It was Christmas Eve. Big snowflakes fluttered slowly through the air like white feathers
and made all of Heavenly Valley smooth and white and quiet and beautiful.

So begins the story of two orphaned sisters at Mrs. Monday’s Boarding School. But nothing is heavenly for Nancy and Pamela (aka Plum): their parents died in a tragic accident years ago, they’re constantly punished by the cruel Mrs. Monday, and they’re all alone for the holidays.

Luckily, Nancy and Plum have each other, and though their prospects may be bleak, they’re determined to change their lot for the better. If their plan works, the spirited sisters will never spend Christmas at the cold, dark boarding school again. But what will they find on the other side of Mrs. Monday’s gate?

Adventure, warmth, unforgettable characters, and unexpected kindness abound in this classic story by Betty MacDonald, which was originally published in 1952. With illustrations by the acclaimed Mary GrandPré and an introduction by Jeanne Birdsall, National Book Award–winning author of The Penderwicks, this edition introduces the spunky, beloved heroines to a new generation of fans.

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A Grinch book and plush package perfect for holiday gift-giving!
 
Is there any better holiday gift than a copy of Dr. Seuss’s beloved classic How the Grinch Stole Christmas? Yes! A copy of the book packaged in a sturdy gift box with a 14-inch tall, exclusively-available soft plush Grinch! Now children of all ages can read the story while they cuddle with the iconic character whose heart grows three sizes when he learns the true meaning of Christmas. Also included exclusively in this package is a 32-page paperback “Good Deed Journal.” Filled with simple activities and room for children to write and draw, it’s the perfect way to encourage children to grow their own hearts by helping others.

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Lailah is in a new school in a new country, thousands of miles from her old home, and missing her old friends. When Ramadan begins, she is excited that she is finally old enough to participate in the fasting but worried that her classmates won’t understand why she doesn’t join them in the lunchroom. Lailah solves her problem with help from the school librarian and her teacher and in doing so learns that she can make new friends who respect her beliefs.
This gentle, moving story from first-time author Reem Faruqi comes to life in Lea Lyon’s vibrant illustrations. Lyon uses decorative arabesque borders on intermittent spreads to contrast the ordered patterns of Islamic observances with the unbounded rhythms of American school days.

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Brad is a paper boy who wants to be a rock star, so when he discovers the band Black Day playing in old Professor Hammer’s garage, he really wants to join. The band’s monsters have a different idea and send him away, ”No humans!”

Brad sets out to change their minds, but the monsters have bigger problems than finding a bass player.

Halloween may never be the same again.

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Trixie and Diana Lynch were friends for years before Di’s family became fabulously rich. So when Di’s long-lost uncle starts ruining her social life, Di turns to her old friend for help. But Trixie thinks Uncle Monty isn’t just an annoying relative–she thinks he’s an impostor!

From the Hardcover edition.

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This special edition of “Gingerboy’s Search for Christmas”  has been prepared for the Salvation Army Corps Kroc Community Centers throughout the country.  In addition to the Salvation Army logo page, it also has a page acknowledging Ray and Joan Kroc.  

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Before the candy and the costumes, get kids excited for Halloween with the all-new Ultimate Sticker Collection: LEGO Spooky! Young LEGO fans can now learn more about the monsters, ghouls, and other ghostly minifigure from the LEGO universe, including the LEGO Monster Fighters. Packed with over 1,000 reusable stickers, they can create their own monster scenes and or decorate their Halloween bags with their favorite spooky minifigures using this new LEGO sticker collection from DK!

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Welcome to the world of Peter: A Darkened Fairytale. A drawer is a drawer, and a door is a door, one way in and one way out. What… not sure? A time in space has now arrived for some readers passing by and travelling through in a blip of time, goes so quick, like this rhyme. The thoughts one thinks may not be real and sometimes they will make you squeal. Biting, scratching, tastes hang true, inside this story you’ll meet things new. Must be careful, for if you fall those evildoers will seize all. Taking bodies and minds of prey, trapped, entombed as darkness flays. If by chance you are done, chase the light chosen one. Staring from those eyes so bright, view things given with new sight. For all that see, avoid the dark, a new path is shown near the park. A secret there for all that be, if you’re brave enough, open me!

