When Marietta Becker goes undercover at a singles dance to investigate the homicide of five men, she thinks she's discovered one of the saddest places she's ever encountered. When her husband suddenly appears and is immediately recognized by the dance regulars, Marietta realizes there are a lot of reasons to want to kill someone. A short story.
In this feminist-inspired fantasy, a rejected wife starts seeing birds everywhere, including the sleek, cobalt-blue parakeet staring back at her in the mirror After being dumped by her husband of twenty-seven years, losing her house, and selling her jewelry at auction, Sassafras “Sassy” Hummel takes the only job she’s qualified for: maid at a luxury hotel. As if her life weren’t surreal enough, a bird poops on her head while she’s cleaning a suite. But Sassy’s sure she’s really gone off the deep end when, instead of her reflection in the mirror, a tiny blue parakeet stares back at her. Now she’s seeing birds everywhere: cranes, crows, hornbills, a quacking, green-headed duck, a quail, and something red and blue that bobs as it flies past. Sassy’s only friend is Racquel, the owner of Plumage, the hotel’s upscale boutique. Racquel isn’t the preening, froufrou, silk-and-sequins-enamored lady she seems to be. Soon Sassy and Racquel are traveling into an uncharted land where Sassy just might find out who she is and what she really wants. Plumage is a wise, witty, and poignant novel about a woman whose life is for the birds . . . until she discovers her wings, and her world takes flight. “Springer has redefined the concept of ‘knight in shining armor.’ With a touch of Alice Hoffmanesque magic, a colorfully painted avian world and a winning heroine, this is pure fun.” —Publishers Weekly “A writer’s writer, an extraordinarily gifted craftsman.” —Jennifer Roberson “Irresistible . . . charming, eccentric . . . thoughtful and significant.” —Kirkus Reviews “Nancy Springer writes like a dream.” —St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Little Veronica likes hanging out at Mrs. Life's porch. She can see the whole town from the steps, and Mrs. Life is fascinating in the way that she keeps track of all sorts of numbers and information in her little spiral-bound notebooks. So it's surprising to Veronica when the always-nice Mrs. Life has an argument with Mr. Quickel, the school health teacher and wrestling coach, about the cost of mowing her lawn. Soon, Mrs. Life has started to insinuate things about Mr. Quickel, his marriage and what he might or might not have done with a boy who ran off from the town to live life as an openly gay man. Soon, the entire town is turning on Mr. Quickel with rumors and threats and destroying his sanity. Before too long, Veronica starts to see what Mrs. Life's real motivation is, and what dark secrets she keeps in one of her spiral-bound notebooks. A short story.
When Judith discovers a dead body in the kiln of her pottery store, she's convinced it's the work of her ex-husband in an attempt to cause her trouble. After discussing the incident with members of her Scrabble Club, Judith soon learns that her ex may be off the hook, and that sticks and stones may break bones, but words can definitely get you killed. A short story.
We've all heard the fairy tale of the girl who could spin straw into gold, and the creature that would demand her first-born as payment for helping her achieve the horrible tasks put to her by her father. Let's face it, though, The Brothers Grimm couldn't get the facts of a story straight if their lives depended on it, and this classic tale of excess and woe is certainly no different. Here, revealed for the first time, is the absolutely true account of the events surrounding the spoiled little gold-spinner and her entire wretched family and the poor, innocent imp cheated out of what was rightfully his. A hilarious retelling of a classic fairy tale from legendary wordspinner Nancy Springer.
Winner of the Edgar Award: When Tuff’s brother is killed, he loses the best friend he ever had—but he may be about to find the father he never knew Tuff was there when Dillon died. Riding behind his older brother on the back of his dirt bike, Tuff saw it all—except who shot him. Now Tuff has no one. When his mother, too drunk to know which way is up, hears the news that her son has died, her response is, “Well, one less to worry about.” Tuff has never been close to his half siblings either. Dillon was all he had, and now he’s is gone. Tuff is no crybaby. He’s used to fending for himself. With a picture of Dillon in his pocket, he leaves home—but not before his mother reveals the identity of the boys’ father. What started out as a search for justice soon becomes much more. Dillon and Tuff had dreamed of finding their father their whole lives. With Dillon gone, can their dreams of family happiness be realized?
