After escaping from her scientist captors, Rat finds herself aboard a space station When Rat—a lavender-colored, highly intelligent rat—escaped from her cage and found a hiding place in a nearby crate, she had no idea she’d be headed for the stars. A space station, she quickly discovers, is no place for a rat. It’s hard to find food amid the humans and robots aboard the craft, and even harder to move around undetected. Meanwhile, Jeff, whose parents are scientists, is the only kid on board. He’s got no friends to play with, and his robot babysitter is constantly bossing him around. To make matters worse, all of his friends are off at summer camp back on Earth and too busy having a great time to email him. So Jeff is beyond excited when he gets an email from an anonymous pen pal. Little does he know that his new buddy doesn’t live on Earth—and isn’t even human!

Rat and Jeff are back and still aboard the space station—but with suspicious scientists and robots around every corner, Rat is in danger again Rat barely escaped the wrath of the researchers aboard the space station last time around. Thanks to her best friend, Jeff, she has managed to stay safe and out of sight. When Jeff learns that he and his parents will be taking the shuttle back to Earth, he’s thrilled. But the scientists—Jeff’s parents included—want to get rid of Rat for good. After a couple of serious close calls, Jeff starts to fear for the safety of his rodent friend. But can he outsmart a team that is bent on hunting Rat down? This science fiction adventure story is a must for young readers.

Jack knows who belongs out in the Black. And who doesn't -- until Kit comes walking into the pub and changes everything he believes about the Black, about the people who live there, about what it takes to be a human being. Margaret Bechard had set out to write an adventure story with laser guns and spaceships. Then, she says, "there was a big step and a long fall off a cliff while I realized that my characters didn't want to do the stuff I had in my mind; they had plans of their own." The result: Spacer and Rat, a fast-paced space adventure and a short story about human feeling and growing up -- science fiction for those who love SF; riveting fiction for those who don't.

Fourth grader Scab McNally has a real quandary on his hands. During a fishing expedition with his two best friends and new favorite doggy companion, golden retriever Joe, he's convinced that he glimpsed some kind of swamp creature. All Scab needs to do is get permission to go back out on Beeson's Lake with another fishing rod (and some special handcrafted dinosaur-spying inventions, of course!) and he'll be able to find proof. But before she'll let him back out on the water, Scab's mom insists that he pass the swimming class he's being forced to take with his "smart times ten" twin sister Isabelle. That means Scab has to master swimming in the super deep end of the pool, and Scab is NOT ready for that! So, it's back to his top secret lab to diagram some special schemes and plans for the occasion. Will any of them go awry? Well, it wouldn't be any fun if they didn't, would it?

A young man discovers his identity among a tribe of rats in the renowned fantasy author’s "riveting, brilliant novel"—with an introduction by Tim Maughan (Charles de Lint). Something is stirring in London’s dark, stamping out its territory in brickdust and blood. Something has murdered Saul Garamond’s father, and left Saul to pay for the crime. But a shadow from the urban waste breaks into Saul’s prison cell and leads him to freedom: a shadow called King Rat. King Rat reveals to Saul his own royal heritage—a heritage that draws him into the grimy, magical world below London’s streets. With drum-and-bass pounding the backstreets, Saul must confront the forces that would use him, the ones that would destroy him, and those that have shaped his own bizarre identity. World Fantasy Award–winning author China Miéville began his astounding career with the novel King Rat, which combines a young man’s search for identity with a pulse-pounding story of revenge and madness. This Tor Essential edition includes an introduction by Tim Maughan, author of Infinite Detail.

It is not only the past that lies in ruins in Patna, it is also the present. But that is not the only truth about the city that Amitava Kumar explores in this vivid, entertaining account of his hometown. We accompany him through many Patnas, the myriad cities locked within the city—the shabby reality of the present-day capital of Bihar; Pataliputra, the storied city of emperors; the dreamlike embodiment of the city in the minds and hearts of those who have escaped contemporary Patna's confines. Full of fascinating observations and impressions, A Matter of Rats reveals a challenging and enduring city that exerts a lasting pull on all those who drift into its orbit. Kumar's ruminations on one of the world's oldest cities, the capital of India's poorest province, are also a meditation on how to write about place. His memory is partial. All he has going for him is his attentiveness. He carefully observes everything that surrounds him in Patna: rats and poets, artists and politicians, a girl's picture in a historian's study, and a sheet of paper on his mother's desk. The result is this unique book, as cutting as it is honest.

Scab McNally does not want Missy Malone to be class president. He thinks “Never Missy”—nicknamed for her irritating habit of always answering questions correctly—is really an alien in disguise, and he decides to run against her to prove his case. Scab’s twin sister, Isabelle, doesn’t miss a beat reminding Scab that he should be busy creating a platform of what he’ll do as class president, preparing a speech, and making signs. Instead, Scab focuses on launching wild-enough stunts to win the popular vote… but will Never Missy be the first to beat Scab at his own game?