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Welcome, brave souls, to the Monster Museum!

 

Look out for the mummy (she’s snapped and come unwrapped).

Frankenstein’s grumpy—they gave him a bride, but never a name.

 

Come in, if you dare, and meet all the slimy, screaming, slithery friends and fiends. They’re just dying to show you a good time!

 

Gris Grimly’s colorful caricatures perfectly complement the playful beat of Marilyn Singer’s poems to create a ghastly good Halloween read.

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A new Easter tradition from the author of The Sparkle Box.

Easter is coming, and Sam loves Easter! But this year, he is upset about a lie he told his parents. Even though he apologized and they forgave him, Sam can’t shake the feeling that he is a bad kid for what he did. Meanwhile, his parents help him make a special Easter craft called a Sparkle Egg. His mom tells him to write anything he feels sorry about or ashamed of on a piece of paper and put it inside his Sparkle Egg.

On Easter morning, when he opens his Sparkle Egg expecting a surprise, Sam finds that it is empty! His parents explain that because Jesus died and rose again, we are forgiven. Like the tomb that first Easter Day, Sam’s egg is empty — and Sam’s wrongdoing is completely forgiven. Once he accepts this forgiveness fully, Sam realizes a truth: we can sparkle and shine with God’s light when we let God’s gift of grace into our hearts.

This touching story will strike a deep chord with readers of all ages, and the Sparkle Egg tradition will help readers and their families grasp the totality of God’s perfect grace. Ages 4-8.

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Lights! Camera! ACTION!

Lulu in LA LA Land

A screenplay by Lulu Harrison

Scene 1:

ZOOM IN on Hollywood mega stars LINC and FIONA HARRISON singing happy birthday to their daughter LULU. Lulu blows out the candles, and they all gather for a group hug—

CUT!

If only real life were like the movies. Instead, Lulu Harrison’s massively important eleventh birthday is just three weeks away—and her parents still haven’t RSVPed!

Lulu’s not like the rest of her glamorous Hollywood family. She likes tamales and they like tofu. She likes gardening and they like grooming. But all she wants for her birthday is for her whole family to be there. Together. So this year she’s planning a super fabulous SPA-tacular party. But what if trying to fit in leaves Lulu feeling even more like she was cast in the wrong family?

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It’s Christmas Eve 722, and Kristoph, a young orphan boy, is accompanying the missionary priest Boniface through the German countryside. They are hurrying to reach the next village by nightfall when they come upon a group of people in the forest worshiping an oak tree and preparing to sacrifice the son of the village chieftain. To prove that the oak is powerless and that there is only One True God, Boniface miraculously fells the giant tree with a single ax stroke. In its place stands an evergreen. Calling it “the tree of the Christ Child,” he instructs the men to mend their lives and take the tree home where it will shelter “loving gifts and lights of kindness.” Now rescued, the son of the village chieftain invites Boniface and Kristoph to share Christmas with his family …around another evergreen that Kristoph cuts down for their own celebration.

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Christmas is eagerly awaited by Lulu, a young girl living in a small Wisconsin town during the Great Depression. Anticipation is transformed into anxiety when Daddy loses his job, doubts about Santa flicker, and that Shirley Temple doll seems further away than ever. Mama reveals her own brutal Christmas as an orphan, adding new worries. But it’s Lulu’s deep faith and vibrant hope that keeps her looking forward to each new day and the glorious gift of Christmas. In her touching memoir, Ludmilla Bollow, an award-winning playwright and novelist, recounts the year before her family’s toughest Christmas. There’s a haunting encounter with freaks at a circus sideshow, the heartbreaking loss of the town’s recluse who was committed to finding true love, a disastrous Thanksgiving at Grandma’s, and, of course, the long-awaited Christmas! Lulu’s spirit of love and joy radiates throughout this emotional recall of family life during hard times.

