Summary: Mr. Popper paints houses, but he dreams of faraway places like Antarctica! Under very unusual circumstances, the Poppers come into possession of a penguin from Antarctica and another penguin from the zoo! The two penguins fall in love and soon the Poppers have 10 baby penguins living in their home! The Poppers don’t have a lot of money and raising baby penguins is hard, but soon he finds a fun way to earn money that involves his surprisingly talented penguins!
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Summary: In a powerful and fast-paced adventure on the high seas, an orphan boy named Peter and his mysterious new friend, Molly, join the Starcatchers to overcome bands of pirates and thieves in their quest to keep a fantastical secret safe and save the world from evil. Their journey is fraught with danger, yet it is also filled with mystical and magical moments that slowly and finally reveal the secrets and mysteries of the beloved Peter Pan and they magical island of Neverland.
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Summary: Peter leaves the safety of Mollusk Island-along with his trusted companion Tinker Bell-for the cold, damp streets of London. On a difficult journey across the sea, he and Tink discover the dark and deadly Lord Ombra. It seems that Ombra has mysterious powers including the ability to make shadows disappear. When Peter reaches London, he finds Molly and together they must protect the Starcatchers and the starstuff. But most importantly, they must rescue Molly's mother.
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Summary: Peter and Molly find themselves in the dangerous land of Rundoon, ruled by an evil king who enjoys watching his pet snake consume those who displease him. But that’s just the beginning of problems facing our heroes, who once again find themselves pitted against the evil shadow-creature Lord Ombra in a struggle to save themselves, not to mention the planet. It’s a wild desert adventure, with rockets, carpets, and camels all flying through the air thanks to some starstuff!
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Summary: The year is 1901 and it's been twenty-three years since Peter and the Lost Boys returned from Rundoon. Since then, nobody on the island has grown a day older. Meanwhile in London, Molly has married George Darling and has three children: Wendy, Michael, and John. Molly goes missing and it is up to eleven-year-old Wendy to find her. She has heard the stories of a flying boy named Peter Pan, and knows he is the only hope in saving the world from a dark shadowy doom.
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Summary: Most kids would do anything to pass the Iron Trial. Not Callum Hunt. He wants to fail. All his life, Call has been warned by his father to stay away from magic. If he succeeds at the Iron Trial and is admitted into the Magisterium, he is sure it can only mean bad things for him. So he tries his best to do his worst, but ultimately he fails at failing. Now the Magisterium awaits him. It is a place that is both sensational and sinister, with dark ties to his past and a twisty path to his future.
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Summary: Callum Hunt’s summer break isn’t like other kids’. His closest companion is a Chaos-ridden wolf, Havoc, his father suspects him of being secretly evil, and, of course, most kids aren’t heading back to the magical world of the Magisterium in the fall. But when Callum discovers that his father may be trying to destroy both him and Havoc, he escapes back to the magical world and he and his friends Aaron and Tamara become involved in a search for a powerful copper gauntlet.
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Summary: Things have been better for Callum Hunt since the evil Constantine Madden was officially destroyed/ Even his relations with his father have improved, so he is happy to get back to the Magisterium for his Bronze Year to continue his magical studies. However, when one of the students is murdered, Call and his friends, Tamara and Aaron, must track down the killer without revealing Call’s secret. Their powers grow but magic is only as good as the person who wields it.
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Summary: Call’s secret has been revealed and he is now one of the most feared students in the history of the Magisterium, thought to be responsible for a devastating death and an ever-present threat of war. As a result, Call has been imprisoned. It is only when he's broken out of prison that the full potential of a dark plan is revealed and fate rests in his hands. He must decide what to do with his power… power that can take him beyond the living and into the dangers of the dead.
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Summary: Callum Hunt has been a hero and an outcast, a force of good and an omen of evil. While the doors of the Magisterium have been open to him, he has never felt entirely welcome. If anything, he has felt others' resentment and fear. Now, as he begins his final year at the magical school, his place is less certain than ever. He is estranged from most of his friends, a secretive darkness still hounds him, and the greatest challenge he will ever face is right around the corner.
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Summary: Ten-year-old Ada has never left her one-room apartment. Her mother is too humiliated by Ada’s twisted foot to let her outside. So when her little brother Jamie is shipped out of London to escape the war, Ada doesn’t waste a minute... she sneaks out to join him and Susan Smith, the woman who is forced to take the two kids in. As Ada teaches herself to ride a pony, learns to read, and watches for German spies, she begins to trust Susan and Susan begins to love Ada and Jamie.
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Summary: Moose Flannagan moves with his family to Alcatraz, an island a mile off the coast of San Francisco where they keep some of the worst criminals in the U.S. locked up. His dad got a job as an electrician and a prison guard there and his sister, Natalie, could now attend a special school for kids with autism. All Moose wants to do is to help and protect Natalie, live up to his parents' high expectations, and stay out of trouble... but on Alcatraz, trouble seems to never be very far away.
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Summary: It isn’t that Abby Carson can’t do her schoolwork, she just doesn’t like doing it. And now, Abby will have to repeat sixth grade, unless she completes an extra credit project: writing to pen pal from a different country. As the letters flow back and forth between the prairies of Illinois and the mountains of Afghanistan, a small group of children begin to speak and listen to each other making important discoveries about their communities, about their world, and about themselves.
