Alexander, a little boy with a big imagination, takes his mother on a voyage in his magic boat.

Alexander, a little boy with a big imagination, takes his mother on a voyage in his magic boat.

What do you do when your garden statue comes alive and goes on the rampage? That's the challenge facing two teenagers, Scott and Brandon, when they're left alone in an island cottage during their half-term holiday. Scott Buchanan is English; Brandon Donnelly, American. They're best friends. But their friendship is tested to the limit and their holiday plans thrown into chaos when a magic statue bursts into their lives. The statue, who's called Alexander, comes from Ancient Greece. Alexander finds it difficult to adjust to the modern world. Everywhere he goes he brings bad luck. What should have been a fun holiday turns into a nightmare and a battle for survival as Alexander blunders and stirs up trouble. To make matters worse Scott and Brandon find themselves fighting a gang of school bullies. They also have to complete a holiday task set by their history teacher, or they're in trouble. And all the time Scott's guardian Uncle Henry, who's away on business, keeps phoning and nagging them to get on with their homework. How can the teenagers cope with the pressure and solve all their problems?

A magical coming-of-age story from Coretta Scott King honor author Jewell Parker Rhodes, rich with Southern folklore, friendship, family, fireflies and mermaids, plus an environmental twist. It's city-girl Maddy's first summer in the bayou, and she just falls in love with her new surroundings - the glimmering fireflies, the glorious landscape, and something else, deep within the water, that only she can see. Could it be a mermaid? As her grandmother shares wisdom about sayings and signs, Maddy realizes she may be the only sibling to carry on her family's magical legacy. And when a disastrous oil leak threatens the bayou, she knows she may also be the only one who can help. Does she have what it takes to be a hero? Jewell Parker Rhodes weaves a rich tale celebrating the magic within.

Heads You Win is international #1 bestseller Jeffrey Archer’s most ambitious and creative work since Kane and Abel, with a final twist that will shock even his most ardent of fans. Leningrad, Russia, 1968: From an early age it is clear that Alexander Karpenko is destined to lead his countrymen. But when his father is assassinated by the KGB for defying the state, Alexander and his mother will have to escape Russia if they hope to survive. At the docks, they have an irreversible choice: board a container ship bound for America or one bound for Great Britain. Alexander leaves the choice to a toss of a coin... In a single moment, a double twist decides Alexander’s future. During an epic tale, spanning two continents and thirty years, we follow Alexander through triumph and defeat as he sets out on parallel lives as Alex in New York and Sasha in London. As this unique story unfolds, both come to realize that to find their destiny they must face the past they left behind as Alexander in Russia.

ONE OF THE NEW YORK TIMES 10 BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR • “A darkly incantatory tragicomedy of love and betrayal ... Beautifully paced, emotionally wise.” —The Boston Globe In the dark waiting room of the ferry terminal in the sketchy Spanish port of Algeciras, two aging Irishmen—Maurice Hearne and Charlie Redmond, longtime partners in the lucrative and dangerous enterprise of smuggling drugs—sit at night, none too patiently. The pair are trying to locate Maurice’s estranged daughter, Dilly, whom they’ve heard is either arriving on a boat coming from Tangier or departing on one heading there. This nocturnal vigil will initiate an extraordinary journey back in time to excavate their shared history of violence, romance, mutual betrayals, and serial exiles. Rendered with the dark humor and the hardboiled Hibernian lyricism that have made Kevin Barry one of the most striking and admired fiction writers at work today, Night Boat to Tangier is a superbly melancholic melody of a novel, full of beautiful phrases and terrible men.

A very small boy is afraid of the dark, especially when the shadow under his bed becomes a fierce dragon. He soon learns, however, that even dragons have their gentle side.