The children on a newly formed soccer team love their coach, Miss Malarky, who doesn't know much about the game except how to make it fun, but the school principal and parents have other ideas.

The new school year brings standardized testing to every school and Miss Malarkey's is no exception. Teachers, students, and even parents are preparing for THE TEST-The Instructional Performance Through Understanding (IPTU) test-and the school is in an uproar. Even though the grown-ups tell the children not to worry, they're acting kind of strange. The gym teacher is teaching stress-reducing yoga instead of sports in gym class. Parents are giving pop quizzes on bedtime stories at night. The cafeteria is serving "brain food" for lunch. The kids are beginning to think that maybe the test is more important than they're being led to believe. Kids and adults alike will laugh aloud as Finchler and O'Malley poke fun at the commotion surrounding standardized testing, a staple of every school's year.

Award-winning duo Judy Finchler and Kevin O'Malley are back with another book in the best-selling Miss Malarkey series that makes reading fun! Principal Wiggins has promised to dye his hair purple and sleep on the school roof if the students read 1,000 books this year, and Miss Malarkey is determined to find the right book for every student, including this story's reluctant-reader narrator. Winning her students over book by book, Miss Malarkey will have students loving to read in no time. As the best-selling series continues in paperback, no teacher, librarian, or parent should leave this book behind! Principal Wiggins promises to dye his hair purple and sleep on the school roof if the students read 1,000 books this year. Miss Malarkey is determined to find the right book for each student so they'll participate in the school program, and learn to love reading. She's got a tough audience - video game fanatics, artists, sports lovers - nonreaders all. But she won't give up until Principal Wiggins can flip his purple wig. With all the new pressures being put on teachers these days, the one thing everyone agrees about is the need for all children to learn to love reading. Now, the best-selling Miss Malarkey series uses all the programs and initiatives developed to help children read as fodder for the humor mill, keeping everyone laughing about this important topic. No teacher, librarian or parent should leave this book behind!

Liam loves playing games. His favourite game is 'Woof Woof' which he loves to play with Daddy. When Liam collects all the bones and Daddy loses, he says 'Good game Liam'. When Daddy wins, he gets to shout 'Woof Woof – I win!'. Liam does not like it when he doesn't win. In Liam Wins the Game, Sometimes, lovable Liam learns that it is ok to feel disappointed if you don't win, but that it's not ok to moan or cry or throw things: sometimes you win and sometimes you don't. He learns how to become a good sport, and that makes him a real champ! Vibrant, colourful and lively, this book's positive messages and advice are ideal for young children wanting to understand social situations or how friendships work.

Zeus, Hera, Athene, Poseidon, and Hades pull some dirty tricks as they face off against Hercules, Jason, Odysseus, Achilles, and Theseus in this gods versus mortals basketball game in ancient Greece.

Miss Malarkey has been acting strange lately. Whether she's singing down the halls or laughing with Principal Wiggins, her students are beginning to wonder-is she leaving school? Miss Malarkey is definitely hiding something, but it's only a matter of time before she spills the beans about her big day-and her students are all invited to join the fun!

Help Me Be Good About Being a Bad Sport offers practical down-to-earth advice on both how to deal with bad sports and how to avoid being a bad sport. It considers the consequences and talks about prevention.