Parker’s second year at Knightsville is about to come to a close. Just when everything seemed to settle down at the school, Parker finds a dead body! A series of stirring events then start to unfold, turning the second year at Knightsville into a dreadful nightmare. Ghastly murders lead to several questions. Are Parker’s assumptions about the murderer true? Or is the reality entirely different? Appearances can deceive, and the truth can be hidden. A new mystery dawns upon Parker and his friends, as the past comes knocking at their doors. Theories and assumptions arise as Parker is faced with a challenge like never before, in this thrilling sequel of twists and turns.

The third year at Knightsville has just begun for Parker. Developing new feelings and participating in exciting activities, Parker finally gets the normal school life he had dreamt of. What seems to start off as an exciting year takes a noxious turn when the students get onboard The Procella, Knightsville’s own luxury cruise ship. Students begin getting drugged, and a grim murder haunts Parker. Hallucinations and petrifying nightmares make Parker question reality as he sets on a journey to save his classmates from a deadlier enemy. Will Parker be able to find the true culprit? Or will he be stuck in this trap of drugs and deception? History begins to repeat itself, and the past chases Parker on this riveting journey onboard.

"The Da Vinci Code" meets Nancy Drew in this galloping middle-grade mystery about 12-year old Colophon Letterford and the ancient treasure left to her literary publishing family. Illustrations.

Girls series books have been popular since the early 1840s, when books about Cousin Lucy, a young girl who learns about the world around her, first appeared. Since then, scores of series books have followed, several of them highly successful, and featuring some of the most enduring characters in fiction, such as Nancy Drew. In recent decades, series books like The Baby-Sitters Club and Sweet Valley High have become staples for young readers everywhere. In Sisters, Schoolgirls, and Sleuths: Girls' Series Books in America, Carolyn Carpan provides a social history of girls' series fiction published in America from the mid-19th century through the early 21st century. Carpan examines popular series, subgenres, themes, and characters found in approximately 100 series, noting how teenage girls are portrayed in girls' series fiction and how girls' series reflect or subvert the culture of the era in which they are produced. Her study also focuses on the creation, writing, and production of such books. This is the first study of American girls' series books to examine the entire genre from its beginnings in the 1840s to the present day, revealing facts about a sub-genre of children's and young adult literature that has rarely been studied. Appendixes in this volume include a listing of the girls' series covered in the book as well as important books about girls' series fiction.

This is a reprint of a previously published book. The original title was Playing by Different Rules. It deals with the Genral Mills/ Parker Brothers Merger.

The American family has come a long way from the days of the idealized family portrayed in iconic television shows of the 1950s and 1960s. The four volumes of The Social History of the American Family explore the vital role of the family as the fundamental social unit across the span of American history. Experiences of family life shape so much of an individual’s development and identity, yet the patterns of family structure, family life, and family transition vary across time, space, and socioeconomic contexts. Both the definition of who or what counts as family and representations of the “ideal” family have changed over time to reflect changing mores, changing living standards and lifestyles, and increased levels of social heterogeneity. Available in both digital and print formats, this carefully balanced academic work chronicles the social, cultural, economic, and political aspects of American families from the colonial period to the present. Key themes include families and culture (including mass media), families and religion, families and the economy, families and social issues, families and social stratification and conflict, family structures (including marriage and divorce, gender roles, parenting and children, and mixed and non-modal family forms), and family law and policy. Features: Approximately 600 articles, richly illustrated with historical photographs and color photos in the digital edition, provide historical context for students. A collection of primary source documents demonstrate themes across time. The signed articles, with cross references and Further Readings, are accompanied by a Reader’s Guide, Chronology of American Families, Resource Guide, Glossary, and thorough index. The Social History of the American Family is an ideal reference for students and researchers who want to explore political and social debates about the importance of the family and its evolving constructions.