Three hilarious Margaret Atwood tales, together in a chapter book for the first time! In Rude Ramsay and the Roaring Radishes, Ramsay runs away from his revolting relatives and makes a new friend with more refined tastes. The second tale, Bashful Bob and Doleful Dorinda, features Bob, who was raised by dogs, and Dorinda, who does housework for relatives who don’t like her. It is only when they become friends that they realize they can change their lives for the better. And finally, to get her parents back, Wenda and her woodchuck companion have to outsmart Widow Wallop in Wandering Wenda and Widow Wallop’s Wunderground Washery. Young readers will become lifelong fans of Margaret Atwood’s work and the kind of wordplay that makes these tales such rich fare, whether they are read aloud or enjoyed independently. Reminiscent of Carl Sandburg’s Rootabaga Stories, these compelling tales are a lively introduction to alliteration. Key Text Features illustrations humour Correlates to the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.3.4 Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, distinguishing literal from nonliteral language. CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.5.4 Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative language such as metaphors and similes. CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.5.7 Analyze how visual and multimedia elements contribute to the meaning, tone, or beauty of a text (e.g., graphic novel, multimedia presentation of fiction, folktale, myth, poem).

"It is summer in 1968, the year of the assassinations of Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy. While the world is reeling our trio is involved in making a rackety Swingin' Sixties British movie in sunny Brighton. All are leading secret lives.As the film is shot, with its usual drastic ups and downs, so does our trio's private, secret world begin to take over their public one. Pressures build inexorably - someone's going to crack. Or maybe they all will"--Publisher description

Three stories of triumph combine to empower young readers to look inward for strength and create their own definition of bravery. Told in gentle, rhyming couplets, this collection of stories presents relatable moments of unease and the strength found in conquering fears. A roaring nighttime thunderstorm, the first day of preschool, and a doctor's visit, in turn, encourage young readers to forge their own paths of strength in times of distress. Illustrated in rich, emotional scenes that depict vignettes of daily life, this book provides comfort and empowerment for resilience and resolution.

"3-Short" is a collection of three short plays ideal for young adults for use in the classroom, acting/theatre competitions and audition. "Un-chatty Cathy: Ten Minute Play." Cathy is an extremely shy high school student desperate to break out of her shell and introduce herself to Zachary, who wants to ask her to the spring dance, but is himself too shy. Cathy's best friend Patsy is a budding filmmaker who decides to film Cathy's journey to meet Zachary as a reality show called "The Wallflower." "Stranger: Ten Minute Play." In a packed New York City coffee shop, Jocelyn seats herself beside a stranger who is also reading the book "The Stranger" by Albert Camus. They begin a dialogue dissecting the book and how it does and doesn't map to a valid philosophy for living their own lives. In the process a romantic connection is nearly made, though they decide it may be best to remain strangers."Anniversary: 5 Minute Play." In a hotel suite, Anne and Stephen meet on the one-year anniversary of their affair together. Anne is upset because her daughter, who goes to school with Stephen's son, was assigned to the role of prisoner in a playground bully's game of concentration camp. Stephen's son was also bullied into playing but in the role of Nazi. Stephen defends his son's position, driving Anne to take a moral stance both on what went down on the playground and on their affair.

A dazzling new anthology of the very best very short fiction from around the world. What is a flash fiction called in other countries? In Latin America it is a micro, in Denmark kortprosa, in Bulgaria mikro razkaz. These short shorts, usually no more than 750 words, range from linear narratives to the more unusual: stories based on mathematical forms, a paragraph-length novel, a scientific report on volcanic fireflies that proliferate in nightclubs. Flash has always—and everywhere—been a form of experiment, of possibility. A new entry in the lauded Flash and Sudden Fiction anthologies, this collection includes 86 of the most beautiful, provocative, and moving narratives by authors from six continents, including best-selling writer Etgar Keret, Zimbabwean writer Petina Gappah, Korean screenwriter Kim Young-ha, Nobel Prize winner Czeslaw Milosz, and Argentinian “Queen of the Microstory” Ana María Shua, among many others. These brilliantly chosen stories challenge readers to widen their vision and celebrate both the local and the universal.

New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Mercedes Lackey presents Trio of Sorcery, three exciting short urban fantasy novels featuring three resourceful heroines and three different takes on the modern world and on magics both modern and ancient. Arcanum 101: Diana Tregarde, practicing witch, romance novelist, Guardian of the Earth. Studying at Harvard, Diana is approached by Joe O'Brian, a young cop who has already seen more than one unusual thing during his budding career. The distraught mother of a kidnap victim is taking advice from a "psychic" and interfering in the police investigation. Will Diana prove that the psychic is a fake? Unfortunately, the psychic is not a fake, but a very wicked witch--and the child's kidnapper. Drums: Jennifer Talldeer, shaman, private investigator, member of the Osage tribe. Most of Jennie's work is regular PI stuff, but Nathan Begay brings her a problem she's never seen before. His girlfriend, Caroline, is Chickasaw to his Navaho, but that's not the problem. Somehow, Caroline has attracted the attention of an angry Osage ghost. Thwarted in love while alive, the ghost has chosen Caroline to be his bride in death. Ghost in the Machine: Ellen McBride: computer programmer extraordinaire, techno-shaman. The programmers and players of a new MMORPG find that the game's "boss," a wendigo, is "killing" everyone--even the programmers' characters with their god-like powers. A brilliant debugger, Ellen discovers that the massive computing power of the game's servers have created a breach between the supernatural world and our own. This wendigo isn't a bit of code, it's the real thing . . . and it's on the brink of breaking out of the computers and into the real world. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

The astonishing and impressive first collection of short stories from New York Times bestselling author Neil Gaiman An elderly widow finds the Holy Grail beneath an old fur coat in a second-hand store . . . A stray cat fights and refights a nightly battle to protect his adoptive family from an unimagiable evil . . . A young couple receives a wedding gift that will reveal a chilling alternate history of their marriage . . . Beneath a bridge by the railroad tracks, a frightened little boy bargains for his life with a most persistent troll . . . Such miraculous inventions and more await within Neil Gaiman’s first collection of short fiction, a gift of wonder and delight from one of the most unique literary artists of our day. In his capable hands, magic is no mere illusion, but a powerful means to reveal the nature of our humanity obscured in the smoke of our fears and anxieties . . . and reflected in the funhouse mirrors of our dreams.