Now a Netflix original movie starring Millie Bobby Brown, Henry Cavill, and Helena Bonham Carter! Meet Enola Holmes, teenaged girl turned detective and the younger sister to Sherlock Holmes. When Enola Holmes, sister to the detective Sherlock Holmes, discovers her mother has disappeared, she quickly embarks on a journey to London in search of her. But nothing can prepare her for what awaits. Because when she arrives, she finds herself involved in the kidnapping of a young marquess, fleeing murderous villains, and trying to elude her shrewd older brothers—all while attempting to piece together clues to her mother’s strange disappearance. Amid all the mayhem, will Enola be able to decode the necessary clues and find her mother?
Middle-schooler Avery Holsopple is already struggling with the fact that he's the shortest guy in school. To make matters worse, his older sister Valerie has insisted on having a Victorian-style wedding, which means Avery is about to find himself dressed up in the worst color he can imagine for a boy: pink. Of course, Mom insists the color is mauve but Avery's eyes know the truth. Desperate to get out of his duties he hatches a plan with Mark, Valerie's fianc?, and ensures that this wedding is one that nobody is ever going to forget.
Jocelyn is a complete pest, She's constantly playing practical jokes and has no problems beating up boys. Not quite the person you want around you when you're trying to enjoy your summer art class on a college campus. When Jocelyn decides to take out her inner aggressions on the cafeteria's vending machines, it's not just the students who decide it's time to do something about the biggest bully on campus. After all, even a vending machine has feelings. Jocelyn is about to learn a very dangerous lesson. Sometimes the least healthy item in a vending machine isn't the weeks-old chocolate, but the machine itself. A short story.
A woman returns to wreak end-of-the-world vengeance on her Pennsylvania hometown Disfigured since birth, Joanie Musser has endured decades of taunts and torments from the “normals” in Hoadley, Pennsylvania. Her only friend is a boy named Barry Beal, who has an ugly birthmark on his face. A few days after Barry lends her $500 and his welder’s mask, Joanie disappears. Cally Wilmore, a vaguely discontented mother of two and the wife of the local funeral director, sees Joanie first: a breathtaking blond apparition galloping through town on a white steed. Rebel and resident cynic Gigi Wildasin senses that something peculiar is happening. The cicadas are crying out of season—modern-day locusts who swarm the town bearing dead children’s faces—and a blacksnake appears next to the most beautiful and erotic naked man anyone has ever seen. Cally and Gigi, along with Shirley Danyo and her lover, Elspeth, all ride horses to escape their everyday lives, unaware that they are the Four Horsewomen of doom. A familiar stranger has come to Hoadley with a terrible purpose, and for the inhabitants of this struggling coal-mining community, it seems that Judgment Day is nigh. An allegorical novel about small-town prejudice and the secrets that fester beneath the surface, Apocalypse is also about the power of love to triumph against all odds.
Iris is an imaginative little girl with the ability to make just about anything seem to come to life when she plays with it. After Iris' death at a young age, her mother feels that there isn't much left to celebrate when it comes to the holiday season. Little does she know that Iris has one last gift to give her mother this year, and it's going to make it one Christmas to truly remember. An uplifting holiday short story.
Poet T. S. Eliot once noted that when it came to cats, naming them was quite the difficult matter. At the Haven for Life Animal Rescue, worker Xenia knows this all to well. Glad to have a position, regardless of the fact that she suffers from paranoia, developmental retardation and depression, Xenia wants only to give the best care to the rescued cats that live in the shelter. When Xenia realizes that the kittens are being adopted shortly after she gives them new names, she discovers a new mission for her own life, and a realization about what it really means to take care of something that may not be able to take care of itself. A short story.
