ELA

Ever since his mother died and his father went to Brazil for a scientific expedition, 14-year-old Jacob Lansa has been staying with his grandfather in Poughkeepsie. He longs to join his father and help him set up a jaguar preserve in the rain forest, but he can't miss school. When his father invites him down over spring break, he jumps at the chance.

The plan was simple. Ethan Cheeseman, along with his three smart, polite, and relatively odor-free children, would travel back in time to end a family curse and save their mother. Now that the LVR (a super-secret time machine) is working, it's easy peasy. Except they didn't account for one basic rule of science: Murphy's Law - if something can go wrong, it will.

Frannie doesn't know what to make of the poem she's reading in school. She hasn't thought much about hope. There are so many other things to think about. Each day, her friend Samantha seems a bit more "holy". There is a new boy in class everyone is calling the Jesus Boy. And although the new boy looks like a white kid, he says he's not white. Who is he?

This collection of wonderful stories read by John Lavelle and penned by Marjorie Weinman Sharmat will find a place on any Nate the Great fan's bookshelf. Volume 1 includes the following:

• Nate the Great
• Nate the Great Goes Undercover
• Nate the Great and the Halloween Hunt
• Nate the Great and the Monster Mess