Imagine facing the Dragon King or picking the leaves of the Wonder Tree and having the intelligence of a genius. What if you had a secret underground laboratory in your back yard? This collection of fun and engaging short stories for kids aged seven to twelve-years (and grown ups) features children who gain magical powers, meet dragons, enter a parallel universe, meet their future self, foresee the future and much more. There are new myths and legends, science fiction stories, gentle fantasy worlds, some more Magic Soup stories, the chance to be Cleopatra, Santa, the Tooth Fairy and the Easter Rabbit, meet Confucius, aliens and even save a whale!

You'll recognize your own cat in this entertaining collection of stories about the surprising, amusing, heartwarming, and even magical things that our cats do. How do cats do it? Even non “cat people” fall under their spell. Our cats make us better people. If we rescued them, they rescue us back. If we’re sad, they comfort us. If we need to have more fun, they show us how. They are our therapists, our role models, and our best friends. You’ll laugh a lot, tear up at times, and nod your head in recognition as you read these tales about the magical experience of sharing life with a cat. In this collection, you’ll find stories from hilarious to heroic, mischievous to miraculous, and everything in between.

Dogs keep us company, provide unconditional love, share in the ups and downs of our lives and every day an adventure. You’ll love these 101 dog tales of family, friendship, fun. How do dogs do it? Even non “dog people” fall under their spell. Our dogs make us better people. If we rescued them, they rescue us back. If we’re sad, they comfort us. If we need to have more fun, they show us how. They are our therapists, our role models, and our best friends. You’ll laugh a lot, tear up at times, and nod your head in recognition as you read these tales about the magical experience of sharing life with a dog. From hilarious to heroic, mischievous to miraculous, and everything in between, you’ll enjoy a wide variety of entertaining stories about the magic of dogs. And your purchase of this book will help support the important work of American Humane, creating a better life for dogs everywhere.

“A delight…Just the right mix of creepy and humorous, treading the line between scary and fun.” —Kirkus Reviews “Plenty of tasty vocabulary…As ghoulishly bright as a jack-o’-lantern.” —Publishers Weekly Three little witches and a bunch of spooky characters come together to prepare a delicious batch of Bone Soup in this Halloween tale based on the beloved fable, Stone Soup. This just-scary-enough picture book comes with a recipe for Bone Soup—perfect for Halloween eating. Trick-or-treat? Trick-or-treat! We’ve something usually good to eat! One Halloween morning three witches are looking for a tasty treat and they find only a small bone in their cupboard. So they decide to go from door to door in their village to find just the right ingredients for their Bone Soup. No one in the village is convinced that soup can be made from a bone, until the littlest monster reveals just what the special ingredient should be.

Retells the classic tale about a traveller, a ghost, who tricks a town's witches, ghouls, and zombies into helping him make soup.

World War II was over, but in Japan, lines for a simple bowl of ramen noodles wound down the sidewalk. What Momofuku Ando did next would change food forever. Andrea Wang, author of Watercress (a Newberry honor book and winner of the Caldecott Medal), tells the true story behind the creation of one of the world's most popular foods. "An inspiring story of persistence and an ideal purchase for any collection." School Library Journal, STARRED review 2021 Nutmeg Book Awards Nominee Winner of the 2020 Sakura Award Read Across America Book of the Month, May 2021 Center for Multicultural Children's Literature Best Book of 2019 List Smithsonian Magazine '10 Best Children's Books of 2019′ List Every day, Momofuku Ando would retire to his lab--a little shed in his backyard. For years, he'd dreamed about making a new kind of ramen noodle soup that was quick, convenient, and tasty for the hungry people he'd seen in line for a bowl on the black market following World War II. Peace follows from a full stomach, he believed. Day after day, Ando experimented. Night after night, he failed. But Ando kept experimenting. With persistence, creativity, and a little inspiration, Ando succeeded. This is the true story behind one of the world's most popular foods.

James Nagel offers the first systematic history and definition of the short-story cycle as exemplified in contemporary American fiction, bringing attention to the format's wide appeal among various ethnic groups. He examines in detail eight recent manifestations of the genre, all praised by critics while uniformly misidentified as novels. Nagel proposes that the short-story cycle, with its concentric as opposed to linear plot development possibilities, lends itself particularly well to exploring themes of ethnic assimilation, which mirror some of the major issues facing American society today.