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Forest Of The Pygmies
Margaret Sayers Peden, Isabel Allende
Synopsis:

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.

Publication Date: 05/10/05
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Adventure
Don Quixote of La Mancha
Miguel de/ Grossman, Edith (TRN)/ Bloom, Harold (INT) Cervantes Saavedra
Synopsis: A definitive English translation of the sixteenth-century classic follows the adventures of Don Quixote de la Mancha and his faithful squire, Sancho Panza, as they travel through Spain and become subject to the noble knight-errant's fanciful imagination.
Title: Don Quixote
Author: Cervantes Saavedra, Miguel de/ Grossman, Edith (TRN)/ Bloom, Harold (INT)
Publisher: Harpercollins
Publication Date: 2005/05/01
Number of Pages: 940
Binding Type: PAPERBACK
Library of Congress:
Publication Date: 05/01/05
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Adventure
The Thief and the Beanstalk
Synopsis: 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?
Publication Date: 05/01/05
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Adventure
The Web: GulliverZone
Stephen Baxter
Synopsis:

Welcome to the infinite worlds of The Web
February 7, 2027, is World Peace Day. All over the world, celebrations are in full swing. There's even free access to the Web today--a chance to sample the infinite worlds and endless possibilities of virtual reality. Finally, a chance for Sarah to spin into the Web. Too bad she has to bring her little brother, George, with her. But Sarah knows she'll have a great time in GulliverZone, the best theme park in the Web, anyway. What Sarah doesn't know is that February 7, 2027, will turn out to be a day of danger beyond imagination.
The peace that is being celebrated in the real world does not extend into cyberspace. A mysterious being known only as the Sorceress seeks to use the Web for her own purposes...and she won't let anything--or anybody--stand her in way... in Stephen Baxter's The Web: GulliverZone.

Publication Date: 05/01/05
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Adventure
Framed!
Malcolm Rose
Synopsis: Luke has barely had time to celebrate his final exams when Malc, his Mobile Aid to Law and Crime, calls him to their first case. A fellow student has been mysteriously shot dead with an arrow. Two more grisly on-campus murders follow, and all the evidence points to Luke himself. The stakes are high as Luke sets out to prove his innocence and show that his crime-solving expertise isn't confined
Publication Date: 04/14/05
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Adventure
The Cry of the Icemark
Synopsis: A brave girl must defy an empire to save her homeland in a sweeping fantasy that combines breathless action with richly-imagined characters.

After the death of her beloved father, headstrong princess Thirrin Freer Strong-In-The-Arm becomes warrior queen of her homeland, Icemark, defending it from a formidable invader. Despite Thirrin's bravery and the support of Oskan, the Witch's son, the task proves more difficult than Thirrin ever dreamed. She must assemble a force to rival her opponent. And, in the chill winter of Icemark, she only has until spring to unite the strange beasts and frightening creatures who live just outside her country. Ultimately, it is Thirrin's vision and determination that will see her through to victory.
Publication Date: 04/01/05
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Adventure
Maia of Thebes
Ann Turner
Synopsis: Leap into the ancient world in renowned author Ann Turner's exciting addition to the Life and Times series. Maia's story is filled with action, adventure, and all the drama of life in ancient Egypt.

The intrigue and mysticism of ancient Egypt comes to life in Ann Turner's spectacular addition to The Life and Times series. In the time of the Pharoah Hatshepsut's rule, the Egyptian days could pass as slowly as the Nile's lazy waters, or as quickly as the Nile's rising floodwaters.

Maia and her brother are orphaned and living with a cold, judgmental aunt and uncle in Thebes. Searching for a way out of their house, Maia pleads with her brother, Sethnet, who is learning to be a scribe, to teach her how to write. He agrees, and this is to be her saving skill.
Publication Date: 04/01/05
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Adventure
The Kazillion Wish
Nick Place
Synopsis: From a fresh and funny debut author comes a warm-hearted, laugh-out-loud adventure about a brother and sister who must solve a magical riddle in order to get their fondest wish.

Harlan and Ainsley Banana are on a mission. An exciting, dangerous, once-in-a-lifetime quest for the perfect stepmom to cheer up their sad dad. Harlan and Ainsley bump into a wish-granting creature called a frongle (not ever to be confused with a fairy!), & they learn that their wish can come true if they solve a magical riddle. With a rainbow-colored creature named Zucchini Spacestation as their unreliable guide, the brother and sister head off. But help from unexpected allies --- such as a pair of purple martian twins -- might just make Harlan and Ainsley's wish come true after all!
Publication Date: 04/01/05
Age Level: 8 - 12
Genre: Adventure
Freddy to the Rescue
Joe Cepeda, Dietlof Reiche
Synopsis: A smartly written, humorously told adventure story, with a nod to environmentalism propels this third installment in the increasingly popular Golden Hamster Saga--as only Freddy Auratus can write it!

