Four children find a magic way to go back into the time of Ivanhoe and Robin Hood.

When the Count's niece is kidnapped by elves, Kevin, a bard's apprentice, agrees to locate the young woman, unaware that she is not actually the Count's niece and that the elves are not actually elves.

"Born to an artistocratic Catholic family, Hermynia zur Mühlen became a prolific writer and translator sometimes called the Red Countess for her left-wing ideas and revolutionary spirit. She began to write during the several years she spent in a sanitorium for tuberculosis, a disease she battled for the rest of her life. Exiled from Germany in the 1930s for her anti-Nazi convictions and her relationship with the German Jewish translator Stefan Klein, she eventually fled to England, where she spent her final years. The 17 fairy tales selected for this book were written primarily during her radical Weimar years and demonstrate the innovative techniques she used to raise the political consciousness of readers young and old. In contrast to the classical fairy tales of Perrault, the Brothers Grimm, and Hans Christian Andersen, Zur Mühlen's focus was on the plight of the working class and the cause of social justice. The endings of her tales were intended to encouarge political action. In "The Glasses," for example, readers are encouraged to rip off the glasses that deceive them; in "The Servant," readers learn that they must share the means of production to serve the people and not just the ruling classes. In "The Carriage Horse," horses organize a union to resist their working and living conditions. In "The Broom," a young worker learns how to sweep away injustice with a magic broom. As the scholar Lionel Grossman has written (quoted by Zipes in the introduction), "Zur Mühlen's fairy tales prescribe models of behavior radically opposed to those of traditional fairy tales, the basic lesson of which had been all that one's wishes will come true if one overcomes temptation and faithfully observes established norms of good conduct." The volume will include illustrations that originally accompanied the German tales, by George Grosz, Karl Holtz, Heinrich Vogeler, and other artists of the Weimar Republic. Jack Zipes's introduction provides biographical details and historical context"--

Newbery Honor author of Ella Enchanted Gail Carson Levine weaves a spellbinding tale about a clever heroine, a dragon detective, and a shape-shifting ogre. Newly arrived in the town of Two Castles, Elodie unexpectedly becomes the assistant to a brilliant dragon named Meenore, and together they solve mysteries. Their most important case concerns the town’s shape-shifting ogre, Count Jonty Um: Someone is plotting against him. Elodie must disguise herself to discover the source of the threat amid a cast of characters that includes a greedy king, a giddy princess, and a handsome cat trainer. Readers who loved Ella Enchanted and Fairest will delight in this tale of a spirited heroine who finds friendship where she least expects it and discovers that goodness and evil come in all shapes and sizes.

Magic and whimsy meet in this Howl’s Moving Castle for a new generation from the critically adored Sophie Anderson, author of The House with Chicken Legs. Twelve-year-old Olia knows a thing or two about secrets. Her parents are the caretakers of Castle Mila, a soaring palace with golden domes, lush gardens, and countless room. Literally countless rooms. There are rooms that appear and disappear, and rooms that have been hiding themselves for centuries. The only person who can access them is Olia. She has a special bond with the castle, and it seems to trust her with its secrets. But then a violent storm rolls in . . . a storm that skips over the village and surrounds the castle, threatening to tear it apart. While taking cover in a rarely-used room, Olia stumbles down a secret passage that leads to a part of Castle Mila she’s never seen before. A strange network of rooms that hide the secret to the castle’s past . . . and the truth about who’s trying to destroy it.

The latest in the Cottage Tales series-starring Miss Potter herself! It's the heart of summer in 1913, and Beatrix is eager to marry her fiancé, solicitor William Heelis. But there are a few obstacles blocking the happy couple's path to the altar, like the troubled remodeling of Castle Cottage-Will and Beatrix's future home...