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Summary: Nicholas Allen has plenty of ideas. Who can forget the time he turned his third-grade classroom into a tropical island. But now Nick's in fifth grade, and it looks like his days as a troublemaker are over. Everyone knows that Mrs. Granger is a fanatic about the dictionary, which is hopelessly boring to Nick. But when Nick learns an interesting tidbit about words and where they come from, it inspires his greatest plan ever: to invent a brand new word for a pen... frindle.
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Summary: Twelve-year-old Daniel, the new kid in town, soon learns the truth about his nice, but odd, new friends: one can fly, another can turn invisible, and another controls electricity. The superkids use their powers to secretly do good in the town, but they’re haunted by the fact that the moment they turn thirteen, their abilities will disappear along with any memory that they ever had them. Leave it to the “powerless” regular-kid Daniel to find himself having to figure it all out.
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Summary: Daniel Corrigan is as regular as can be, especially when compared to the Supers: kids in his new hometown with actual powers like flight and super-strength. But now Daniel is starting to display powers of his own, while at the same time his friends are losing theirs. His friend Eric thinks Daniel is just becoming a Super himself, but Daniel worries there may be something more sinister and evil at play, especially since his power seems to be the ability to steal the abilities of his friends.
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Summary: The truth about the Super children, who have real powers like flight and super strength, has been exposed, and the town of Noble’s Green has created a special school for its superpowered children. That’s where all Daniel’s friends are headed, while he, the regular kid that he is, is headed to summer school. But all is not well at the Academy for the Extraordinarily Gifted. A clique of kids have taken over the school, and once again, it’s powerless Daniel who may be able to stop them.
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Summary: Santiago is a shepherd boy who has a dream. He asks a fortune teller in a nearby town about its meaning and she interprets the dream as a prophecy telling the boy that he will discover a treasure at the Egyptian pyramids. After a long, uneventful journey he finds that real riches are waiting for him in an unexpected place. Santiago's journey teaches him about the wisdom of listening to his heart, learning to read the signs along life's path, and to always follow his dreams.
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Summary: Twins, Alex and Conner Baily, fall into a mysteriously magical book of stories finding themselves in a new world where they come face-to-face with the fairy tale characters they grew up reading about. Soon they discover that in order to get home, they must travel to the four corners of the Fairy Tale Kingdom to find the all of the items used for the Wishing Spell. But after encountering witches, wolves, goblins, and trolls, they realize that getting back home is not going to be easy.
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Summary: Alex and Conner Bailey have not been back to the magical Land of Stories since their adventures in The Wishing Spell ended. But one night, they learn that the evil Enchantress who once cursed Sleeping Beauty is back and has kidnapped their mother! Against the will of their grandmother, the twins must find their own way into the Land of Stories in order to rescue their mother and save the fairy tale world from the greatest threat of danger and evil it has ever faced.
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Summary: Conner Bailey thinks his fairy-tale adventures are behind him, until he discovers a mysterious clue left by the famous Brothers Grimm. With help from his classmate Bree and the outlandish Mother Goose, Conner sets off on a mission across Europe to crack a two-hundred-year-old code. Meanwhile, back in the Fairy Tale Kingdom, when all signs point to disaster for the Land of Stories, Alex will have to find Conner and join forces with their friends and enemies to save the day.
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Summary: The Masked Man is on the loose in the Land of Stories, and it's up to Alex and Conner Bailey to stop him. With only the help of the ragtag group of Goldilocks, Jack, Red Riding Hood, and Mother Goose, the Bailey twins discover the Masked Man's secret scheme of using magical portals to recruit an army of literature's greatest villains! So begins a race through the magical Land of Oz, the fantastical world of Neverland, the madness of Wonderland, and beyond to stop his evil plan.
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Summary: The Masked Man has captured all the royal families from the Land of Stories with the help of his army of literature's greatest villains. In order to defeat the Masked Man, Alex and Conner must create their own army of greatest heroes by using the greatest weapon of all: their own imaginations! So begins the twins' journey into Conner's very own stories to gather pirates, cyborgs, superheroes, and mummies as they band together for the ultimate fight against the Masked Man.
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Summary: Conner and Alex must brave the impossible. All of the Land of Stories fairy-tale characters, heroes and villains, are no longer confined within their world! Conner doesn't think the situation could get any worse… until Alex goes missing! Conner and his friends will have to fight their biggest battle yet. But without Alex by his side, Conner doesn't know how he will win the war and keep everyone safe. The twins must restore order between the human and fairy-tale world.
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Summary: Thirteen-year-old Sophie longs to be out on the sea. Believing it will mean adventure and a chance for independence and self-discovery, she sets sail for England with her three uncles and two cousins. Sophie’s cousin Cody isn’t so sure he has the strength to prove himself to the crew and to his father. Through Sophie’s and Cody’s travel logs, they share stories of the past and the daily challenges of surviving at sea as their boat The Wanderer sails toward its destination.
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Summary: It is 1936, in Flint, Michigan. Times are hard, food is scare, and ten-year-old Bud may be a motherless boy on the run, but Bud’s got a plan. His momma never told him who his father was, but she left a clue: flyers advertising Herman E. Calloway and his famous band, the Dusky Devastators of the Depression! Once Bud decides to hit the road to find the mystery man in the flyer, nothing can stop him… not hunger, not fear, not vampires, not even big Herman E. Calloway!