For picture framer Veronica Phillips, the most dangerous thing that happens to her on a typical day is a sheet of glass breaking or getting cut by an errant wire. When a key comes out of the back of a picture she's redoing, Ronnie soon finds herself mixed up in dark warehouses, dead bodies and harsh scrutiny by the local police for getting mixed up in the crime. Can Ronnie prove her innocence in the murder case, or will she end up being framed? A short story.
Kerri Ellen lives each day with the haunting memory of the day her sister Kimmi disappeared on her way to work. Every night, she lights a candle in the hopes that her lost sister will somehow, miraculously, find her way home. When fellow college student Burke's little sister goes missing, Kerri teams up with her sorority sisters to help comb the area to try to find her. As she makes her way through the woods and eventually back to Burke's house, all she can hope for is an outcome that's better than the one she's anticipating for her own sibling. When the investigation takes an odd turn, Kerri soon realizes there are some mysteries in life where finding the solution doesn't necessarily mean closure. A short story.
Winner of the WordWeaving Award for Excellence: The stories and poems in this fantasy collection explore the enchanted realms of the imagination—and our universal need for love and acceptance The title character of Nebula Award finalist “The Boy Who Plaited Manes” is a nameless mute at a royal stable who teaches his abusive noble master an unforgettable lesson. Gage undergoes a transformation in the “Bard” as he strums a silver harp and dreams of horses and a lost love. In “Bright-Eyed Black Pony,” the reclusive sorcerer Wystan devises a plan to help a despairing young prince. Pregnant wife Lin Burke has just moved to a backwater coal town in Pennsylvania and is about to meet her very unusual neighbor in “Primal Cry.” The title story is told in two parts: “Chance” and “The Golden Face of Fate.” As Lord’s Warden, it is the orphaned bastard Chance’s job to keep the vast forest of Wirral safe from poachers, spies, and the occasional murderer. But other creatures dwell here. They are the Denizens, whose tiny faces disappear in the blink of an eye, and who are never spoken of by name. They see and know all, including the truth about Chance’s love for the beautiful, unattainable Lady Halimeda—and the final, terrible secret of Wirral. Other pieces feature female wolves, dog-kings, and sun kings. In poems and prose of grief and atonement, hope, healing, and lost faith, Springer mines the magic that makes us human.
Winner of the Joan Fassler Memorial Book Award: The triumphant story of a boy who overcomes his disease with help from horses If Colt Vittorio had a motto, it would be I Don’t Want To! Colt has spina bifida—a condition that makes the bones in his legs weak and confines him to a wheelchair. When Colt is introduced to horseback riding in a program for disabled kids, he is beyond nervous. He wants nothing to do with these terrifying animals. After all, there’s no chance he’ll ever be able to use his legs anyway. What’s the point? Once he gets in the saddle astride a horse named Liverwurst, Colt’s whole world changes. With the horse’s powerful, muscular body beneath him, Colt no longer feels small and limited. After all, if he can control this huge, strong animal, he can do anything. And with Liverwurst’s help, Colt’s back and legs start getting stronger. But when his doctor warns that horseback riding is too dangerous and the risks are too great, will Colt’s riding lessons be history?
When a strange and wild boy walks into her life, Tess is forced to confront a past she had long ago forgotten Fourteen-year-old Tess can’t remember the first ten years of her life—and if they were anything like her life now, she’d prefer that they stay forgotten. Since her mother’s death, she and her disabled stepfather have lived without a phone, electricity, or even much food on the table. At school, her classmates think she’s weird, but she’s bigger and stronger than all of them. And at least she has music to keep her company. When a mysterious stranger named Kamo shows up looking for his dad, he is convinced that Tess and her stepfather may have the answers he’s been searching for. The more time she spends with Kamo, the more she realizes how much they have in common. Then she hears a song on the radio called “Secret Star”—a song so mesmerizing that every time she hears it, Tess’s past comes bubbling up, and she knows she won’t be able to keep it hidden for much longer . . .
