Let’s face it: Greg Heffley will never change his wimpy ways. Somebody just needs to explain that to Greg’s father. You see, Frank Heffley actually thinks he can get his son to toughen up, and he enlists Greg in organized sports and other “manly” endeavors. Of course, Greg is able to easily sidestep his father’s efforts to change him. But when Greg’s dad threatens to send him to military academy, Greg realizes he has to shape up . . . or get shipped out.   Greg and his family and friends, who make the Diary of a Wimpy Kid books a must-read for middle school readers, are back and at their best in this hilarious new installment of the series, which is sure to please current fans while attracting new ones. This highly anticipated third book in the critically acclaimed and bestselling series takes the art of being wimpy to a whole new level.   Publishers Weekly-1/19/2009: The third book in this genre-busting series is certain to enlarge Kinney’s presence on the bestseller lists, where the previous titles have taken up residence for the past two years. Kinney’s spot-on humor and winning formula of deadpan text set against cartoons are back in full force. This time, Greg starts off on New Year’s Day (he resolves to “help other people improve,” telling his mother, “I think you should work on chewing your potato chips more quietly”) and ends with summer vacation. As he fends off his father’s attempts to make him more of a man (the threat of military school looms), Greg’s hapless adventures include handing out anonymous valentines expressing his true feelings (“Dear James, You smell”), attempting to impress his classmate Holly and single-handedly wrecking his soccer team’s perfect season. Kinney allows himself some insider humor as well, with Greg noting the “racket” children’s book authors have going. “All you have to do is make up a character with a snappy name, and then make sure the character learns a lesson at the end of the book.” Greg, self-centered as ever, may be the exception proving that rule. Ages 8–12.

The CityDome goes up fast with many workers and Nano-tech. Some of the workers are staying at the CityDome and bring their families there to find work. The workers bring their children with them and find that the schools aren't ready, some people do not think Mars is a place for humans to grow. There are many jobs at the CityDome, but they are being filledfast by the people that helped build this big citydome.One of the workers is so overwhelmed by the city that he doesn’t give his family much choice but tomoveto Mars with him. He is surprised that his wife and daughter settle in to life on Mars so easily and they enjoy the activities in this citydome. Three young college graduates get a graduation present that helps them find work on Mars. Their parents wanted to experience Mars and decide to bring their sons as a college graduation present. The three sons bring along there three girl friends with them and they tour the CityDome while their parents stay at the MarsTent complexes. Their parents dream of retiring to or working at Mars with their sons nearby.There are a lot of things happening at Mars. There are races and other extremesports going on in the CityDome and in the MarsTents. The MarsDomes complex is in between the city and the tents, so before the sons go to meet there parents at the tents they stop at the MarsDomes and take a tour of the Science Dome and see how things have developed on Mars. When they meet their parents, they have a lot to talk about as they spend the day in Tent B. Tent B is a sports complex with racing, basketball, golf, and other sports with a big activity restaurant in it.

When orphans Aiden and Maddy Lynch first meet trailrider Jefferson J. Jackson in the spring of 1865, they’re struggling to survive on their family’s drought-ravaged Kansas farm. So when Jackson offers an escape—a 2000-mile journey across the roughest country in the world—Aiden knows it’s their only choice.They say there are a hundred ways to die on the Oregon Trail, and the long wagon journey is broken only by catastrophe: wolf attacks, rattlesnakes, deadly river crossings, Indians, and the looming threat of smallpox, “the devil’s paint.” Through it all, Aiden and Maddy and a hundred fellow travelers move forward with a growing hope, and the promise of a new life in the Washington Territory. But one question haunts them: who will survive the journey?In an adventure-filled and historically accurate new novel, Victoria McKernan captures both the peril and the stunning beauty of the frontier West. Shackleton’s Stowaway (“Truly thrilling” according to The Washington Post) was Victoria McKernan’s first novel for young adults. She lives in Washington, D.C..

The gooey sequel to: NORMAN & THE STINKING SPACE GOO. Equipped with his new found stink power fourteen year old Norman Flinch begins his crime fighting crusade as Skunk-Guy: The Stinking Stalker. Things get off to a rocky start, but when a misshapen mass of goo oozes out of the sewer things really get sticky. As it turns out this newly formed slime creature and Skunk-Guy share an astonishing secret.