A girl stumbles into a fantastic world in this tale perfect for fans of Coraline, Alice in Wonderland, and The Twilight Zone. Spending the summer at her grandmother's house is the last thing Sarah wants to do—especially now that Grandma Winnie has died—but she has no choice. Her parents have to fix the place up before they can sell it, and Sarah and her brother, Billy, have to help. But the tedious work turns into a thrilling mystery when Sarah discovers an unfinished letter her grandmother wrote: Strange things are happening behind the bookcase. . . . Sarah's mother dismisses the letter as one of Grandma Winnie's crazy stories, but Sarah does some investigating and makes a remarkable discovery: behind the bookcase is a doorway into Scotopia, the land where shadows come from. With a talking cat named Balthazat as her guide, Sarah begins an unforgettable adventure into a world filled with countless dangers. Who can she trust? And can she face her fears, not only in Scotopia, but also back at Grandma Winnie's house, where more secrets and strange goings-on await her?

A mouse living in an antiquarian bookstore learns the true power of words when he literally falls into a medieval tale and helps defeat the dragon Censor.

From the author of the highly praised The Pencil and The Evolution of Useful Things comes another captivating history of the seemingly mundane: the book and its storage. Most of us take for granted that our books are vertical on our shelves with the spines facing out, but Henry Petroski, inveterately curious engineer, didn't. As a result, readers are guided along the astonishing evolution from papyrus scrolls boxed at Alexandria to upright books shelved at the Library of Congress. Unimpeachably researched, enviably written, and charmed with anecdotes from Seneca to Samuel Pepys to a nineteenth-century bibliophile who had to climb over his books to get into bed, The Book on the Bookshelf is indispensable for anyone who loves books.

The philosophical foundation of this novel is the idea that love and aesthetic sense are the most important products of the biological evolution on Earth and maybe even in the Universe. Love is the only engine, the source, and the meaning of human existence and survival in our complex, dark, and often cruel world. When beautiful and talented journalist Michelle Rosen meets geneticist Sam Levitin, neither can imagine the exponentially developing and powerful passion that will dramatically transform their lives. Their deep and intense affection for each other will see them drawn into the miraculous transcendental spiritual world. From Michelles seeming mystical abilities to Sams extraordinary achievement at getting his dog, the Saint Bernard Chook, to speak, both will begin to unravel the amazing mysterious connections that will become the framework of their new experience. They will begin to uncover the next step in human evolution and attempt to breach the veil separating us from the Kingdom of the God of Love.

For those who would like to have the benefit of a woodworker's extensive experience, this illustrated guide explores the tools of the trade and how to use them. 450 line drawings throughout. 416 p.

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