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Summary: Eleven-year-old Elijah is the first child born into freedom in Buxton, Canada, a settlement of runaway slaves just over the border from Detroit. Elijah yearns to be “growned up,” and gets the chance to try when he heads out on a journey from Canada to the United States. Along the way he witnesses the cruel realities of slavery for the first time. It is now up to him to save a young girl from being captured by slave owners and make it back to Buxton and to freedom.
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Summary: It is 1963 and Kenny is ten-years-old living with his family, the Weird Watsons of Flint, Michigan. When Momma and Dad decide it's time for a visit to go see Grandma, they load up the family car known as the Brown Bomber and head South to Birmingham, Alabama. But soon Kenny realizes that things are a little different in the South. Sometime after they arrive, they experience one of the darkest moments in America's history and witness just how evil acts of racism can be.
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Summary: Willy Wonka, a crazy chocolatier, opens his chocolate factory doors for the first time to five lucky children who have found a golden ticket hidden inside one of Wonka’s chocolate bars. Besides a lifetime supply of chocolate, the children also get a chance to tour the mysterious factory with Willy Wonka as their guide. Throughout their journey in Wonka's factory, Augustus Gloop, Veruca Salt, Violet Beauregarde, Mike Teavee, and Charlie Bucket encounter all sorts of silliness!
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Summary: James Henry Trotter loses his parents and is forced to live with his evil aunts. Luckily, he is given magic crystals, which he accidentally spills on his aunts' decaying peach tree. One of the peaches begins to grow, and grow, and grow. Finally, James climbs into the peach and it rolls away from his aunts' yard and his miserably lonely life. With the giant peach, he begins a new life while making friends with hilarious characters like Old-Green Grasshopper, Miss Spider, and Earthworm.
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Summary: Reading was one of Matilda's favorite activities. This, of course, made her very smart. You would think this would make her parents very proud. However, Matilda's were not. In fact, they didn't even really notice her at all. So Matilda would spend her days reading alone. Well, they say knowledge is power, but in this case, it became a superpower! Matilda soon discovers that she has telekinetic powers and can move things with her mind... and boy do things get very interesting!
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Summary: Jessie Treski and her brother Evan have a pretty good relationship… usually. But when Evan finds out that Jessie will be skipping third grade and will share his fourth-grade classroom, he gets pretty angry. His anger grows and then explodes when he says awful things to her that he knows he will regret later. Jessie responds and their argument swells until they make a wager with high odds, all riding on who can sell the most lemonade in the last five days before school starts.
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Summary: One summer’s day, ten-year-old India Opal Buloni goes down to the local supermarket for some groceries and comes home with a dog. But Winn-Dixie is no ordinary dog. It’s because of Winn-Dixie that Opal begins to make friends and it’s because of Winn-Dixie that she finally dares to ask her father about her mother who left when Opal was three. In fact, as Opal admits, just about everything that happens that summer is because of Winn-Dixie. It is a summer of new adventures!
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Summary: This story begins, as the best superhero stories do, with a tragic accident that has unexpected consequences. Ulysses the squirrel never saw the vacuum coming, but Flora Belle Buckman, who has read every issue of the comic book "Terrible Things Can Happen to You!," is just the right person to step in and save him. What neither can predict is that Ulysses gains powers of strength, flight, and misspelled poetry, and that Flora discovers the possibility of hope and love.
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Summary: When a fortuneteller’s tent appears in the market square of the city of Baltese, orphan Peter Augustus Duchene knows the questions that he needs to ask: Does his sister still live? And if so, how can he find her? The fortuneteller’s mysterious answer of “An elephant! An elephant will lead him there!” sets off a chain of events so remarkable, so impossible, that Peter can hardly dare to believe it. His adventure is full of hope and compassion with a little bit of magic along the way.
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Summary: Stella lives in the segregated South, in Bumblebee, North Carolina, to be exact. Some stores she can go into. Some stores she can’t. Some folks are right pleasant. Others are a lot less so. One late night, later than she should ever be up, much less wandering around outside, Stella and her little brother see something they’re never supposed to see, something that is the first flicker of change to come, unwelcome change by any stretch of the imagination. It is the Ku Klux Klan.
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Summary: In the city of Ember the great lamps that light the city are beginning to dim. When Lina finds part of an ancient message, she’s sure it holds a secret that will save the city. Now, she and her friend Doon must race to figure out the clues to keep the lights on. If they succeed, they will have to convince everyone to follow them into danger. But if they fail? The lights will burn out and the darkness will close in forever. And in this city, darkness means certain destruction and death.
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Summary: Lina and Doon have led the citizens of Ember to an exciting new world. They’ve been given refuge in a small village called Sparks, a place filled with color and life. Although Sparks seems like the answer the citizens of Ember have been hoping for, tempers soon escalate. The villagers have never had to share their world before, and it only takes a tiny “spark” to ignite a battle between the two struggling groups. Lina and Doon will have to work together to avoid a disaster.
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Summary: Nickie will grow up to be one of the first citizens of the city of Ember. But for now, she is a girl who has just moved to the town of Yonwood. There, she finds a place full of suspicion, where one citizen’s visions of fire and destruction have turned everyone against each other. Eager to take her mind off her father’s absence as he works on a mysterious government project, Nickie finds her great-grandfather’s odd journals, meets a boy who likes snakes, and keeps an eye out for trouble.
