In Holt, Colorado, widower Louis Waters is initially thrown when the widowed Addie Moore suggests that they spend time together, in bed, to stave off loneliness, but soon they are exchanging the confidences and memories.

With insight and a light touch, best-selling, Newbery Honor-winning author Gary D. Schmidt tells two poignant, linked stories: that of a grieving girl and a boy trying to escape his violent past. Following the death of her closest friend in summer 1968, Meryl Lee Kowalski goes off to St. Elene's Preparatory Academy for Girls, where she struggles to navigate the venerable boarding school's traditions and a social structure heavily weighted toward students...

"From fixing the class computer to repairing old radios, twelve-year-old Iris is a tech genius. But she's the only deaf person in her school, so people often treat her like she's not very smart. If you've ever felt like no one was listening to you, then you know how hard that can be. When she learns about Blue 55, a real whale who is unable to speak to other whales, Iris understands how he must feel. Then she has an idea: she should invent a way to...

About a young woman resisting the savagery of adulthood in a community of the elderly rejecting the promise of youth.

"Margaret's whole world changes when her family moves to a cottage by the sea to be near her grandma. One evening, Margaret spots a mist over the water. No, that's not mist ... clouds maybe? No, they're unicorns descending onto the shore! They vanish as quickly as they'd appeared, but accidentally leave behind a baby, tangled in the weeds. Margaret, lonely and in need of a friend, brings him home and cares for him through the fall and winter. Together,...

When orphaned Mary Lennox comes to live at her uncle's great house on the Yorkshire moors, she finds it full of secrets. At night, she hears the sound of crying down one of the long corridors. Outside, she meets Dickon, a magical boy who can talk to animals. Then one day, Mary discovers the most mysterious wonder of all -- a secret garden, walled and locked, which has been forgotten for years and years. With the help of two unexpected companions,...

Caspian lives alone in a lighthouse surrounded by the cold gray-blue sea, longing for a friend; so one day he puts a message in a bottle and floats it away in the sea--but the friend who finds it is someone completely unexpected.

Presents five of the author's most popular novels. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (abridged): e gates of Mr. Willy Wonka's fabulous chocolate factory are opening at last and only five lucky children are allowed to enter. James and the Giant Peach (abridged): A young boy escapes from two wicked aunts and embarks on a series of adventures with six giant insects he meets inside a giant peach. Fantastic Mr. Fox (unabridged): Three farmers, each one...