Adventure

Forest Of The Pygmies
Margaret Sayers Peden, Isabel Allende
Alexander Cold knows all too well his grandmother Kate is never far from an adventure. When International Geographic commissions her to write an article about the first elephant-led safaris in Africa, they head -- with Nadia Santos and the magazine's photography crew -- to the blazing, red plains of Kenya. Days into the tour, a Catholic missionary approaches their camp in search of his companions who have mysteriously disappeared. Kate, Alexander, Nadia, and their team, agreeing to aid the rescue, enlist the help of a local pilot to lead them to the swampy forests of Ngoubé. There they discover a clan of Pygmies who unveil a harsh and surprising world of corruption, slavery, and poaching.Alexander and Nadia, entrusting the magical strengths of Jaguar and Eagle, their totemic animal spirits, launch a spectacular and precarious struggle to restore freedom and return leadership to its rightful hands.The final installment of Isabel Allende's celebrated trilogy of the journeys of Jaguar and Eagle soars with radiant settings, spirits, beings -- and the transformation of an extraordinary friendship.
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Warriors: The New Prophecy #2: Moonrise
Dave Stevenson, Erin Hunter
Erin Hunter’s #1 nationally bestselling Warriors series continues with the second book in the New Prophecy series!The second book in this second series, Warriors: The New Prophecy #2: Moonrise, brings more adventure, intrigue, and thrilling battles to the epic world of the warrior Clans.Moons have passed since six cats set out on a journey to save their Clans. Now they are traveling home again, but on their way through the mountains, they meet a tribe of wild cats with a secret…and their own mysterious prophecy to fulfill.In the forest, Firestar and Leafpaw watch ThunderClan’s world crumbling around them. Will the questing cats make it back in time to save the Clans, or will they be too late?
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Warriors: The New Prophecy: Midnight
Erin Hunter
Darkness, air, water, and sky will come together... The wild cats of the forest have lived in peace and harmony for many moons -- but a doom that will change everything is coming. Strange messages from their warrior ancestors speak of terrifying new prophecies, danger, and a mysterious destiny. All the signs point to young warrior Brambleclaw as the cat with the fate of the forest in his paws. But why would the son of wicked cat Tigerstar be chosen to be a hero? And who are the other cats mentioned in the prophecy? All Brambleclaw knows for sure is that the strength and courage of the greatest warriors will be needed now, as the quest to save the Clans begins. ...and shake the forest to its roots.
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Arthur and the Minimoys
Luc Besson
Luc Besson, writer, director and producer of The Fifth Element and La Femme Nikita, makes his children's book debut with this over-the-top middle-grade fantasy first published in France. Ten-year-old Arthur and his grandmother are doing just fine on their own -- except for that Grandpa has been missing in Africa for four years and a developer villain is evicting them from their own house. Things sour further when antique dealers haul away all of Grandpa's priceless African artifacts and books. Arthur is certain that his grandfather must have left some hidden message somewhere that will reverse their current downward spiral. He hopes to discover some way to enter the world of the beautiful, red-haired, blue-eyed African Princess Selenia that he saw in his grandfather's sketches; member of a tiny (less-than-an-inch-tall) tribe called the Minimoys that he suspects might live in Grandma's garden. But how, when Grandpa's attic has been stripped of clues? Besson's story contains many of the elements of a good, suspenseful children's adventure, but it is often over told, employs an abundance of facile plot solutions, and loses threads and themes in a long, dizzying action-adventure sequence that abruptly ends as "to be continued." Still, it's hard to resist a likeable hero-protagonist, treasure maps, the promise of rubies, and a land of warring tiny people. Let the hype begin! The sequel Arthur and the Forbidden City is due in fall 2005, and Arthur, a computer-animated movie based on the books, is due out in 2006, with Madonna voicing the part of Princess Selenia. (Ages 8 to 12) --Karin Snelson
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The Thief and the Beanstalk
P. W. Catanese
Everyone knows the story of Jack and the beanstalk. Everyone also knows that Jack's little adventure made him a very rich man. But what they don't know is what happened a long time after Jack.... That's where Nick comes in. Orphaned and desperate, Nick joins a rugged band of thieves in hopes of a warm meal and a little protection. In exchange Nick must help them break into the lavish white castle rumored to belong to an old man named Jack. Legend says it's full of riches from Jack's quest up a magical beanstalk decades ago. When Nick's dangerous mission leads him straight to Jack, he sees a chance to climb the famed beanstalk himself. But what Nick doesn't know is that things are different from when Jack made his climb. There are new foes at the top now. Ones with cruel weapons and foul plans -- plans that could destroy the world as Nick knows it. Will Nick come down the beanstalk a hero? Will he come down at all?
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The Witch's Boy
Michael Gruber
A wondrous journey through the realms of magicThey call him Lump. Ugly, misshapen -- more goblin than human child -- abandoned as an infant and taken in by a witch, he is nursed by a bear, tutored by a djinn; his only playmates are the creatures of the forest, whose language he learns to speak.But when Lump inevitably stumbles into the human world, his innocence is no match for the depths of people's cruelty, which turns his heart to stone, and fuels a vengeance that places him and his witch mother in deadly peril. Yet these disasters also send Lump on a journey of self-discovery, to realms deep within the earth and far beyond mortal imagination.In this stunning fantasy debut, Michael Gruber has created a world that is at once deceptively familiar and stunningly original, a world of cruelty, beauty, legend, truth, and above all, wonder. Readers will delight in the author's ingenious retelling of classic fairy tales and will marvel at the stunning new tale of a boy raised by a witch, a cat, a bear, and a demon.
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The Seven Wonders of Sassafras Springs
Betty G. Birney
When Eben McAllister reads about the Seven Wonders of the World, he longs to escape the small farming community of Sassafras Springs and do some exploring f his own. No one else ever seems to want to leave Sassafras however -- not even his best pal, Jeb -- and so, for now, Eben figures he's stuck on the farm with Pa and Aunt Pretty until he grows up. All that changes when his pa, tired of Eben's moping, challenges him to find Seven Wonders in Sassafras Springs that can stang up to the real Seven Wonders of the World. And if he does? Then Eben will get the adventure he's been craving for -- a trip out West. Eben doesn't reckon he'll have any luck -- he can't think of even one thing that would be called "interesting," let along wonderous, in Sassafras, but he figures he'll give it a try; there's nothing else to do in Sassafras anyway. While his mission puzzles and annoys some of his friends and neighbors, Eben perseveres, little knowing that he is in for a big surprise. For what with a singing saw, a floating table, and a truth-telling loom (just to name a few), the Wonders Eben will discover among his neighbors, friends, and family will give him the adventure of a lifetime...without his ever leaving home. Told in a down-home narrative with glimmers of magical realism woven throughout, and illustrated with sumptuous drawings by Matt Phelan, Betty G. Birney's tale about a boy's journey of discovery reminds us all that extraordinary things can happen in the most ordinary of places...even in Sassafras Springs.
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JumpMan Rule 2
James Valentine
No sooner is their first date over than Jules and Gen find themselves back at work after a JumpMan comes looking for them to tell them of their friend's involvement with Quincy Carter One and their plans to change the history of the world.
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Revenge on Rairarubia
W. Royce Adams
Book 4 in the on-going fantasy/adventures series, The Rairarubia Tales for ages 9 and up.
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Cirque du Freak: Killers of the Dawn
Darren Shan

Outnumbered, outsmarted and desperate, the hunters are on the run, pursued by the vampaneze, the police, and an angry mob. With their enemies clamoring for blood, the vampires prepare for a deadly battle. Is this the end for Darren and his allies?