way or simply be a mere stepping stone?

MATTEO ALACRáN WAS NOT BORN; HE WAS HARVESTED. His DNA came from El Patrón, lord of a country called Opium -- a strip of poppy fields lying between the United States and what was once called Mexico. Matt's first cell split and divided inside a petri dish. Then he was placed in the womb of a cow, where he continued the miraculous journey from embryo to fetus to baby. He is a boy now, but most consider him a monster -- except for El Patrón. El Patrón loves Matt as he loves himself, because Matt is himself. As Matt struggles to understand his existence, he is threatened by a sinister cast of characters, including El Patrón's power-hungry family, and he is surrounded by a dangerous army of bodyguards. Escape is the only chance Matt has to survive. But escape from the Alacrán Estate is no guarantee of freedom, because Matt is marked by his difference in ways he doesn't even suspect.

The 7th installment in the Aubrey/Maturin Series. Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin are ordered home by dispatch vessel to bring the news of their latest vitory to the government. But Maturin is a marked man for the havoc he has wrought in the Fren intelligence network in the New World, and the attentions of two privateers soon become menacing. the chase that follows is as thrilling and unexpected as anything O'Brian has written.

While on an exchange visit to Paris, a young teenager becomes an unexpected witness to a drugs raid. English exchange student Lily holds the key to a serious crime incident at the local Bar Tabac. Making her escape, she heads for the banks of the Seine. But now she’s not sure why and from whom she is running . . .While on a school exchange visit to Paris, a young teenager becomes an unexpected witness to a drugs raid. English exchange student Lily holds the key to a serious crime incident at the local Bar Tabac. Making her escape, she heads for the banks of the Seine. But now she’s not sure why and from whom she is running and what she discovers is not quite what she expects . . .Fast moving adventure set in Paris for the 11+ age group.

"Whimsical, exciting, funny, adventurous--all the things I loved about books growing up."--James Dashner, New York Times-bestselling author of the Maze Runner series Hudson Brown stopped believing in magic long ago. That is, until the day he is whisked away to the magical land of Logos by a curious compass given to him by his off-beat neighbor, Charlotte. Hudson discovers that Logos is a land ruled by words, thoughts, and memories. A fairy might ferry you across the river for the price of one memory. But be sure to look out for snarky unicorns, as they will see through those who are not pure of heart. Not understanding the many rules of Logos, Hudson is quickly saddled with a troll curse. Charlotte, who, along with her father, was banished from Logos, can help get rid of the curse--but only if he agrees to find the lost Princess of Logos in return.

Hi, I'm Charlotte Walker, straight A student, surgical intern, and Empress of the galaxy.Wow, that escalated quickly, right? But it's true--at least according to the muscular giant with multicolored eyes and golden skin who turned up in my ER the other night.Of course, I thought he was high or crazy...Turns out he's not.Charlotte Walker is just an intern trying to get through her surgical rotation in one piece when her life takes an abrupt turn for the weird. A seven-foot tall patient with multicolored eyes and golden skin shows up in the ER asking for her. When he tells Charlotte she's supposed to be the Empress of the entire galaxy, she naturally thinks he's high or crazy or both.He's not.Kristoff Verrai is the Captain of the Imperial Guard of the Goddess-Empress of the galaxy. For ten cycles he served his old mistress faithfully. Now that she is dead, his only job is to find and protect her new Incarnation until she can ascend the throne.He doesn't expect to fall in love with her.But a relationship between them can never be--the Empress must have a Consort with Royal blood and Kristoff is just a commoner. Can they fight the love growing between them? Or will it overwhelm them?

Wendy isn't as blind as a bat--there are bats that can see better than she can. Which is why, when her new glasses break, she's all too happy to wear the dorky pair of sunglasses she finds on the lawn. They seem to match her prescription, and that's all that matters if she's going to be able to make it through her school day. But the glasses correct her vision too much. She begins to see things that no one else can see: cheerful corpses, frightening crones disguised as teenyboppers, and portals to other worlds--places where people are all too aware of the magical properties of her new shades . . . and will do anything to get them.

A fragile peace reigns in Wessex, Mercia and East Anglia. King Alfred’s son Edward and formidable daughter, Aethelflaed, rule the kingdoms. But all around the restless Northmen, eyeing the rich lands and wealthy churches, are mounting raids. Uhtred of Bebbanburg, the kingdoms’ greatest warrior, controls northern Mercia from the strongly fortified city of Chester. But forces are gathering against him. Northmen allied to the Irish, led by the fierce warrior Ragnall Ivarson, are soon joined by the Northumbrians, and their strength could prove overwhelming. Despite the gathering threat, both Edward and Aethelflaed are reluctant to move out of the safety of their fortifications. But with Uhtred’s own daughter married to Ivarson’s brother, who can be trusted? In the struggle between family and loyalty, between personal ambition and political commitment, there will be no easy path. But a man with a warrior’s courage may be able to find it. Such a man is Uhtred, and this may be his finest hour.

“A poignant and tragic parable for our times . . . a powerful and anguished book.” —Globe & Mail When an 80-ton Fin Whale became trapped in a lagoon near his Newfoundland home, Farley Mowat rejoiced: here was a unique chance to observe one of the world’s most magnificent creatures up close. But some of his neighbours saw a different opportunity altogether: in a prolonged fit of violence, they blasted the whale with rifle fire, and scarred its back with motorboat propellers. Mowat appealed desperately to the police, to marine biologists, finally to the Canadian press. But it was too late. Mowat’s poignant and compelling story is an eloquent argument for the end of the whale hunt, and the rediscovery of the empathy that makes us human.