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Summary: Lina and Doon escaped the dying city of Ember and led their people to the town of Sparks. But it is winter now, and the harsh realities of their new world have begun to set in. When Doon finds a book that hints at a long-lost device that could help save them, it doesn’t take much for him to convince Lina to join him for one last adventure. Together they must find this mysterious technology while avoiding the potential dangers that await them back in the city they left behind.
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Summary: With a lonely boy named Ben on board, the brave young dragon Firedrake sets out on a magical journey to find the mythical place where silver dragons can live in peace forever. Flying over moonlit lands and sparkling seas, they encounter fantastic creatures, summon up surprising courage, and cross the path of a ruthless villain with an ancient grudge who's determined to end their quest. Together, Firedrake and his friends must discover the ancient secret of the dragons!
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Summary: 12-year-old Hollis Woods was abandoned as a baby and has been shuttled from one foster home to another over the course of her life. Having become a troubled kid who’s prone to skipping school, she’s essentially given up on finding a real home, and even runs away from the Regan family, one of the best foster homes she’s had. However, when she is placed with elderly, offbeat artist Josie, she develops a friendship with the old woman learning what real love means.
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Summary: The book follows the stories of three refugee children in three different geographic locations and points in time. Each child experiences traumatic losses and personal victories as they struggle to escape the political instability of their homelands. Josef Landau is fleeing Nazi Germany in 1939, Isabel is leaving communist Cuba in 1994, and Mahmoud is escaping terrorism in Syria in 2015. All three kids go on harrowing journeys in search of refuge and face unimaginable dangers.
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Summary: Coke McDonald and his twin sister, Pepsi, are about to turn thirteen and have the entire summer ahead of them. Unfortunately, their plans are filled with what promises to be the most boring of situations… a cross-country RV road trip with their parents. But being bored turns out to be the least of their problems. Unknown to them, Coke and Pep have been recruited for a new top-secret organization that enlists the help of young geniuses to solve the world's problems.
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Summary: Svetlana Grimm has recently discovered she’s a vampire. The clues are all there: she can eat only red foods, she has to sleep under the bed because of her heightened sensitivity to light and noise, and she can read others’ thoughts. But this new discovery is making her transition from home-schooling to attending Sunny Hill Middle School a bit difficult. Things get more interesting when Svetlana realizes her cruel yet beautiful science teacher, Ms. Larch, can read her thoughts.
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Summary: It can be hard to tell if a river’s under a spell. River trolls, rock trolls, and blue-wing fairies are all the usual suspects and the stretch of the Mississippi River where Claire lives has rumors of them all, but she’s never spotted any. But then Claire’s cousin Duke takes a swim and sprouts a long, pointy horn. Now, Claire doesn’t have much choice but to believe that something odd is going on, especially since she’s the only one who can help Duke get rid of the new horn.
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Summary: When Wahoo Cray’s dad takes a job with a reality TV show called Expedition Survival!, Wahoo figures he'll have to join in to keep his dad from doing something stupid. They've only been on location in the Everglades for a day before the dimwitted host gets bitten by a bat and goes missing in a storm. Search parties head out and promptly get lost themselves. And then Tuna's dad shows up with a gun. Now it's anyone's guess who will actually survive Expedition Survival.
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Summary: Noah's dad is sure that the owner of the Coral Queen casino boat is flushing raw sewage into the harbor, which has made taking a dip at the local beach like swimming in a toilet. He can't prove it though, so he decides to sink the boat. But surprisingly, the boat is pumped out and back in business within days and Noah's dad is now in the local lock-up. Still, Noah is determined to succeed where his dad failed. He will prove that the Coral Queen is dumping illegally… somehow.
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Summary: Roy Eberhardt is new to his small Florida community of Coconut Cove and here, everybody loves Mother Paula’s pancakes. Everybody, that is, except the colony of cute but endangered owls that live on the building site of the new restaurant. Using some potty-trained alligators and a several extremely poisonous snakes with unnaturally sparkling tails, Roy and his friend Mullet Fingers might just be able to keep owls’ fate from being cemented in pancake batter.
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Summary: Nothing ever happens in Toby's small Texas town except for this summer when everyone seems to be leaving. Toby's mom leaves home to be a country singer and his best friend Cal's older brother goes off to fight in Vietnam. But their sleepy town is about to get a jolt with the arrival of Zachary Beaver, advertised as the fattest boy in the world. Toby knows there has to be more to Zachary than the hype of his weight, and as he gets to know him, it changes his world.
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Summary: Bored with her life, twelve-year-old Claudia Kincaid is ready for a big change. In fact, she wants to run away from home. But she doesn't like discomfort. So she decides to run away to somewhere comfortable, and preferably beautiful… like the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. Taking her younger brother Jamie with her, Claudia's life is immediately changes in a big way when she discovers a secret about one of the new pieces of art on display in the museum.
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Summary: Meg Murray, her little brother Charles Wallace, and their mother are having a midnight snack on a dark and stormy night when an unearthly stranger appears at their door. She claims to have been blown off course, and goes on to tell them that there is such a thing as a "tesseract!" Meg's father had been experimenting with time-travel when he suddenly disappeared. It’s up to Meg, Charles Wallace, and their friend Calvin to outwit the forces of evil and find their father!
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Summary: One cold and wet summer in London, new friends, Digory and Polly, fall into adventure when Digory's Uncle Andrew, who thinks he is a magician, sends them hurtling into a new world. They encounter an evil sorceress who tries to enslave them. But then the lion Aslan's song weaves itself into the fabric of a new land, a land that will be known as Narnia. And in Narnia, all things are possible, talking beasts are called to life, and it is exactly where a great new adventure begins.
