Best Friends Forever There are lots of children on Hill Street, but no little girls Betsy's age. So when a new family moves into the house across the street, Betsy hopes they will have a little girl she can play with. Sure enough, they do—a little girl named Tacy. And from the moment they meet at Betsy's fifth birthday party, Betsy and Tacy become such good friends that everyone starts to think of them as one person—Betsy-Tacy. Betsy and Tacy have lots of fun together. They make a playhouse from a piano box, have a sand store, and dress up and go calling. And one day, they come home to a wonderful surprise—a new friend named Tib. Ever since their first publication in the 1940's, the Betsy-Tacy stories have been loved by each generation of young readers.

Barry Unsworth, a writer with an “almost magical capacity for literary time travel” (New York Times Book Review) has the extraordinary ability to re-create the past and make it relevant to contemporary readers. In Land of Marvels, a thriller set in 1914, he brings to life the schemes and double-dealings of Western nations grappling for a foothold in Mesopotamia (now Iraq) in the dying days of the Ottoman Empire. Somerville, a British archaeologist, is excavating a long-buried Assyrian palace. The site lies directly in the path of a new railroad to Baghdad, and he watches nervously as the construction progresses, threatening to destroy his discovery. The expedition party includes Somerville’s beautiful, bored wife, Edith; Patricia, a smart young graduate student; and Jehar, an Arab man-of-all-duties whose subservient manner belies his intelligence and ambitions. Posing as an archaeologist, an American geologist from an oil company arrives one day and insinuates himself into the group. But he’s not the only one working undercover to stake a claim on Iraq’s rich oil fields. Historical fiction at its finest, Land of Marvels opens a window on the past and reveals its lasting impact.

Hannah has a good life. A beautiful home, a loving husband, and a wonderful Amish community are only a few of her daily blessings. But she has carried a heavy burden for years: a secret that no one must know. When tragedy strikes, her secret threatens to be revealed, jeopardizing everything she’s ever loved. Will Hannah be able to face her greatest fear and find God's purpose for her life?17-year-old Itzel Loveguard has a secret. The stories she can’t seem to stop writing...sometimes they come true. And now she thinks she may have killed her own father.But she’s not the only one. Her estranged half-brother Oz and his unfailingly charming friend Seth can do things too. And so can the handsome grey-eyed boy, who seems to have stepped right out of Itzy’s dreams and has been travelling to London in search of the mysterious black pulse.Suddenly, Itzy is flung on an emotional journey as she struggles to come to terms with her traumatic past – and it leads her into a strange new world of magic and mythology.Now she finds herself questioning everything she’s ever believed...and wondering who her father thought was coming for her.

A man goes into a nail salon with his girlfriend to get his toes "did" for the first time and wonders if he'll still have points left on his "man" card.Mens’ feet tend to look like the face of a UFC fighter--to’ up. No, not torn up. "To’ up from the flo’ up."Pampering feet is a right of passage for women only. That goes for manicures and spas, too. Real men don't do "beauty" overhauls such as pedicures. At least that’s what you might believe. Imagine somebody like John Rambo getting foot work. Not pretty.

The new vegetable-loving sheriff of Broken Jaw Junction outwits outlaws, bank robbers and cattle rustlers--using just a few carrot sticks and celery! But one day, he meets an unexpected and unbeatable foe ...In the year 1885, the sleepy little Nevada town of Broken Jaw Junction is a quiet place--until Old Jake finds gold!Suddenly the town is overrun by outlaws, galoots and trouble makers of all kinds, and there doesn't seem to be a sheriff in the old west who can stop them.That is, until vegetable-loving 'Itchy Mitch' Gardener arrives. He looks like a harmless West Virginia farm boy who would rather just plant tomatoes and hoe weeds than fight outlaws. But somehow he manages to stop quick draws, bank robbers, cattle thieves, claim jumpers and bullies. And he does it all with just a few carrot sticks and celery!It looks like Sheriff Mitch is unstoppable and that law and order and vegetable salad have come to Broken Jaw Junction to stay. But even Itchy Mitch isn't invincible, and one day he meets his match in a most unexpected foe ...

First published in 1930, Wilder's best-selling novel 'The Woman of Andros1 is set on a Greek island before the birth of Christ. 'The Ides of March', first published in 1948, is an epistolary novel set in the Rome of Julius Caesar.