For Freddy Auratus being a civilized golden hamster comes with responsibilities. So when he learns that the lives of a tribe of endangered field hamsters are at risk, he takes action. But it's Freddy's own life--and his most valuable secret--that is put in jeopardy when, along with a wise tomcat and a pair of guinea pig poets (turned Opera divas), he takes on City Hall (and some bulldozers). Will Freddy's hamsteritarian mission be his end?
Publication Date: 04/01/05
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Adventure
The Lace Dowry
Andrea Cheng
Synopsis: Dowry. The word sounds like something from the Middle Ages. "Mama, I don't need a dowry," I say quickly. "Nobody in Budapest has a dowry anymore." -From the book Twelve-year-old Juli wants neither a dowry nor the dancing lessons that her mother has long planned for her. Studious and smart, Juli dreams of a career, not of marriage. But her mother insists, and together they make regular trips to the countryside to check on the progress of the large lace tablecloth commissioned for her dowry. Soon Julie makes friends with the lace maker's daughter, Roza, an unschooled girl her own age who is already saddled with adult responsibilities. When progression the tablecloth slows because of unexpected difficulties in Roza's family, Juli finds herself defying her mother in order to help her new friend. Through this painful episode, Juli and her mother grow to better understand themselves, each other, and how the past has shaped them.
Publication Date: 04/01/05
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Adventure
The Prometheus Project:  Trapped
Douglas E. Richards
Synopsis: Ryan and Regan Resnick have just moved to the world's most boring place. But when they discover their parents are part of an ultra-secret project called Prometheus they are plunged into a nonstop adventure: one that will be the ultimate test of their wit, courage, and determination.

Soon they are under attack and facing hostile alien worlds, alien technology, and unimaginable dangers at every turn. Now, with their mother facing certain death, they must race to solve a seemingly impossible mystery to have any hope of saving her. But if they save their mom, they will have no way to save themselves. . .
Publication Date: 04/01/05
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Adventure
The Witch's Boy
Michael Gruber
Synopsis:

A wondrous journey through the realms of magic

They 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.

Publication Date: 03/29/05
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Adventure
Journey to the Center of the Earth
Synopsis:

"The reason Verne is still read by millions today is simply that he was one of the best storytellers who ever lived." — Arthur C. Clarke
An adventurous geology professor chances upon a manuscript in which a 16th-century explorer claims to have found a route to the earth's core. Professor Lidenbrock can't resist the opportunity to investigate, and with his nephew Axel, he sets off across Iceland in the company of Hans Bjelke, a native guide. The expedition descends into an extinct volcano toward a sunless sea, where they encounter a subterranean world of luminous rocks, antediluvian forests, and fantastic marine life — a living past that holds the secrets to the origins of human existence.
Originally published in 1864, Jules Verne's classic remains critically acclaimed for its style and imaginative visions. Verne wrote many fantasy stories that later proved remarkably prescient, and his distinctive combination of realism and romanticism exercised a lasting influence on writers as diverse as Mark Twain, Arthur Conan Doyle, and Jean-Paul Sartre. In addition to the excitement of an action novel, Journey to the Center of the Earth has the added appeal of a psychological quest, in which the sojourn itself is as significant as the ultimate destination.

Publication Date: 03/04/05
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Adventure
Avril Crump and Her Amazing Clones
Synopsis: In Angela Woolfe's spectacularly funny debut novel, Avril Crump, the bumbling but lovable scientist embarks on a series of unexpected adventures with her newfound friends--who happen to be clones!

Avril Crump, female scientist, is bald, pink, and round, with a weakness for sweets, whose greatest love of all is chemistry, science, the quest for knowledge, and using that chemistry to fix the world's ills. But one day, while Avril is helping herself to a yummy snack, she accidentally stumbles upon a scientific experiment gone awry. When her uncle's old chemistry set collides with a mysterious metal trunk, three clones are created in the accidental explosion. And with this laboratory accident, Avril's adventure begins. She must save her new friends, the clones, from their own creator.
Publication Date: 03/01/05
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Adventure
Deliver Us From Normal
Synopsis: A humorous and heartbreaking novel about growing up in a large family by an author who brings a fresh new voice to the Scholastic Press list.

Yes, there really is a Normal, Illinois. Charles Harrisong should know; he was born there. But life is difficult for Charles because his family isn't normal at all. They're poor, for one thing. They stand out, which is the worst thing. After an ugly incident at school, Charles and family leave Normal and begin an adventure that takes them to a houseboat that just might be their new home. And Charles begins a personal journey within his own heart; one that will ultimately deliver him both from and to himself.
Publication Date: 03/01/05
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Adventure
Monterey Shorts 2
Joyce Krieg, Ken Jones, Byron Merritt, Chris Kemp
Synopsis: Twenty new stories by the authors' collective that brought you the original Monterey Shorts. Once again, all stories take place in and around the Monterey Peninsula, and span all genres: mystery, fantasy, historical fiction, weird fiction and adventure. A must for all fans of the area. You do not have to buy the first volume to enjoy the second, although it adds to the richness of the reading experience as some characters span both volumes.
Publication Date: 03/01/05
Age Level: 12 and up
Genre: Adventure

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