ELA

It's 50 years before the settlement of the city of Ember and the world is in crisis. War looms on the horizon as 11-year-old Nickie and her aunt travel to the small town of Yonwood, North Carolina. There, one of the town's respected citizens has had a terrible vision of fire and destruction. Her garbled words are taken as prophetic instruction on how to avoid the coming disaster.

Back in Bloor's Academy, Charlie's power takes on a new dimension. He meets a new gallery of characters, including Mr. Pilgrim's replacement, Tantalus Ebony, and the mysterious new student Joshua Tilpin, who appears to be magnetic. But not all is well.

When Charlie turns 12 on New Year's Eve, the Flame Cats give him a grave warning: something ancient has awoken, and Charlie must be watchful. Soon Charlie learns that the shadow from the Red King's portrait has been released, and that it will do anything to keep Charlie from finding his father.

This semester at Bloor's Academy brings a few changes. There is a new art teacher, Mr. Boldova, and a new student, Belle, who lives with the Yewbeam aunts and seems to have a strange power over them.

Charlie hopes that the new term at Bloor's Academy will hold no nasty surprises. But then Henry Yewbeam appears, twisted through time from the icy winter of 1916.

With the scheming Yewbeam aunts on the prowl, and the Bloors out to catch him, Henry will need Charlie's help just to stay alive. Bloor's Academy can be a very dangerous place!

Charlie doesn't want to believe it when he discovers that he can hear people in photographs talking. But his horrible aunts are delighted: it means that he is one of the chosen and must attend Bloor's Academy for gifted children.

Nathaniel is eleven-years-old and a magician's apprentice, learning the traditional art of magic. All is well until he has a life-changing encounter with Simon Lovelace, a magician of unrivaled ruthlessness and ambition. When Lovelace brutally humiliates Nathaniel in public, Nathaniel decides to speed up his education, teaching himself spells far beyond his years.

Two years have passed since young apprentice magician Nathaniel became famous by foiling the ruthless Simon Lovelace. Now 14, Nathaniel is ambitiously climbing the ranks of the magicians' government. The Prime Minister himself has placed Nathaniel in charge of capturing the Resistance, a group of unruly commoners working to undermine the magicians' empire.

This is the story of Despereaux Tilling, a mouse in love with music, stories, and a princess named Pea. It is also the story of a rat called Roscuro, who lives in darkness but covets a world filled with light. And it is the story of Miggery Sow, a slow-witted serving girl with a simple, impossible wish.

Emily Windsnap is thrilled to arrive at her new home, a secret island near the Bermuda Triangle where humans and merfolk live together, and where being a girl who grows a tail as soon as she enters the water isn't a problem.

For as long as she can remember, 12-year-old Emily Windsnap has lived on a boat. And, oddly enough, for just as long, her mother has seemed anxious to keep Emily away from the water.

Where do dreams come from? What stealthy nighttime messengers are the guardians of our most deeply hidden hopes and our half-forgotten fears?

Is this town haunted? Jack and Annie wonder when the Magic Tree House carries them to the Wild West. But before they can say "Boo!" they rush headlong into an adventure filled with horse thieves, a lost colt, rattlesnakes, and a cowboy named Slim. Will Jack and Annie have time to solve the next Tree House riddle? The answer may depend on a ghost!

"Where are the lions?" Jack wonders when the Magic Tree House whisks him and his sister to the vast plains of Africa. Before he can find out, Annie starts to help hundreds of wildebeests cross a rushing river. Next, they follow a honey of a bird and meet an awesome Masai warrior. Jack hopes any lions will just stay away. But Jack is about to be very disappointed.

The Magic Tree House transports Jack and Annie to the freezing Arctic where they must solve Morgan le Fay's final riddle in order to become master librarians. But it's not going to be easy — especially when they have cracking ice, a seal hunter, and a prodigious polar bear to deal with.