Sixth graders Devin and Frankie try to save star-crossed lovers Romeo and Juliet when they’re magically transported into Shakespeare’s classic play. When their teacher assigns Devin and Frankie—short for Francine—the lead roles in their class production of Romeo and Juliet, the two best friends aren’t thrilled. How are they supposed to say their lines when they don’t even sound like they were written in English? Luckily, the library’s magic security gates come to their rescue again, and they leap into Shakespeare’s famous tragedy. Unfortunately, they land right in the middle of a sword fight between two warring families, the Montagues and the Capulets. When they find out that Romeo Montague has fallen in love with Juliet Capulet, Devin and Frankie decide it’s up to them to make sure this unlikely couple lives happily ever after. But can they change the book’s tragic end and save the young lovers from their fate? “The message that reading is important and can be fun comes through loud and clear,” writes School Library Journal about the Cracked Classics series. “The short chapters make this an ideal read-aloud and a treat for reluctant readers.”

When two sixth-grade friends magically enter classic literary books, their fun-filled adventures are “a treat for reluctant readers” (School Library Journal). They just didn’t want to read the books! Instead, through their school library’s magic security gates, sixth graders Devin and Frankie—short for Francine—are zapped into great works of literature and new worlds of adventure, including Dracula, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Around the World in Eighty Days, A Christmas Carol, Treasure Island, and Romeo and Juliet. “The message that reading is important and can be fun comes through loud and clear” (School Library Journal). Trapped in Transylvania: Transported into Bram Stoker’s vampire classic, the sarcastic sixth graders will need a few stakes, a lot of garlic, and a sharp sense of humor to defeat the bloodthirsty Count Dracula. Mississippi River Blues: These modern middle schoolers learn being a troublemaker is timeless, as they whitewash a fence, run away from home, solve a murder, become pirates, and search for hidden treasure along with Tom and Huck, the original slackers. What a Trip!: When you can travel into books, going around the world is easy. In the company of mad explorer Phileas Fogg, Devin and Frankie embark on a round-the-world journey by train, ship, and hot air balloon. Humbug Holiday: For two sixth graders who feel about school the way Scrooge feels about Christmas, an enchanted trip into Charles Dickens’s tale is just what their spirits need. X Marks the Spot: Devin and Frankie become marooned middle schoolers when they are swept away to Treasure Island and must match wits with legendary pirate Long John Silver. Crushing on a Capulet: Devin and Frankie try to save star-crossed lovers Romeo and Juliet when they find themselves in Shakespeare’s classic play.

Two sixth graders are magically swept away to Treasure Island, where they must match wits with legendary pirate Long John Silver. When best friends Devin and Frankie—short for Francine—get a tough assignment in their English class, they know there’s only one way to handle it. Read the book? Nah, that’s for suckers. Devin and Frankie just take the novel to the library and toss it through the magic metal detector, which sucks them into the world of the book, allowing them to experience the novel firsthand. Most of the time, this works great. This time, they get marooned on Treasure Island. The moment they step into Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic pirate novel, Devin and Frankie find themselves neck deep in a hunt for buried treasure along with Long John Silver and his gang of cutthroats. These two wisecracking slackers will need to avoid rocking the boat—or they may have to walk the plank. School Library Journal has called the Devin and Frankie novels “reminiscent of Mary Pope Osborne’s ‘Magic Tree House’ series, but for an older audience.” X Marks the Spot is another lively introduction to the classics for reluctant readers.

Atarah is a high school tomboy and a stellar athlete, but of below average height and beauty. This is a problem when everyone’s physical attributes and popularity are ranked by an AI computer called Big Social. Atarah has five days before the Crush-it dance to find her secret admirer and become popular or she will have little chance of acceptance to a top university and their romantic reality shows. A cryptic message warns Atarah that Big Social’s selfish protocols for human happiness is killing Earth. A plan to subvert the AI will require Atarah to find true love.