From an Edgar Award winner, this abduction story is “a compulsive page turner that will have readers cheering on the decidedly unglamorous heroine” (Kirkus Reviews). Dorrie White should be content with her life. She has a steady job, a loving husband. But Dorrie also has a secret—one that has caught up with her. When she was a teenager in high school, Dorrie got pregnant and put her baby up for adoption. When she discovers her daughter, Juliet, lives nearby, she can’t help but keep tabs on the girl. But the maternal urge to be close to her child turns into every mother’s nightmare when, right before Dorrie’s eyes, Juliet is abducted at a suburban shopping mall, forced into a van that quickly drives away. Stricken, Dorrie does the only thing any mother would: she goes after her. Only to put herself at the mercy of a psychopath, sending her devoted husband on a desperate search to bring her home again. As Dorrie and Juliet struggle together to survive captivity, Dorrie is forced to confront her own dark past. “A fast-paced, edge of your seat thriller.” —Heather Gudenkauf, New York Times–bestselling author of The Overnight Guest “A darkly riveting read . . . Compelling.” —Wendy Corsi Staub, New York Times–bestselling author of The Other Family “A truly unique and fascinating heroine.” —Alison Gaylin, USA Today–bestselling author of And She Was
While fourteen-year-old Enola Holmes endeavors to save her friend Lady Cecily Alistair from an unwelcome arranged marriage, she meets with some assistance from her older brother, Sherlock, and interference by the eldest, Mycroft.
Swords and sorcery fill this fantasy about an outcast girl who teams up with a prince to break a supernatural curse that could destroy their warring kingdoms In the kingdom of Vashti, a shuntali is an outcast—an unperson. One day, a young warrior gallops into the city astride a magnificent blue stallion. He is Prince Kyrem of Deva, and he has come to Vashti on a mission of peace between the warring kingdoms. En route, he is attacked by brigands only to be rescued by a rag-tag stable boy who seems to have a way with horses. Kyrem names him Seda, unaware that the shuntali is really an orphaned girl who has disguised herself in order to survive. Now Seda, Kyrem—whose people possess mystical powers—and the peace-loving healer and magician King Auron of Vashti must join forces to save their nations from the Nameless One. But deep within a cave atop a steep mountain, the last of a vanished race gathers his demonic forces to unleash his revenge on the kingdoms bound together by the great horse-god Suth. A lonely girl with no past or future and a prince who wants to use his powers for good must find the love and magic to battle hatred and create a peace that has been a long time coming.
When she unearths the bones of a young child, Beverly Vernon’s life is transformed in ways she never expected. Widowed Beverly Vernon, a displaced East Coast children’s book illustrator and mother of two childless adult daughters, is finding it difficult to settle in rural Florida. Filling her days by painting the portrait of a longed-for imaginary grandchild, she is struggling to find meaning in her life. But everything changes when she uncovers the bones of a young child in her backyard. A child who evidently died through violent means. Determined to find out who the child was and how and why they died, Beverly notices that the portrait she’s working on seems to change of its own accord – and that’s not the only unexplained phenomenon taking place within her home. Is she being haunted – or is she going mad? In her efforts to uncover the truth behind the bones, Beverly finds her relationship with her two daughters coming under threat, and her faith and beliefs tested to their very limit.
Now a Netflix original movie starring Millie Bobby Brown, Henry Cavill, and Helena Bonham Carter! Meet Enola Holmes, teenaged girl turned detective and the younger sister to Sherlock Holmes. When Enola Holmes, sister to the detective Sherlock Holmes, discovers her mother has disappeared, she quickly embarks on a journey to London in search of her. But nothing can prepare her for what awaits. Because when she arrives, she finds herself involved in the kidnapping of a young marquess, fleeing murderous villains, and trying to elude her shrewd older brothers—all while attempting to piece together clues to her mother’s strange disappearance. Amid all the mayhem, will Enola be able to decode the necessary clues and find her mother?
The daughter of the High King has a regal name, but she is small and plain, so everyone just calls her Wren. As a mere girl, she is not her father’s heir; her cousin Korbye is. But Wren’s infallible sooth-sense tells her that Korbyn would make no good king. Nor is sooth-sense her only fate. Wren is the Kingmaker. When an ancient and dangerous ring of power finds its way to her, how should she use it?