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Summary: Air-raids over London during WWII force the four Pevensie siblings, Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy, to be sent away from the city to the house of a kind Professor who lives in the heart of the country. It is a house filled with unexpected places, including a room which holds nothing but a large wardrobe. One a boring rainy day, Lucy opens the wardrobe, never dreaming that the wardrobe is a passageway into Narnia. What awaits on the other side is a great adventure.
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Summary: A young boy named Shasta is on the run from his homeland with the talking horse, Bree. When the pair discover a deadly plot by the Calormen people to conquer the land of Narnia, the race is on to warn the inhabitants of the impending danger and to rescue them all from certain death. Though they were only looking to escape their harsh lives, they now find themselves at the center of a terrible battle… a battle that will decide their fate and the fate of Narnia itself.
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Summary: Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy are suddenly pulled into Narnia by a distress call from Prince Caspian. It has been hundreds of years since the time when the children reigned over the land as Kings and Queens. Now most of the talking beasts and enchanted creatures who once lived there in peace have been killed or frightened into hiding. Only Caspian and the rulers of Old Narnia, with the help of the great Aslan, can free Narnia and make it safe for its rightful inhabitants.
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Summary: Lucy and Edmund, with their dreadful cousin Eustace, get magically pulled into a painting of a ship at sea. That ship is the Dawn Treader, and on board is Caspian, King of Narnia. He and his companions, including Reepicheep, the valiant warrior mouse, are searching for seven lost lords of Narnia, and their voyage will take them to the edge of the world. They soon are captured by slave traders, encounter a dragon, and visit an enchanted island where their dreams come true.
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Summary: Narnia is in peril, and only Eustace and Jill can help. Along with Puddlegum, a gloomy but valiant Marsh-wiggle, they are sent by the mighty lion Aslan to find Prince Rilian, heir to the throne. Their quest leads them past hungry people-eating Giants, and deep into the dark underground. But the true test for this noble band of friends comes when they face an evil witch and her deadly enchantments. Through danger and caverns deep and dark, they pursue their quest.
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Summary: The Unicorn says that humans are brought to Narnia only in time of greatest need, and that time is now. The great lion Aslan, the heart of Narnia, is missing. An impostor roams the land in his place, enslaving Aslan's loyal creatures and spreading treachery and lies. Only King Tirian and his group of loyal followers are left to fight the last battle. With the impending end of the world at hand where the Narnians face final judgment in Aslan's country, their faith in Aslan will be tested.
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Summary: Catherine is a 12-year-old girl on summer vacation. She would like to be doing things like finding new friends, but instead she has to take care of her younger brother, David. David has autism, and sometimes has trouble knowing what to say or do when he's around other people. Catherine makes up rules for David so that he knows how to act. Some examples of David's rules include knocking on the bathroom door before entering, and not putting toys in the fish tank.
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Summary: As German troops begin their campaign to "relocate" all the Jews of Denmark, 10-year-old Annemarie Johansen's family takes in Annemarie's best friend, Ellen Rosen, and conceals her by pretending she's part of the family. Annemarie has a big task before her, one that she must successfully complete if she is to help the Danish Resistance smuggle their Jewish friends in Denmark across the sea to Sweden. It will take courage to outwit the Nazis that stand in her way.
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Summary: Michael Arroyo has a pitching arm that throws serious heat. But his firepower is nothing compared to the heat Michael faces in his day-to-day life. Newly orphaned after his father died leading the family's escape from Cuba, Michael's only family is his seventeen-year-old brother Carlos. If Social Services hears of their situation, they will be separated in the foster-care system or worse, sent back to Cuba. Together, the boys must carry on alone and keep their situation a secret.
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Summary: Joss is the seventh son of the Supreme Overlord of the Universe. His older brothers help his dad rule the cosmos, but all Joss gets to do is deliver pies. That's right: pies. Of course, these pies hold the secrets of the universe, but they're still pies. Then, when Earth suddenly disappears, Joss has to bring it back. With the help of an earthling named Annika, he embarks on the adventure of a lifetime and learns that the universe is an even stranger place than he'd ever imagined.
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Summary: Charlie doesn't want to believe it when find himself able to hear people in photographs talking. But his horrible aunts are delighted because it means that he is one of the chosen. They soon send him to Bloor's Academy, a special school that is filled with hidden secrets and mysterious rooms. There Charlie meets a whole bunch of kids with special talents and gifts. Soon he realizes that he must use his wits, as well as his powers, to escape from the clutches of the evil Dr. Bloor.
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Summary: In January, 1916, Henry Yewbeam picks up a mysterious glowing glass ball that comes rolling towards him while he is playing marbles. The ball is, in truth, a time twister that his nasty cousin Zeke has made sure Henry will find. The unsuspecting Henry gazes into the time twister and is transported far into the future where he meets Charlie Bone, his great nephew. It is up to Charlie to hide Henry from present day Ezekiel all while figuring out a way to send Henry back to 1916.
