Timothy Sands and Brett Corson forge through life together as best friends. The two preteen boys begin their journey while vacationing with several other families at Cooper’s Camp in Muncie Valley, Pennsylvania. Camping helps establish the warning of checking your boots for snakes. Primitive camping facilities does not infringe on cooking great meals, especially breakfast. The outhouse facilities and lack of running water are amenities that are tolerated but not embraced. The friends experience the tragedy of having a friend kidnapped. They also share a high school class trip to Germany. Tim learns that volunteering for anything can be rewarding, but there can also be unpleasant consequences. Tim and Brett feels society’s disdain for Vietnam veterans. However, they ultimately establish a challenging annual mountain brotherhood experience for veterans. During one wheelchair challenge, the veterans’ pickup basketball team faces the West Point basketball team. The cadets are outmatched. The two friends share adventures in life to include business opportunities. Their businesses are thriving, but the two friends see the need to adjust their business model to keep up with advancements in technology to remain viable. Tim ultimately establishes a new business to accommodate an unfortunate disability he experiences as a result of a rescue. Tim does not allow his disabilities to define him. Thus, he embodies the meaning of an “overcomer.” Tim’s acceptance of his disabilities is a lesson learned well by his daughter in a way that she ultimately overshadows her father’s popularity.

His candid memoir, spanning ninety years of a life well-lived, shares the wisdom won through good deals and bad, hard times and happiness. Wilson's colorful anecdotes bring history to life, providing fascinating business, political, and social vignettes and commentary. Anyone interested in real-estate, politics, higher education, or the personalities that helped Houston boom from a sleepy Southern town into an international city, will find this a treasure trove of information- and a collection of great stories. Wilson's desire to learn from every experience has allowed him to play a part in many of the significant moments of 20th century history and remain an active participant as the 21st century unfolds. The energy and enthusiasm for life detailed in these pages are truly inspiring" -- Back cover.

An act of kindness. A friendship! An accident. A surprising friendship! In "The Silly Adventures of Petunia and Herman the Worm" author Sam Baker weaves a tale of adventure starring a creative worm who is befriended by a young girl who lost her mother. Laugh along with the adventures and The transformation of the hungry Herman and his best friend, Petunia.

In "The Red-Headed League" by Arthur Conan Doyle, Sherlock Holmes investigates a peculiar job offer made exclusively to red-headed men. When the job suddenly disappears, Holmes and Dr. Watson uncover a deeper plot involving a criminal scheme. Using his sharp deductive skills, Holmes unravels the mystery, leading to a surprising and clever resolution.

Before he wrote the bestselling 100 Cupboards trilogy and Ashtown Burials series, N. D. Wilson delighted readers with his first unforgettable action-adventure story of survival. . . . Thomas Hammond has always lived next to Leepike Ridge, but he never imagined he might end up lost beneath it! The night Tom’s schoolteacher comes to dinner and asks Tom’s mother to marry him, Tom slips out of the house and escapes down a nearby stream on a floating slab of packing foam. The night and stars lull Tom to sleep, and when he wakes, he has ridden his foam raft all the way to the ridge, where the stream dives underground. Flung over rapids and tossed through chasms, Tom finally hits shore, sore but alive. What Tom finds under Leepike Ridge—a dog, a flashlight, a castaway, a tomb, and buried treasure—will answer questions he hadn’t known to ask, and change his life forever. Now, if only he can find his way home again. . . . In the grand tradition of Robinson Crusoe, Hatchet, and Tom Sawyer, N. D. Wilson’s first book for young readers is a remarkable adventure, a journey through the dark and back into the light. A New York Public Library 100 Titles for Reading and Sharing “This is a ripping good adventure yarn. . . . Here’s the perfect remedy for any summer that’s been disappointingly short on thrills.”—The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books, Starred “Wilson’s debut is a literate, sometimes humorous page-turner in the classic tradition. Well-read adventure lovers are in for a treat looking for echoes of The Odyssey and Tom Sawyer.”—Kirkus Reviews “Tom’s adventures have several literary ancestors, including Tom and Huck in the cave, and the inventive Swiss Family Robinson, but this is solidly set in the present, standing on its own with well-crafted suspense and fascinating survival detail. . . . [M]iddle-grade readers will also relish the physicality of the journey: underwater swims, tight passages, and rock climbing. . . . [An] appealing and easy-to-booktalk package.”—Booklist “Wilson sets the scene vividly, from Tom’s home to the labyrinth of tunnels and caverns under the mountain, and the central characters’ emotional lives develop both naturally and affectingly. [Readers] will appreciate both the fast-paced adventure and Tom’s determination to make the impossible journey back home.”—The Horn Book Magazine “Wilson’s rich imagination and his quirky characters are a true delight.”—School Library Journal

These letters sent back home to the family in England give a vivid, detailed account of the ups and downs of setting up and running a farm on the Kansas prairie in the 1880s and 1890s. Due to a setback in the family fortunes in the Manchester cotton trade, John and Marian Whitworth made the enterprising decision to take their family of five children and emigrate to the Mid West of America. Although they were not at all experienced in farming they enjoyed the freedom and less stressed country life. Despite many difficulties including the destruction of their house by fire, they were determined to make a success of this venture, and it was personal tragedies, not external circumstances, which brought it to an abrupt end.