A hilarious, swashbuckling adventure for siblings everywhere! George isn't good at anything much. In fact, he's pretty average. That doesn't mean he doesn't have BIGambitions, they are just harder to achieve when your big sister, Jess, is brilliant at everything! Then George inherits a mansion from dear old Mrs Smallbone. Except Hogweed Hall isn't your average mansion. It's BRILLIANT, and full of fascinating tenants like Boris the dog, an unusual pastry chef who lives in the basement, a mysterious scientist who works in the attic, and lots and lots of chickens! But Mrs Smallbone's sistersaren't at all happy about the situation, and invite themselves to stay. They're after something, and don't intend to leave without it. Can George stop them before it's too late? Perfect for fans of Pamela Butchart, Sam Copeland and David Solomons. Beautifully illustrated and brought to life by illustrator Isabelle Follath.

The tale begins over three-hundred years ago, when the Fair People—the goblins, fairies, dragons, and other fabled and fantastic creatures of a dozen lands—fled the Old World for the New, seeking haven from the ways of Man. With them came their precious jewels: diamonds, rubies, emeralds, pearls... But then the Fair People vanished, taking with them their twelve fabulous treasures. And they remained hidden until now... Across North America, these twelve treasures, over ten-thousand dollars in precious jewels, are buried. The key to finding each can be found within the twelve full color paintings and verses of The Secret. Yet The Secret is much more than that. At long last, you can learn not only the whereabouts of the Fair People's treasure, but also the modern forms and hiding places of their descendants: the Toll Trolls, Maitre D'eamons, Elf Alphas, Tupperwerewolves, Freudian Sylphs, Culture Vultures, West Ghosts and other delightful creatures in the world around us. The Secret is a field guide to them all. Many "armchair treasure hunt" books have been published over the years, most notably Masquerade (1979) by British artist Kit Williams. Masquerade promised a jewel-encrusted golden hare to the first person to unravel the riddle that Williams cleverly hid in his art. In 1982, while everyone in Britain was still madly digging up hedgerows and pastures in search of the golden hare, The Secret: A Treasure Hunt was published in America. The previous year, author and publisher Byron Preiss had traveled to 12 locations in the continental U.S. (and possibly Canada) to secretly bury a dozen ceramic casques. Each casque contained a small key that could be redeemed for one of 12 jewels Preiss kept in a safe deposit box in New York. The key to finding the casques was to match one of 12 paintings to one of 12 poetic verses, solve the resulting riddle, and start digging. Since 1982, only two of the 12 casques have been recovered. The first was located in Grant Park, Chicago, in 1984 by a group of students. The second was unearthed in 2004 in Cleveland by two members of the Quest4Treasure forum. Preiss was killed in an auto accident in the summer of 2005, but the hunt for his casques continues.

Another fun mystery starring Horrible Harry, and this time he's calling the shots! Harry has always loved solving mysteries, and now his friends in Room 3B have learned to love it, too. So Harry challenges them to figure out what he has hidden in his giant, old suitcase. Led by a very determined Mary, the kids take turns solving clues and piecing the mystery together. Their hunt leads them from the classroom to the library, and even to Harry's grandfather's nursing home. Will they be able to solve Harry's mystery? Or will things go horribly wrong for the novice detectives?

For thirteen-year-old Ellsworth, family has always been just him and his dad. That’s all Ellsworth thought he wanted. But then the dreams start. Dreams of houses surrounding a beautiful green square. Suddenly a letter arrives, inviting Ellsworth to a home he doesn’t remember: the Square in Smith Mills, New York. A home with a hidden treasure only a child can uncover—the last treasure of John Matthew Smith, the family’s eccentric patriarch. But there are other things hidden in the Square. Can Ellsworth set these ghosts to rest and uncover the family’s last treasure—or will the secrets of the past haunt him forever?

This debut collection of stories holds a fun house mirror to the everyday lives of characters as empathetic as they are absurd. You’ve met the characters in The Mysterious Secret of the Valuable Treasure. They’re the quirky visionaries and misguided dreamers we all know. . .and might even be. These characters are absurd, hilarious, and completely believable. From the self-appointed historian of the title piece to the frustrated wage slaves of "Our Spring Catalog" and "The Pipe," these are individualists who don’t quite adhere to mainstream ideals. Pendarvis draws his humor from the world of high school ambitions and misunderstood intentions allowed to breathe and take shape. Always original but somehow familiar, these are stories plugged into the collective unconscious of our imaginary lives. Jack Pendarvis’s work is difficult to describe but a pleasure to experience, infused with humanity and laugh-out-loud funny. Comedic literary talent of this caliber is rare.