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Summary: This semester at Bloor's Academy introduces a new student named Belle, who lives with the Yewbeam aunts and seems to have strange power over them. Also, Emma and Charlie soon discover that Ollie Sparks, the boy who lives in the attic of Bloor's Academy, has been made invisible. When Charlie and his friends find him, Ollie is alone and hungry, so they decided to help him become visible again… even though they are not sure how they are going to do that
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Summary: Charlie's power is taking on a new dimension as he meets a new cast of characters, including Mr. Pilgrim's replacement, Tantalus Ebony, and the mysterious new student Joshua Tilpin, who appears to be magnetic. But Charlie isn't the only one dealing with changes... Billy has been adopted by a child-hating couple called the O'Gres, who have locked him behind a force field. Charlie must now rescue Billy and uncover the mystery behind Joshua's unusually strong power.
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Summary: When Charlie turns twelve 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. Meanwhile, pets are mysteriously vanishing from the city, and Olivia is in danger of revealing her newfound powers. It’s up to Charlie to figure it out and put things back to normal.
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Summary: Life should be perfect for Charlie now that his parents have been reunited. But mystery and adventure always find him. This time Asa, a fellow classmate who changes into a beast at dusk and Charlie's sometimes enemy, is missing. His parents seek out Charlie for his help, and now Charlie needs the help of the Flames to rescue his lost classmate. The Flames and Charlie will now have to rescue Asa without being caught by Manfred Bloor and the new student, Dagbert Endless.
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Summary: The enchanter Count Harken is back to take his revenge on the Red King's heirs, starting with Charlie Bone's family! Charlie's ancestor has been kidnapped and imprisoned in the dark, forbidding land of Badlock, and it's up to Charlie to save him. Traveling through a painting to the terrifying countryside, Charlie and his best friend's dog, Runner Bean, take up the quest. But when Runner Bean gets trapped, Charlie needs the help of his friends to finally defeat Count Harken.
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Summary: Charlie and his friends take on the most powerful and dangerous magic they have ever faced. As wicked forces come to a head at Bloor's Academy, Charlie and his friends must use all their magic and might to fight the evil and save Charlie's parents. Charlie must discover the fate of his family, the evil intentions of the Bloors, what has become of Septimus Bloor's will, and, most important, the destiny of the Red King's heirs. Only then will they be able to defeat the darkness.
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Summary: Karana, a girl indigenous to the islands, lives happily with her people on the Island of the Blue Dolphins. Karana's people live in harmony among the other animals on and around the island as they have for generations. One day a boat comes full of white men, who show the island no respect and eventually destroy her family and their community. For years Karana lives on the island alone, using the skills of her people to survive. However, she will not be alone for much longer.
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Summary: August Pullman is not an ordinary ten-year-old kid. Sure, he's a huge Star Wars fan, he loves his dog, and he's got a pretty good sense of humor, but August was born with a craniofacial abnormality, a genetic defect that caused his facial features to be severely deformed. His life has never been "normal." Despite his differences, August and his parents decide to transition him from home school to private school now that he's entering fifth grade. It is going to be a big adventure.
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Summary: The book begins as two stories, one about a girl in Sudan in 2008 and the other about a boy in Sudan in 1985. The girl, Nya, is fetching water from a pond that is two hours' walk from her home. She makes two trips to the pond every day. The boy, Salva, becomes one of the "lost boys" of Sudan, refugees who cover the African continent on foot as they search for their families and for a safe place to stay. Their stories go on to intersect together in an astonishing and moving way.
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Summary: Julia Song and her friend Patrick would love to win a blue ribbon or two at the state fair. They’ve always done projects together, but this time, they’re having trouble coming up with an idea. Then Julia’s mother suggests that they could raise silkworms, as she did when she was a girl in Korea. Julia isn’t so sure. She is worried it will be too different and not American enough. Yet, she agrees and along the way she begins to better understand her own identity as a Korean American.
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Summary: Jess Aarons has been practicing so he can be the fastest runner in the fifth grade. And he almost is, until the new girl in school, Leslie Burke, beats him. The two become fast friends and spend most days in the woods behind Leslie’s house, where they invent an enchanted land called Terabithia. One morning, Leslie goes to Terabithia without Jess and a tragedy occurs. It will take the love of his family and the strength that Leslie has given him for Jess to be able to deal with his grief.
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Summary: Brian is on his way to Canada to visit his estranged father when the pilot of his small prop plane suffers a heart attack. Brian is forced to crash-land the plane in a lake and then finds himself stranded in the remote Canadian wilderness with only his clothing and the hatchet his mother gave him as a present before his departure. A story of survival and of transformation, this riveting book has sparked many a reader's interest in venturing into exploring the wilderness.
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Summary: Two years after Brian Robeson survived fifty-four days alone in the Canadian wilderness, the government wants him to head back so they can learn what he did to stay alive. This time Derek Holtzer, a psychologist, will accompany him. But a freak storm leaves Derek unconscious. Brian’s only hope is to transport Derek a hundred miles down the river to a trading post. He’s survived the wilderness once before, but now he will have to build a raft and navigate an unknown river.
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Summary: 13-year-old Brian Robeson learned to survive alone in the Canadian wilderness armed only with his hatchet. He was rescued at the end of the summer. But what if he wasn’t rescued? What would have happened to Brian if he had been left in the wilderness to face the cold northern winter? The stakes for survival have been raised for Brian has he confronts the ultimate adventure. Surviving in the wilderness in summer is one thing, but the winter will be a whole new challenge.
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Summary: Sixteen-year-old Brian hasn't been able to forget his life in the wilderness. Now that's he's back in civilization, he can't find a way to make sense of high school life. He feels disconnected, more isolated than he did alone in the North. After some trouble at school, a blind counselor named Caleb encourages him to return to the north woods, and Brian packs his gear and heads "back in," for only in the wilderness can Brian discover his true path in life, and where he belongs.