The art of storytelling and the power of a mother’s love imbue this feminist fantasy novel—a contemporary riff on the tale of the frog prince Once upon a time there was a middle-aged woman whose husband dumped her the month after their twentieth anniversary . . . Divorced, overweight Buffy Murphy is not a happy camper. One April afternoon, she walks into the woods . . . and meets a talking bullfrog. He asks her to kiss him so he can transform back into his princely self. This being modern-day Pennsylvania, Buffy figures she’s better off with a talking amphibian than a cheating husband, so she takes him home. The fun really starts when her rebellious teenage daughter, Emily, kisses him. Suddenly, Emily and her handsome prince have vanished into the land of Fair Peril, an enchanted realm that can only be accessed through a portal in the local mall. Aided by a gay librarian named LeeVon and hindered by her fairy-godmother-in-law, Fay, Buffy shuttles back and forth between the real world and Fair Peril. Does Emily really want to be rescued, or does she just need someone to love her? It’s up to Buffy to figure out the key to reclaiming her daughter—and maybe herself, as well.
Enola Holmes is hiding from the world’s most famous detective—her own brother, Sherlock Holmes. But when she discovers a hidden cache of bold, brilliant charcoal drawings, she can’t help but venture out to find who drew them: young Lady Cecily, who has disappeared from her bedroom without a trace. Braving midnight streets where murderers roam, Enola must unravel the clues—a leaning ladder, a shifty-eyed sales clerk, political pamphlets—but in order to save Lady Cecily from a powerful villain, Enola risks revealing more than she should . . . In her follow-up to The Case of the Missing Marquess, which received four starred reviews, two-time Edgar Award winner Nancy Springer brings us back to the danger and intrigue of Victorian London as she continues the adventures of one of the wittiest and most exciting new heroines in today’s literature.
From the day twelve-year-old Rhiannon spots a lost white Arabian gelding in the woods near her small Pennsylvania mining town, her life finds a focus as she learns to deal with family problems and decides the direction her life will take.
Ostracized for speaking her mind and standing up against a man she doesn't wish to marry, a young girl is cast out of her village and forced to fend for herself in the mountains. When she ventures too closely to a lake and nearly drowns, she is rescued by a man from Athens who introduces himself as Herodotus. What transpires after the rescue is an education for the young girl, providing names for the things that surround her. When an encounter with a fish leads her to discover her own true name, she soon discovers the gift she can take back to her village to be accepted once again. A short story.
This contemporary fantasy by award-winning author Nancy Springer sweeps readers along on a girl’s journey of enlightenment and transformation Raised in the Allegheny Mountains of Pennsylvania by her grandpap, Bobbi Lee Yandro has been seeing things that aren’t there for years. Afraid she’s going “all the way crazy” like her institutionalized mother, she receives an unexpected gift for her almost-sixteenth birthday: a box of her dead father’s journals. Wright Yandro was killed in Vietnam when Bobbi was a baby, but the poems he left behind stir something inside her, awakening visions of wild horses. When her grandfather buys her a black mustang with eyes of blue fire, she instinctively knows its name is Shane. On the day the vet arrives to castrate Shane, Bobbi helps the horse escape. Soon she and Shane are fugitives on a journey that takes Bobbi far from Canadawa County to a village deep in the mountains. Here she meets Hazel Fenstermacher, also known as the Hex Witch of Seldom. Hazel introduces Bobbi to the Twelve of the Hidden Circle, who include a king, a sorceress, a poet, a trickster, and a dark hero. But one of them is out to steal Shane’s soul, for he is no ordinary horse. As Bobbi uncovers the secrets of the Circle, she must employ her special gifts to save Shane and shape her own future.
It has been little more than a year since Etty-once Princess Ettarde, promised to the power-hungry Lord Basil-escaped from her father and joined Rowan Hood's band of misfit teens and outlaws-in-the-making. Etty is so happy, she cannot imagine returning to her old life. That is, until her father appears to reclaim her. King Solon is determined to bring Etty back to barter her hand for peace. He will do anything. Even use his wife, Ettarde's mother, as bait. In a cage. In Sherwood Forest. In winter. Etty will not stand for it. Neither will Rowan Hood. An intergenerational battle of wit, will power, and wisdom follows in this third tale of Rowan Hood.