(Ludmilla Bollow)

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At last a great American Hanukkah story! This very funny, very touching novel of growing up Jewish has the makings of a holiday classic.

One lousy miracle.  Is that too much to ask?

Evidently so for Joel, as he tries to survive Hannukah, 1971 in the suburbs of the suburbs of Los Angeles (or, as he calls it, “The Land of Shriveled Dreams”). That’s no small task when you’re a “seriously funny-looking” twelve-year-old magician who dreams of being his own superhero: Normalman.  And Joel’s a long way from that as the only Jew at Bixby School, where his attempts to make himself disappear fail spectacularly.  Home is no better, with a family that’s not just mortifyingly embarrassing but flat-out broke. 

That’s why Joel’s betting everything on these eight nights, to see whether it’s worth believing in God or miracles or anything at all.  Armed with his favorite jokes, some choice Yiddish words, and a suitcase full of magic tricks, he’s scrambling to come to terms with the world he lives in—from hospitals to Houdini to the Holocaust—before the last of the candles burns out.

No wonder his head is spinning: He’s got dreidels on the brain. And little does he know that what’s actually about to happen to him and his family this Hanukkah will be worse than he’d feared . . . And better than he could have imagined.

From the Hardcover edition.

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“Santa’s First Christmas” is a beautiful story that draws the blessed birth of Jesus together with the magic and spirit of Santa Claus. This book will be a favorite for your holiday celebration for years to come. The precious children in your life will revel in the joyful tale. This is a Christmas Classic!

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Christmas is around the corner and Caroline Malloy and Wally Hatford, sworn enemies, must interview each other for the dreaded class project. Caroline plans to shock Wally in front of the class, and Wally and his brothers find a way to spy on the Malloy girls. The girls vow revenge with a trap the boys won’t soon forget.

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FOR USE IN SCHOOLS AND LIBRARIES ONLY. A drive to recycle cans on Earth Day teaches the children of the Maple Street School Save-the-Planet Club about place value.

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This picture book is the perfect gift for soon-to-be flower girls. Girls will enjoy reading the story of Fiona, a first-time flower girl who discovers how exciting it is to play a special part in a wedding. The book includes a flower-shaped keepsake necklace the child can wear, as well as a comprehensive guide for parents with tips on how to prepare girls for the big day.

WARNING: CHOKING HAZARD Small parts. Not for children under 3 years.

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New Friends, Unicorns, and the Winter Court…

That’s what’s in store this holiday season for Holly Daniels. Two days before Christmas, she takes a special trip to the mall to see Santa Claus. He sends her to the library on a quest to find a book that could make her dreams come true.

Since moving to Montana, Holly hasn’t made any new friends. And, being an only child can be very lonely. All that could change when Holly meets Dylan, the princess of the Winter Court in the Fairy Realm.

Christmas fun and Fairy enchantment is on its way in,
Have a Fairy Christmas!

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Four best friends start a party-planning business in this fresh, funny tween novel from the authors of At Your Service and Breaking the Ice.

Twelve-year-old Sadie loves helping her mom with her wedding planning business, and with Sadie’s mad organizational skills, she’s a natural! That’s why it’s so devastating when her mother “fires” her after a Little Mermaid–themed wedding goes awry.

Enter Sadie’s best friends: sporty Vi, ace student Lauren, and boy-crazy Becca. The girls decide that in order to get Sadie’s mom to reconsider, they have to make her see how amazing Sadie is at party planning. Except no one’s gonna hire a twelve-year-old to plan a wedding. A birthday party, though? Definite possibility.

