The next morning we meet at the world headquarters of Leisure-Lee Tours. Which is a sentence I never thought I'd write. Ariel Flack never thought she'd write a postcard saying "Wish you were here," especially to Dylan, the boy she's had a crush on forever and is finally (sort of) dating. She also didn't know she'd be sending that postcard from the family vacation from hell—a two-week geriatric bus tour with her crazy mom, annoying sister, embarrassing uncle, and frighteningly energetic grandparents. As South Dakota rolls by at five miles an hour, Ariel begins to learn that sometimes life is just too complicated to fit on a postcard. Sometimes your parents let you down (and sometimes they don't). Sometimes you meet an unexpected fellow traveler. And sometimes you just have to go where the road takes you—even if the tour bus won't.

Nick of Time is the first young reader's book written by bestselling author Ted Bell.In the grand tradition of epic novels like Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island comes a wondrous tale of time travel, adventure, and riches, in which twelve-year-old Nick McIver sets out to become "the hero of his own life."The setting is England, 1939, on the eve of war. Nick and his younger sister, Kate, live in a lighthouse on the smallest of the Channel Islands. Nick and Kate come to the aid of their father who is engaged in a desperate war of espionage with German U-boat wolf packs that are circling the islands. The information they provide to Winston Churchill is vital as he tries to warn England of the imminent Nazi invasion. One day Nick discovers an old sea chest, left for him by his ancestor, Captain Nicholas McIver of the Royal Navy. Inside, he finds a time machine and a desperate plea for help from the captain. He uses the machine to return to the year 1805. Captain McIver and, indeed, Admiral Nelson's entire fleet are threatened by the treachery of the French and the mutinous Captain Billy Blood. Nick must reach deep inside, using his wits, courage, and daring to rescue the imperiled British sailors.His sister, Kate, meanwhile, has enlisted the aid of two of England's most brilliant "scientific detectives," Lord Hawke and Commander Hobbes, to thwart the invading Nazis. She and Nick must face England's underwater enemies, a challenge made all the more difficult when they discover the existence of Germany's supersecret submarine.In this striking adventure for readers of all ages, Nick must fight ruthless enemies across two different centuries, on land and sea, to help defeat those determined to destroy his home and his family.

Baxter Moon's first mission is to locate a missing Aquarian ship that has been taken over by a group of aliens whose aim is to subjugate Earth by entertaining its citizens to death. His second mission is to rescue a beautiful blue-haired Aquarian princess, known affectionately as "Your Highness." Baxter is assisted in his missions by his able but peculiar shuttle crew--a genetically modified, enormous girl who's a mechanical genius, her (genetically modified) twin, a small extremely klutzy math wizard, a genetically modified chimpanzee, and a nit-picking overly sensitive computer. Baxter's and his crew must avoid killer asteroids, elude deadly TVTrons, and, by the way, head off a possible galactic war. A funny book for would-be space cadets.

Set between the 1950s and the late 1990s, "A Time to Tell" is the poignant story of Cara, from her dramatic attempted suicide to her roles as a smitten eighteen-year-old, unmarried mother, wife, widow and grandmother, and her final, passionate reunion with the man she has always loved. It is also the parallel tale of Cara's prodigal son Benjamin and his daughter Penelope, whose unhappy relationship with her father has led her into marriage with a man whose own dysfunctional family have turned him into a person who at first seems strangely attractive, but turns out to have a dark and terrifying side...Rich in colourful characters and pertinent social themes, "A Time to Tell" is an eventful and often disturbing tale of the pain and pleasures of family relationships.