Synopsis: Abducted...to an Alien World! Logan and Mindy Oakes wake up to discover everything has changed. Wrong beds, wrong clothes, wrong house. And, worst of all, their parents are missing. When they go outside, they run into a friend whose parents are also gone. In fact, all the grownups in town have inexplicably vanished. Then along comes a spider a giant, monstrous, mechanical horror. And that s the least of the nightmares that will befall the brother and sister in Shadowind, a dangerous, otherworldly dimension inhabited by ghostly creatures, cyborg animals and virtual humans a land where anything is possible, including being downloaded into a cryptic, evil role-playing game. In order to survive, Logan and Mindy band together with other kids determined to find a way back to the life they knew and loved. Ultimately they must battle the sinister cyber-lord for the Staff of the Sky Shifter, a powerful weapon that could destroy the universe...but might also be the key to getting back home.

Synopsis: Here's an anthology that examines what it means to be human in all its positive and negative aspects. If you were an intelligent robot, would the opportunity to become human for a day be worth the risks? If a magic spell switched the bodies of a vampire and a teenage girl, would both savor the experience or search for a way to undo the enchantment? What tests would an angel face if transformed into a mortal for a day? These are just a few of the inventive stories-some humorous, some sad, many thought-provoking, and all unique-to be found in Human for a Day.

Synopsis: Young Nicola Gregori has always wanted to follow in the footsteps of his father, a brilliant clock-maker who’s famous for his wild, fantastical designs. But his father instead sends him to school to learn more practical matters. Nicola, stricken with infantile paralysis that left him with a deformed right leg, becomes an object of mockery and cruel jokes in school. He learns that in order to survive his daily ordeals, he needs to vanish in the crowd, to stop aspiring, to stop dreaming, and above all, to believe himself unworthy of respect and love.

Tragedy strikes when Nicola turns sixteen. Gustav Renfred, an old friend of his father, takes on Nicola as his charge and whisks him away to an isolated islet filled with empty mansions and bordered by a bluebell forest. There Nicola slowly learns about the tragic story that tightly weaves together the fates of Jacopo Gregori, Gustav Renfred, and Gustav’s twin sister, Constanza.

Magic, impossible dreams, and unrequited love come together in Ambrosi, the Renfreds’ mansion, where Nicola is caught up in a world of haunting portraits, a ghostly housekeeper, and the mysterious disappearance of Davide, Constanza’s adopted son. When Nicola’s invited to one of Renfred’s magical masquerades, he discovers the answers to riddles as well as the mounting danger that the Renfred family faces with every passing hour.

With the masquerades’ existence depending on the physical and mental strength of an ailing Renfred, the task of solving the mystery of Davide’s disappearance before time runs out falls on Nicola’s shoulders, and he has no choice but to depend on things that he’s long learned to suppress: courage, self-respect, and the desire to aim for impossible goals.

Synopsis: How far can you run, until you just can’t run anymore? Seventeen year old Michael Anderson and his kid brother, Danny, find themselves in mortal danger after their parents are kidnapped. Michael discovers Danny has a special gift—he knows what happens after a person dies—and now others want to know too. The brothers must outwit and outrun Samuel Herrington, a lethal biophysicist, the FBI, and even fellow Americans in a harrowing cross-country chase, because whoever gets to Danny first will have the power to rule the world.

Synopsis: Fright Flight is the first installment in the Dream Seeker Adventures series. Being twelve years old can be challenging, but add to that the unusual ability to experience dreams as reality and you begin to understand Patrick's need for a little self-control. A "sweet" dream devouring the world's largest ice cream sundae can end with an enormous stomachache. A fall from a bike means Patrick wakes with a broken arm. Try explaining that to the emergency room doctor! Oh wait - that would be Patrick's mom. She's a dream seeker too, as are Patrick's sister and brother. If Patrick follows the family's dream-seeking rules he can have cool nighttime adventures. But if he forgets...

Synopsis: Jennifer Van Der Berg would like you to know that the book ostensibly written about her—Born to Be Extraordinary by Eileen Codlin—is a bunch of bunk. Yes, she had a fairy godparent mess with her life, but no, she was not made into a princess or given the gift of self-confidence, and she sure as hell didn't get a hot boyfriend out of it.
Here's the REAL scoop . . .

Synopsis: When nine-year-old Paul explores the hole dug for his backyard swimming pool, he discovers a box containing a ring—a ring that turns out to be magical. Moments later, a mysterious boy shows up demanding the ring; luckily, Paul’s trusty dog Clem scares him away. To keep the ring safe, Paul hides it in his pillow case, where, to his horror, it’s discovered by his mother, who loans it to his Aunt Vicky. Things get even stranger when Vicky, a non-swimmer, falls into the now-finished pool and discovers that her greatest secret wish has been granted—she can swim! As the ring gets passed around and wishes are made, a wild series of talents and circumstances threaten to turn their lives upside down…forever. But Jasmine, a fairy of the woods, has an idea, and if everyone cooperates, she just might be able to put an end to the shenanigans and return their lives to normal. Wildly original and full of vibrant, chaotic imagination, Secrets of the Magic Ring is proof of the old adage, “Be careful what you wish for.”