Before long, RSVP—your one-stop shop for the most creative parties in town—is born. Of course, Sadie can’t wait to prove herself to her mom, but the other girls also have their reasons for enlisting: Vi has her eye on the perfect gift for her hardworking dad, and Becca’s all aflush at the thought of connecting with Ryan, the new Irish cutie in town. And though Lauren thinks she’s too busy with summer studies to “officially” join, she’s willing to help out in any way she can.

But in this particular party-planning business, nothing goes according to plan! Sadie’s mom is a perpetual no-show, Vi’s archrival is dead set on ruining her summer, Becca can’t seem to get Ryan to glance in her direction, and Lauren keeps choosing studying over her friends. Is the girls’ friendship strong enough to survive a business? Or does RSVP spell the end of these BFFs?

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Because her parents are veterinarians, Mandy Hope is an expert on animals, from rabbits and hamsters to kittens and puppies. She and her friends help animals in need -and sometimes Mandy gets the animals to help kids in need.

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Jessi’s Christmas and Kwanzaa seasons are overshadowed by a car accident in which Jessi’s baby brother, Squirt, is injured, and the difficult time proves challenging to her family’s holiday spirit.

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The Goopy Ghost is at it again. Goopy gets into another adventure, and this one has our bright orange spirit mixing it up with leprechauns on St. Patrick’s Day. In this new book in the richly illustrated children’s book series, the Goopy Ghost must rescue a leprechaun and win back his stolen pot of gold to save St. Patrick’s Day. In the run-up to St. Patrick’s Day, Goopy is looking for a leprechaun to share in the holiday spirit. Of course, events don’t take place as hoped. Instead of a jovial leprechaun, our bright orange ghost finds a wee “man” pleading for help because a naughty band of thieves has stolen his gold and locked him in a cage. Together, Goopy and the leprechaun work up an outrageous scheme to get the gold back and show up these mischievous thieves. Goopy turns into a stack of gold coins that will prove irresistible to the thieves. When the robbers come upon the pile of gold, they quickly snatch it up without knowing of the goopy surprise that lurks within. What Goopy does next will teach the sticky-handed fellows a lesson or two about sharing and will also save the spirit of St. Patrick’s Day. Then, the leprechaun will grant him three wishes that Goopy will use in ways no one expects. Engaging, humorous, and full of funny details, The Goopy Ghost at St. Patrick’s Day will bring the joy of St. Patrick’s Day to young children. A story with a wise moral, V. R. Duin will capture the imaginations of young ones and transport them to an emerald isle full of whimsy and enchantment. Written in Irish limerick form and full of zingers and one-liners, V. R. Duin brings her trademark sass and wit to Goopy’s St. Patrick’s Day adventures. The rhyming story will enchant young readers and draw them into Goopy’s adventures with its delightful sing-song rhythm.

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Viki Mitchell is a victim of bullying.

All she wants is to fit in at her new school and join the art class. When Viki and her family move to a new house in Draxon Hollow, she makes both a new friend and enemy.

During a Halloween celebration, Viki is humiliated in front of all of Draxon Hollow Elementary by a mean girl at her school. With the guidance of her ghostly grandfather, whom she recently discovered, she devises a plan to teach the bully a lesson.

Will she take the darker road and seek revenge?

What she does next may be surprising for a Monster Girl.

Book 2 NOW Available!

“Monster Girl: Ghost in the Attic” available here – https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00TZAYU0M/

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Notchmas is the most important holiday in the world of Minecraft.

But greedy, selfish villager Ebenezer Scrooge could care less. That is, until he is visited by strange and terrifying creatures who teach him the true meaning of Notchmas.

Inspired by the beloved classic, A Christmas Carol, this book tells Minecraft fans the story of a bitter old miser villager named Ebenezer Scrooge and his transformation into a gentler, kindlier man after visitations by the spirit of his former business partner Jacob Marley and the Hostile Mobs of Notchmas Past, Present and Yet to Come.

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Many different animals come to bestow their own special gifts on the newborn Christ Child. An original song inspired by “The Friendly Beasts.”

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