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Summary: Brian Robeson has stood up to the challenge of surviving the wilderness. Now, two years later, while camping alone on a lake in the woods, he finds a wounded and whimpering dog. As Brian treats her wounds, he worries about who or what did this to her. His instincts tell him to head north, quickly, to check on his Cree friends. With his new companion at his side, he sets out on the hunt. But danger is never far away in the wilderness and Brian will have to one again survive.
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Summary: Charley Maplewood has never been one for parties; that would require friends, which he doesn’t have. But now that he’s turning ten… the big one-oh! So Charley decides to throw a birthday party for himself. Of course things don’t work out as he plans. In trying to make friends, he ends up inviting the class bully, and that’s before he ruins the cake and sets the garage on fire. Charley will have to do some quick thinking to pull it together before the big one-oh becomes the big OH-NO?
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Summary: Billy has always dreamed of owning two dogs. So when he’s finally able to save up enough money for two pups to call his own, he’s ecstatic. He names them Old Dan and Little Ann. It’s true that times are tough, but together Billy and his dogs roam the hills of the Ozarks. Using teamwork, Billy and his hounds soon become the finest hunting team in the valley. But tragedy awaits these determined hunting friends, and Billy learns that hope is able to grow out of despair.
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Summary: Percy Jackson feels like a normal kid, but when his pre-algebra teacher turns into a monster and tries to kill him, Percy's mom knows it's time that he knew the truth about who he is and where he came from. His father is Poseidon, God of the Sea. She sends Percy to Camp Half Blood, a summer camp for demigods. Soon a mystery unfolds and together with his friends Percy sets out on a quest across the United States to prevent a catastrophic war between the gods.
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Summary: Percy is having strange dreams that tell him something is wrong at Camp Half-Blood, a summer camp for demigods. When his fears are confirmed, Percy and his friends must journey into the Sea of Monsters to save their camp. But first, Percy will discover a stunning new secret about his family, one that makes him question whether being claimed as Poseidon's son is an honor or a cruel joke. Percy sets out to retrieve the Golden Fleece before his summer camp is destroyed.
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Summary: When Percy Jackson receives an urgent distress call from his friend Grover, he immediately prepares for battle. He knows he'll need his powerful demigod allies, Annabeth and Thalia, at his side. The demigods race to the rescue, to find that Grover has made an important discovery: two new powerful half-bloods whose parentage is unknown. But the Titan lord, Kronos, has also set his most devious and dangerous trap yet, and the young heroes have just fallen prey.
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Summary: Time is running out as war between the Olympians and the evil Titan lord Kronos draws near. Even the safe haven of Camp Half-Blood grows more vulnerable by the minute as Kronos's army prepares to invade its once impenetrable borders. To stop them, Percy and his demigod friends must set out on a quest through the Labyrinth, an underground world with stunning surprises at every turn. Percy is in for heart-pounding action and their most thrilling adventure yet.
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Summary: All year the half-bloods have been preparing for battle against the Titans, knowing the odds of a victory are grim. Kronos's army is stronger than ever, and with every god and half-blood he recruits, the evil Titan's power only grows. While the Olympians struggle to contain the monster Typhon, Kronos begins his advance on New York City, where Mount Olympus stands virtually unguarded. Now it's up to Percy Jackson and an army of young demigods to stop the Lord of Time.
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Summary: People are always daring Billy to do crazy things and Billy isn't one to back down from a bet, but this one is gross: If he eats fifteen worms in fifteen days, Alan will pay him fifty dollars. Billy takes the bet and tries worms smothered in ketchup, drowned in mustard, even breaded and fried. Worm by worm, Billy gets closer to victory, and to buying the minibike he's always wanted. But Alan won't let him win that easily and comes up with a scheme to try to make Billy lose the bet.
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Summary: Harry Potter has no idea how famous he is. That's because he's being raised by his miserable aunt and uncle who are terrified Harry will learn that he's really a wizard. But a secret like that is hard to keep quiet, especially when an owl delivers a letter inviting Harry to attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Once at school, Harry makes great friends but also learns the terrible truth of how his parents died and how he came to have a lightning shaped scar on his head.
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Summary: Harry Potter is back at the Dursleys’ for the summer but they are so wretched and dreadful that all Harry wants is to get back to Hogwarts as soon as possible. But just as he's packing, Harry receives a warning telling him that if he goes back to school disaster will strike. And strike it does because in Harry’s second year at the magical school, someone or something in the castle is attacking the students. It is a dangerous mystery that Harry and his friends are compelled to solve.
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Summary: Harry Potter's third year at Hogwarts is full of new dangers. A convicted murderer has broken out of Azkaban, the heavily guarded magical prison, and it seems that he is after Harry. Yet despite the relative safety of Hogwarts, the threat of the escaped prisoner grows near. And when Hogwarts becomes surrounded by dementors, Azkaban guards that drain all the happiness out of the air around them, Harry finds himself relying on his friends to help get him through this year.
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Summary: Harry Potter is halfway through his magical education at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, but this year will be different. A mysterious event is taking place at Hogwarts this year involving two other rival schools of magic and a competition that hasn't happened in the Wizarding World for a hundred years. Harry just wants to be a normal, but unfortunately for Harry Potter, he is anything but normal… even by wizarding standards. And in his case, different can be deadly.
