Prince Phillip is no ordinary boy. He is heir to the throne of Vallaire; awaiting only his coming of age to begin ruling on his own. When a map detailing the whereabouts of the long lost, all powerful magic stone is found, the young prince is sent on an extraordinary quest to prove his manhood and protect his kingdom from the evil designs of his stepmother, Queen Camilla. On his journey, he meets four magical creatures to help guide him through the Black Forest and protect him from its mutant inhabitants and the Deadly Trees which come to life at the touch of another living creature. They must cross the Cursed Seas and face the Sea Dragon and escape the clutches of the guardian of the stone; all before Camilla can reach the stone ahead of him. It is a race to secure his future and gain ultimate power through possession of the Magic Stone.

Themes: Optimism, Magic, Fiction, Tween, Emergent Reader, Chapter Book, Hi-Lo, Hi-Lo Books, Hi-Lo Solutions, High-Low Books, Hi-Low Books, ELL, EL, ESL, Struggling Learner, Struggling Reader, Special Education, SPED, Newcomers, Reading, Learning, Education, Educational, Educational Books. Kirby is a pessimistic kid. He's a good student with some close friends. But heÕs intimidated by schoolmate Lee, who always seems to have better grades and more friends. On the way home from school one day, Kirby saves a man from being hit by a truck. The man gives him a magic stone. You make a wish and rub the stone, the man tells Kirby. Your wish will come true. Kirby is skeptical, but then his wishes start to come true! This series of short novels was designed to engage a broad spectrum of struggling readers. No longer will upper-elementary students have to read material junior to their maturity and interests. Characters are age appropriate and come from diverse cultures and backgrounds. Science ficion, sports, paranormal, realistic life, historical fiction, and fantasy are just a few of the many genres. Books are no higher than a 1.5 reading level, with illustrations on every spread that support visual literacy and draw kids into the text. Each book is around 70 pages.

"Hand to readers who love Narnia." --School Library Journal on The Unicorn Quest * "Those who love Madeleine L'Engle's A Wrinkle in Time or . . . Neil Gaiman's Coraline, can't miss this debut." --Booklist, starred review, on The Unicorn Quest The second book in an enchanting fantasy series The Unicorn Quest, about a real-world girl and her sister in a land full of magic and strange creatures. Claire Martinson and her sister Sophie have decided to stay in Arden--the magical land they discovered by climbing up a chimney in their great-aunt's manor. If what they've learned is true, the sisters are the last descendants of the royal family, and only a true heir of Arden--with magic in her blood--can awaken the unicorns. Since Sophie has does not have magic, the land's last hope rests on Claire. The sisters journey to Stonehaven, a famed Gemmer school high in the mountains of Arden, so Claire can train in the magic of stone. As Claire struggles through classes, Sophie uncovers dangerous secrets about the people they thought they could trust. With Arden on the brink of crumbling, can Claire prove she is the prophesied heir and unlock the magic of the unicorns before it's too late? Acclaim for The Unicorn Quest A Kids' Indie Next Selection A Mighty Girl Best Book of the Year An ALA Top Ten First Novel for Youth

The Magical Stone is the story of a hero who is selected as the human support to retrieve the stone for the king of his magical world. He takes us to a fantasy adventure where he gets a new friend named Segelle. His quest is to find a magical stone that holds an unbelievable power, which is stolen by Blitch who wants to take control of the kingdom.

An enchanting, exciting fantasy about a real-world girl searching for her sister in a land full of magic and strange creatures, blending the timeless feel of A Wrinkle in Time with Frozen's powerful themes of identity, enchantment, and sisterhood. Claire Martinson still worries about her older sister Sophie, who battled a mysterious illness last year. But things are back to normal as they move into Windermere Manor . . . until the sisters climb a strange ladder in a fireplace and enter the magical land of Arden. There, they find a world in turmoil. The four guilds of magic no longer trust each other, the beloved unicorns have disappeared, and terrible wraiths roam freely. Scared, the girls return home. But when Sophie vanishes in the night, it will take all of Claire's courage to climb back up the ladder, find her sister, and uncover the unicorns' greatest secret. A Kids' Indie Next Selection A Mighty Girl Best Book of the Year An ALA Top Ten First Novel for Youth

Zoe and her friends set out on another exciting quest. They need to find magic stones to plant to grow all the ingredients needed to make a special magic potion. But will they succeed in their race against time?

An exploration of the world of magic that teaches the reader many tricks--including how better to understand the real world. Alex Stone--journalist and part-time conjurer--is here to amaze you. But first he had to amaze his fellow magicians. Fooling Houdini is his fascinating, revealing, and nailbiting account of his attempt to win the 23rd World Championships of Magic, the "Magic Olympics," the largest and most prestigious competition of its kind. Alex Stone managed to qualify for entry and began preparing to astonish people who astonish others for a living. It didn't help his nerves that he was placed on the bill straight after Canadian magician Shawn Farquhar, winner of more magic competitions than anyone in history. Stone's preparations and participation provide his readers with in-depth exploration of the world of magic, and magic's meaning. He spills many professional secrets, arguing that what is important is to ask questions about what lies behind the tricks: how the mind perceives the world and parses everyday experience, about how the mind works--and why sometimes it doesn't, about why people need to believe. As we become more attuned to the limits of our own perception, we become better at distinguishing reality from illusion, at reading the angles and decoding the fine print, he says. We gain intuition and understanding into how people behave. We even learn ways to influence this behavior. This makes us less susceptible to all manner of deception. It is to gain and maintain this sixth sense that Alex Stone--a schoolboy prestidigitator--has continued performing magic well into adulthood. In Fooling Houdini he takes us into that other world, populated by truly astounding characters, and leaves us with a heightened sense of awareness about the supposedly real world.