Synopsis: Spanky loves snakes, sketching, camping, and, well, maybe girls. While his dad is fighting grown bullies in Afghanistan, Mack Malone, has Spanky in his crosshairs at school. Worse yet, whenever Spanky needs to defend himself, help a friend, or. . . OMG. . . save his teacher's life, he freezes! The overnight Outdoor Ed camping trip is Spanky's chance to impress a special girl, make his dad proud to have him for a son, and. . . get him suspended. Ultimately, Spanky learns to face his fears and what it really means to be a hero.

Synopsis: “There is a strong essence of Roald Dahl to this story…a crowd-pleaser.” —Library Media Connection
“[A] sweet story about true friendship.” —School Library Journal

Poppy has magical powers, but she would rather be a baker. Can she find a way to follow her own path? This charming novel includes more than a dozen delectable recipes!

Ten-year-old Poppy, born to ordinary parents, has inherited coveted witch power. In Poppy’s world, witches work for good and are much valued, but Poppy does not want to be a witch—she wants to be a baker, and she is extremely good at baking. Her parents insist Poppy follow in the footsteps of her great aunt, a famous witch, but Poppy has plans of her own.

Part magic, part adventure, and wholly delicious, this spirited story includes more than a dozen recipes you can try at home.

Synopsis: Joshua "Lucky" Lukenyenko is 12 years old and hopes to follow in his father's footsteps as a photojournalist. While shooting photos in a local cemetery, he runs across a mysterious girl dressed in red. When her bodyguard threatens him, Lucky suspects a mystery. With the help of his friends Ken and Mei Ling Wong, Lucky sets out to find the truth about the mysterious Red Princess.

Synopsis: The Jinson twins, Joe and Debbie, decide to start a business during their summer vacation, hiring themselves out to do odd jobs. They find themselves in an odder job than they counted on when Mrs. Gray, who lives with her talkative parrot, the Captain, in an old house down off River Road, engages them to help clean out her basement. Aided by their friend, Mr. Benjamin, the proprietor of the Resource Recovery and Recycling Center (a.k.a. the junkyard), the twins use the clues that Mrs. Gray’s late husband, a former sea captain, left behind to figure out, using scientific principles, where the captain hid his enormous collection of antique Spanish gold coins. But some other people know about the treasure too and have no intention of letting an old lady who spends most of her time with a parrot, an old man who runs a junkyard, and a couple of kids get the treasure.

Synopsis: Leaf is an impish, stick creature called a Twig. He lives in an old forest at the foot of an ancient volcano capped by a vast glacier ~ the Long Ice. Leaf entertains his mischievous, younger, twin brothers with stories about the rare beasts that still survive on the Long Ice even though it shrinks more and more as the seasons grow hotter. One afternoon, the twins run away to play in the vanishing ice and snow. They hitch a ride on a giant moth, befriend a snowshoe bunny, and stumble upon a hermit's creepy cave. Mistaking the hermit's odd pets for a cave beast's meal, the twins rescue them all. When a bold mountain goat kid leaps into the expedition, a mighty eagle called Slayer attacks! Panicked, the Twig twins and their terrified companions rush into the glacier's icy tunnels, and are soon bewildered by a maze of melting blue tubes. Yet all is not lost, for with the help of a courageous pika, Leaf and the grumpy hermit join forces to find the twins. But in a dreadful turn of events, it is the snow beasts of the Long Ice that will decide their fate.
 In the Twig Stories adventure novels young Twigs are thrust upon dangerous paths. Still, they discover their world has unexpected help. In the midst of disappearing habitats, beavers build mighty dams to control floods and quench wildfires. Bark beetles are fought. Rare trees are saved from extinction. Glaciers may shrink, but their precious water is not lost. Now Twigs must learn a lesson from the eruption of a volcano ~ incredible adaption is possible, so Leaf and his loyal Twig friends stick together and battle to survive. 

Royalties are shared with nature conservancy nonprofits protecting wildlife and forests.

Twig Stories are illustrated by D.W. Murray, a Disney artist. His credits include Mulan, Tarzan, Lilo & Stitch, Brother Bear, and Curious George. He is a recipient of the New York Society of Illustrators Gallery and the 2004 Gold Aurora Award.

Praise for Leaf & the Long Ice ~

"Excellent storytelling combined with accurate science make this book a must-read for children interested in nature and stories of adventure."
Sarah Boon, PhD, Alberta Water and Environmental Science
University of Lethbridge

"The theme of environmental change is woven into the narrative as a backdrop to a story of adventure, danger, camaraderie, and kindness. Readers of all ages will relate to the magic that draws Buddy and Burba to the snow in the first place, and will be reminded of our connection to Earth's changing cryosphere."
Dr. Gwenn Flowers, Canada Research Chair in Glaciology
Simon Fraser University

"Leaf & the Long Ice is a must-have in your library. Rich fictional characters, vivid word imagery, evocative sensorial language, and layered science content... Jo Marshall gives us a great age-appropriate teaching tool that helps lay a foundation for students in fostering a nature care-taker's ethic."
Clay Heilman, Environmental Educator
Nature Vision

Synopsis: "Oliver Griffon and the Witch's Curse is a great story for kids--and adults!" -- Said by someone very important.

But what's the story about? Read on...
Oliver can’t stay out of trouble. And he’s gotten into a heap of it this time.
In the waning days of October, strange magical events happen around Orchard Hollow, the little town where Oliver lives. He soon finds himself and his friends cursed to die on Halloween by the town witch.
But other mysterious forces are at work around Oliver, too. If he and his friends play their cards right, they might be able to remove the witch’s curse. If not, this Halloween will be their last.

In this story, follow Oliver and his friends as they take their first steps into the Mysterious World, a place where name brand wizardry and quirky and humorous magic is commonplace. Need a magical feather duster, or maybe a sword, or maybe even the wand of a long-dead wizard? The Mysterious World has all of that. But there are also other surprises lurking there as well--forgotten tombs, peculiar places, and sometimes even a nasty witch or two.

REQUIRED LEGAL DISCLAIMER:
In compliance with The Secrecy Compliance Department, and as authorized by The 1227 International Agreement for No Blabbing Allowed, this notice serves to inform the reader of this book that it is entirely a work of fiction. The names mentioned are made-up, and the events described herein definitely did not occur within the confines of Orchard Hollow, Massachusetts. As related, The General Wizardry Company and The World Wand Company and their subsidiaries are, of course, not real either. But most importantly, this notice serves to remind the reader that magic definitely, without a doubt, and in no way possible, exists at all.

However, complaints about this notice are required by law to be collected. Address all correspondence in this regard to "No One In Particular, Care Of: The Department of Natural World Diplomacy" and drop said letter in the nearest "normal" mailbox. Note that the use of "normal" here in no way implies that magical mailboxes exist, because that would be silly.