What starts as a typical day for self-described arts nerd Brad Litwack is soon altered by a woman who stops a car in the middle of traffic and begins to paint poetry all over it. Brad is immediately intrigued, particularly by the phrase "Dario Fuentes," something his police officer father seems particularly outraged about when he arrives on the scene to take the woman to jail. Although his father insists Brad keep his nose out of the situation, Brad can't help but do some research to find out what message the woman was trying to convey. What Brad uncovers is a dark family secret, every bit as intriguing as the poetry-covered car itself. A short story.
Enola Holmes is back in a brand-new adventure from the series that launched the breakout Netflix sensation - perfect for young teen readers! Enola Holmes discovers that her friend Lady Cecily Alastair is in need of help. Twice before, Enola has rescued Lady Cecily from the sinister schemes of her father, Sir Eustace Alastair. And when Enola is brusquely turned away at the door of the Alastair home it soon becomes apparent that something is awry. After a daring escape involving bows, arrows and prickly bushes, Enola quickly discovers she is not the only person trying to rescue Lady Cecily. Sherlock Holmes, the world-famous detective, is also on the case. Unfortunately, the girl has already disappeared again, and is now on the loose in the unforgiving city of London. Will Enola and Sherlock work together to save Cecily? And can they agree on what they are saving her from?
Perfect Trisha and troublemaker Donni couldn’t be more different—but neither of them knows what to do when their parents get a divorce After Donni and Trisha’s parents split up, Donni goes to live with their dad and Trisha goes with their mom. Donni is nothing like her older sister, Trisha the Perfect, who gets good grades and never does anything wrong. All Donni is interested in is art. Since the divorce, she’s been in trouble practically every day. But after she smears paint on another girl’s shirt and an adult asks her about the divorce, all hell breaks loose. Since Donni is always in trouble, no one seems to notice that Trisha is also having a hard time with things at home. With no one to confide in, Trisha pours her heart out about everything—her parents, her sister, her hopes for the future—in her journal. What she wants more than anything is for Donni to talk to her about how she’s feeling. But after Donni does something terrible, maybe unforgivable, the two sisters might never be friends again.
When Cindy stops by the local cat shelter where she volunteers, she discovers her coworker Samantha unconscious on the floor. Even more horrifying, to Cindy, is that a mother cat and her kittens have mysteriously disappeared out into the snow. While Cindy leaves the attack to the police to investigate while she seeks out the missing cats, a second assault finishes Samantha off. Soon, Cindy's mixed up in a litter of death, missing cats and the police casting an eye in her direction as a possible suspect. Can Cindy find the missing cats and help pinpoint the murderer, or is she going to end up a victim of her own cat-astrophe? A short story.
After fourteen-year-old Enola Holmes seeks the missing Duquessa Del Campo in the seedy underbelly of nineteenth-century London, she finally reaches an understanding with her brothers Sherlock and Mycroft.
Enola Holmes is back in a brand-new adventure from the series that launched the breakout Netflix sensation - perfect for young teen readers! May, 1890. Wolcott Balestier, the representative of an American book publisher, has arrived in London on a singular mission - to contract English authors for their latest works. When Balestier disappears on the streets of London one day, his great friend - Rudyard Kipling - bursts into Enola's office looking for help in finding him. Brash and unwilling to hire a young woman, instead he turns to Sherlock Holmes. Convinced that evil has befallen Balestier, at the hands of rival American publishers who pirate the works of English authors, he sets the elder Holmes on the trail. But Enola is determined to learn the truth behind the disappearance of the young American. Can book publishing truly be so deadly?
After his best friend is murdered, seventeen-year-old Booger realizes he is the only one who has any idea who might have committed the crime; but he doesn't tell anyone. This novel explores the darker side of sibling rivalry.
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