Analyzes six popular children's books to define the genre and explains ways that adult experience and expectations can change the meaning of the text.

In a future where the Population Police enforce the law limiting a family to only two children, Luke, an illegal third child, has lived all his twelve years in isolation and fear on his family's farm in this start to the Shadow Children series from Margaret Peterson Haddix. Luke has never been to school. He's never had a birthday party, or gone to a friend's house for an overnight. In fact, Luke has never had a friend. Luke is one of the shadow children, a third child forbidden by the Population Police. He's lived his entire life in hiding, and now, with a new housing development replacing the woods next to his family's farm, he is no longer even allowed to go outside. Then, one day Luke sees a girl's face in the window of a house where he knows two other children already live. Finally, he's met a shadow child like himself. Jen is willing to risk everything to come out of the shadows—does Luke dare to become involved in her dangerous plan? Can he afford not to?

This is a hidden pictures book that is reserved for the adults only. Have fun spotting the objects hidden in these naughty pictures. Surrender to the idea of having your mind tickled with images while at the same time developing your cognitive skills. This hidden pictures book will give birth to new neurons that will find your weaknesses and fix them. Isn't this a brilliant and climax-inducing game?

"Benedict Le Fay will betray you. And then he will die." Betrayal and death—not quite the prophecy Selkie wanted about her first love. A half-faerie princess with a price on her head, Selkie Stewart just wants a little normal in her life. Not another crazy prophecy. Besides, she and Ben are a team. They're the two most wanted individuals in the Otherworld, and fated to bring down the Seelie Fairie Court and put an end to their reign of terror. Nothing can come between them. Until Ben leaves. And the sun goes out. And the chiming bells deafen all of Boston. The Seelies are coming. And only Selkie can stop them from destroying the world. Otherworld Series: The Girl Who Never Was (Book 1) The Boy With The Hidden Name (Book 2) What Readers are saying about The Girl Who Never Was: "Utterly charming...echoes of Neil Gaiman's Stardust, of Diana Wynne Jones' Fire and Hemlock."—Erika Koch Utsler, Amazon, 5 stars "This book surprised me with its awesomeness...the voice and the writing blew me away."—AdriAnneMS, Amazon, 5 stars

Four old friends confront their darkest secrets in this fantasy steeped in nostalgia, folklore, religion, and the seductive landscape of Southern Italy—by the Italian Neil Gaiman. “A tale of adventure, mystery, friendship and heart-wrenching beauty that will make you re-examine what is holy, what is true, and what is beyond the realm of possibility.” —BookPage Four old school friends have a pact: to meet up every year in the small town in Puglia they grew up in. Art, the charismatic leader of the group and creator of the pact, insists that the agreement must remain unshakable and enduring. But this year, he never shows up. A visit to his house increases the friends’ worry: Art is farming marijuana. In Southern Italy doing that kind of thing can be very dangerous. They can’t go to the Carabinieri so must make enquiries of their own. This is how they come across the rumors about Art—bizarre and unbelievable rumors that he miraculously cured the local mafia boss’ daughter of terminal leukemia. And among the chaos of his house, they find a document written by Art, “The Book of Hidden Things”, that promises to reveal dark secrets and wonders beyond anything previously known. Set in the beguiling and seductive world of Southern Italy, Francesco Dimitri’s first novel in English is a story friendship, landscape, love, betrayal, and mystery that will entrance fans of Elena Ferrante, Neil Gaiman, and Donna Tartt.

"Explore the streets of Chicago through more than 50 original pen-and-ink illustrations waiting to be brought to life with color"--Back cover

Set in early twentieth-century Spain, Hidden Path is a lyrical coming-of-age novel told from the perspective of a woman painter who struggles to find her way with art and with the women she loved. The novel is narrated in the first-person, following María Luisa as she reflects on her life from the turn of the twentieth century through the outset of the Second Spanish Republic (1931-1939). She recalls growing from an imaginative tomboy into a docile wife and mother before claiming her independence as a portrait painter in Madrid's bohemian and queer circles. Along the way, she introduces us to a lively cast of characters who both hinder and encourage her efforts to blaze her own path. The poetic and sensuous language of María Luisa's private reveries comingles with agile dialogue as the protagonist leads us through her life. Best known in Spain as a writer of children's literature, Elena Fortún left this manuscript unpublished at the time of her death in 1952, as its semi-autobiographical content risked provoking homophobic backlash under the dictatorship of Francisco Franco. The first Spanish edition appeared in 2016 and was hailed as Fortún's adult masterpiece, a previously unknown complement to her children's saga Celia and Her World. This edition, with Jeffrey Zamostny's sensitive and nuanced translation, marks the novel's first time appearing in any language aside from Spanish; it is also the first of Fortún's works to appear in English. With an insightful foreword by scholar Nuria Capdevila-Argüelles, this volume will be an influential contribution to women's studies, LGBT histories, and Spanish literature and culture.