Christmas is coming! In a church tower, three bells practice ringing for Christmas Eve. But the newest and smallest bell in the tower is silent. What could be wrong? The dove, the wise crow, and all the other animals find good words to try to encourage the little bell to ring. But nothing works . . . until Christmas Eve when they find the words that inspire the little bell to ring out—“Peace on earth.” An inventive story about the meaning of Christmas, with ethereal illustrations by Maja Dusíková.

It’s the night before the feast in the village of Fu¨rstenfelde (population: an odd number). The village is asleep. Except for the ferryman—he’s dead. And Mrs. Kranz, the night-blind painter, who wants to depict her village for the first time at night. A bell-ringer and his apprentice want to ring the bells—the only problem is that the bells have gone. A vixen is looking for eggs for her young, and Mr. Schramm is discovering more reasons to quit life than to quit smoking. Someone has opened the doors to the Village Archive, but what drives the sleepless out of their houses is not that which was stolen, but that which has escaped. Old stories, myths, and fairy tales are wandering about the streets with the people. They come together in a novel about a long night, a mosaic of village life, in which the long-established and newcomers, the dead and the living, craftsmen, pensioners, and noble robbers in football shirts bump into each other. They all want to bring something to a close, in this night before the feast.

THE STORY: Molly and Ray unexpectedly meet 25 years after a one-afternoon adolescent fling. She has a successful media career; he owns a small landscaping business. Both begin to romanticize their chance reunion, but a renewed connection is disrupt

When Bailey Willis plays Santa's elf for her company's Christmas party, she never expects the man playing the role of Santa to be the childhood crush who broke her heart at sixteen. Montgomery "Mack" Macholan realizes he made a mistake when he let Bailey go home on prom night without kissing her. Now ten years later he's playing Santa to her sexy elf and he can't keep his hands off her.

To wake the devil, Lucinda summoned the arch fiend with the ancient invocation, and from the secret room where her friend Vanya had agreed to hide came the eerie response. The rapping called up all the terror of the old tales, and the joke was going marvellously. Until Lucinda realised that Vanya had never arrived at the old house ...

This fifth book in the series is a great combination of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and The Terrible Two series, and is perfect for fans of Roald Dahl. It's summer vacation, and J. D. is determined to reform his older brother Tom, a.k.a. the Great Brain, from his money swindling ways for good.

Tugboats hold a fascination not only for anyone who has worked aboard a vessel or around a harbor but for many land-bound folks as well. There is something about their chunky, powerful build and their often risky but vital work that excites our interest and admiration. The captains and crews of the tugboats are justifiably proud of what they do, and they have some great stories to tell about the ships and barges they tow or push; the harbors, storms, tides, and dangerous passages they must negotiate; the unions; the pilots; the different designs and capabilties of their boats; and the way the boats and their livelihood are irrevocably changing.