When art dealer Jonathan Argyll arrives in Los Angeles to drop off a painting, he discovers that there are a few devils loose in the City of Angels

This book contains six of the eighteen fairy tales from Andrew Lang's Blue Fairy Book (1889). The stories have been rewritten sentence by sentence to make them accessible to 21st century American children. The 6 stories include Toads and Diamonds, Beauty and the Beast, Snow-white and Rose-red, Why the Sea is Salty, Felicia and the Pot of Carnations, and Hansel and Grettel.This book contains six of the eighteen fairy tales from Andrew Lang's Blue Fairy Book (1889). The stories have been rewritten sentence by sentence to make them accessible to 21st century American children. The 6 stories include Toads and Diamonds, Beauty and the Beast, Snow-white and Rose-red, Why the Sea is Salty, Felicia and the Pot of Carnations, Hansel and Grettel.The great beauty of Andrew Lang’s Blue Fairy Book, originally published in 1889, is that it brought together many different fairy tale traditions. There are stories written by Charles Perrault and Mme d’Aulnoy, collected by the Grimm brothers and Asbjornsen and Moe, and translated from the Arabian Nights. It is a very rich collection of fairy tales.However, the stories are written in a language that is outdated and in places inaccessible to modern American children (and even their parents). To remedy this problem, I have thoroughly edited half of the stories contained in Lang`s book, keeping the stories as intact as possible, while revising every sentence so the stories can once again be read with pleasure by children.

A random collection of poetry for free reading. There are 22 "normal poems", as normal as poetry can get, anyway. There are also two short story poems; read them with a lyrical lit. Since, I always felt they were more poetry than writing, they are included in here. I hope you have a wonderful time reading.Raul is a prince and the leader of his father's army. When he attacks an evil wizard he is transformed into a bear. Searching for a way to return to his human form he meets Juanita and falls in love. See what happens next in this short story.

Ever imagined bullying? Imagine that ten times worse, and all over a school. Then a town. There's organised and not organised bullying, and even meetings every Friday. How do the kids survive in this bully filled school? Why don't you read on and find out? Go on! Part One.High School is almost every single Primary School child's worst nightmare. A huge school, unfamiliar people, and very tall Year Elevens! But what also gets on the list is Bullying. So, a school where there is organised bullying, not organised bullying and a literal Bully Network that meets up every Friday after school seems like a horror movie compared to your usual name calling. But how do the kids survive in this school? Why don't you read on and find out? Part One.

This ordinary or perhaps extraordinary story was happening in the publishing of the newspaper "The Horn"; although with the same success could happen in any other publishing.A plane crash, frostbite, a search and rescue, a fur coat with a heartbeat, wildly passionate dreams, and a couple of armed killers…what’s real and what’s hallucination…?Dawn has no idea.But she’s about to find out.Frozen Dawn is The Prequel to Bloodlines, the first full-length novel in Chrystal Bahl’s Twisted Tails Series.Watch for Blood Ties, the second book in the Twisted Tails Series...coming soon!

The Varieties of Erotic Experience blends the sacred, the profane, the urbane and the humane into a tangy literary cocktail.In an American city of old churches and ambitious pagans, death comes calling for an elderly woman -- a bit ahead of schedule. God takes a meeting or two, and the eternal questions arise. A funeral becomes a party, a son inherits a home with an uninvited guest, an iron lady is in the house, and they need more burgers down on the Weber grill.[Author's note: this small work emerged from an early version of the novel that became "The Bad American." This e-version restores considerable material that was excised from the print version published in February 2013.]

A dead body. Weird crystals. A mysterious secret. After defeating the Moriartys, Amanda thought she'd put her troubles behind her. But she didn't reckon on the earthquake that changed everything. Now she must make a choice: learn to work with her nemesis or let disaster befall the detective school.If only Sherlock Holmes's great-great-grandson weren't such a dork . . .There’s a new student at the Legatum Continuatum School for the Descendants of Famous Detectives and Amanda is supposed to work with him. Scapulus Holmes is a descendant of the great Sherlock and he’s crazy about her. Unfortunately she thinks he’s a dork and would rather die than have anything to do with him.But when the kids discover a dead body encrusted with strange living crystals, Amanda realizes she needs Holmes’s help. If the crystals fall into the wrong hands they could be used for nefarious purposes, and only he knows how to protect them.Can the detectives keep the bad guys from learning the crystals' secrets? It would help if they could figure out who the dead body is too. Only if Amanda and Holmes can find a way to work together can they prevent a disaster, and it isn’t looking good.

'Neve Uncovers the Ultimate Truth of All Things' tells the tale of a little girl with some big concerns, left to ponder upon them in the familiar confines of her local library. Although her world is in an increasing state of turmoil, she finds comfort and meaning in the books around her.'Neve Uncovers the Ultimate Truth of All Things' was written as part of an anthology by our local writer's group, with proceeds going to the local library branch. As part of this anthology, it is written as a celebration of libraries, and books in general. 'Neve Uncovers the Ultimate Truth of All Things' tells the tale of a little girl with some big concerns, left to ponder upon them in the familiar confines of her local library. Although her world is in an increasing state of turmoil, she finds comfort and meaning in the books around her.