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Summary: No wizard or muggle is safe now that a great evil has been reborn; Lord Voldemort, the greatest dark wizard has returned. In response, the Order of the Phoenix, which worked to stop him during his last rise to power, has reformed. Harry wants to join, but no underage witches or wizards are allowed. That doesn’t work for Harry and his friends, so they decide to create their own secret society with the goal of learning how to protect themselves and fight against the dark arts.
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Summary: Lord Voldemort continues to grow in strength and power leaving death and destruction in his path that even the non-magical Muggle world has begun to notice. As for Harry Potter, he is in his sixth-year at Hogwarts and is struggling to uncover the identity of the Half-Blood Prince, the past owner of Harry’s potions textbook which is filled with ingenious, potentially deadly, spells. But Harry's life is suddenly changed forever when the truth of Lord Voldemort’s power is revealed.
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Summary: It is no longer safe for Harry at Hogwarts, so he and his best friends, Ron and Hermione, are on the run. Together, they are following clues about what they need to do to defeat the dark wizard, Lord Voldemort, once and for all. Their cross-country adventure has them searching desperately for the answers, while evading capture or death at every turn. It all leads to an ultimate battle between good and evil that takes place where Harry's Wizarding life began... at Hogwarts.
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Summary: The book shares the stories of Friedrich in Germany, Mike in Pennsylvania, and Ivy in California. Each story becomes interwoven when the same harmonica lands in each of their lives, binding them together by an invisible thread of destiny. All the children face daunting challenges: rescuing a father, protecting a brother, holding a family together. Their suspenseful solo stories converge in an orchestral crescendo that shows the power of love, family, and of course… music.
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Summary: Tomi was born in Hawaii. His grandfather and parents were born in Japan, and came to America to escape poverty. World War II seems far away to Tomi and his friends, who are too busy playing ball. But then Pearl Harbor is attacked by the Japanese, and the United States declares war on Japan. Japanese men are rounded up, and Tomi's father and grandfather are arrested. It's a scary time to be Japanese in America. But one thing doesn't change: the loyalty of Tomi's friends.
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Summary: From the day she arrives at quiet Mica High in a burst of color and sound, the hallways hum with the murmur of "Stargirl." She captures Leo Borlock's heart with just one smile. The students of Mica High are intrigued, but find her too different, too strange, and too weird. They reject her. Panicked and desperate with love, Leo urges her to become the very thing that can destroy her: normal. But that doesn’t fit for Startgirl and it is Leo who ends up changing the most.
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Summary: The book details the lives, history, and personalities about past Presidents of the United States, followed by information about their backgrounds. Each page describes facts about some Presidents including military experience, former job positions, other offices held, hobbies, and more. It also mentions some of the more notable accomplishments of former Presidents including The Louisiana Purchase, soup kitchens, job creations, and the creation of the Peace Corps in 1961.
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Summary: This is the story of a little pig named Wilbur who was born a runt. Mr. Arable decides to kill him for dinner, but his daughter Fern begs him to let him live. Fern's father agrees, and she gets to raise him. When Wilbur grows up, he is sold to Fern's uncle, Homer L. Zuckerman. Wilbur is scared that at the end of the season he will end up on the dinner table. He hatches a plan with Charlotte, a gentle and wise grey spider that lives in his pen, to ensure that this will never happen.
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Summary: It is 1871 and four-year-old Laura Ingalls lives in a log cabin on the edge of the Big Woods of Wisconsin. She shares the cabin with her Pa, her Ma, her sisters Mary and Carrie, and their lovable dog, Jack. Pioneer life isn’t easy for the Ingalls family, since they must grow and catch all their own food as they get ready for the cold winter. But they make the best of every tough situation. Laura’s life is a unique glimpse into life on the American frontier and of a loving family.
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Summary: While Laura Ingalls grows up on the prairie, her future husband Almanzo Wilder is living on a big farm in New York State. Almanzo and his brother and sisters help with the summer planting and fall harvest. In winter there is wood to be chopped and great slabs of ice to be cut from the river and stored. Time for fun comes when the fair comes to town. Almanzo wishes for just one thing, his very own horse, but he must prove that he is ready for such a big responsibility.
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Summary: The adventures continue for Laura Ingalls and her family as they leave their little house in the Big Woods of Wisconsin and set out for Kansas. They travel for many days in their covered wagon until they find the best spot to build their little house on the prairie. Soon they are planting and plowing, hunting wild ducks and turkeys, and gathering grass for their cows. Sometimes pioneer life is hard, but Laura and her family are always busy and happy in their new little house.
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Summary: Laura Ingalls and her family pack up once again and leave their little house on the prairie and travel in their covered wagon to Minnesota. They settle into a house made of sod on the banks of beautiful Plum Creek. Laura and Mary go to school, help with the chores around the house, and fish in the creek. But then disaster strikes with a terrible blizzard and a grasshopper infestation that destroys their crop. Now the family must work harder than ever to overcome these challenges.
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Summary: The Ingalls family has seen both joy and hardship in the last few years. Mary has been left blind from a battle with scarlet fever, and a new sister, Grace, has been born. Pa decides to move to a railroad camp in the unsettled Dakota Territory for work as a bookkeeper. Eventually, Laura, her sisters, and Ma travel by train to join Pa at the spot he's claimed for their new home. It's the first building in their new town and now the Ingalls family's travels by covered wagon are over.
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