Family Reader

Stella Batts is back! Stella is in third grade, she wants to be a writer, and her parents own a wonderful candy shop. Life should be pretty good, right? In Pardon Me, Stella needs to find a new best friend after her friend Willa moves away. But finding a new best friend is not easy. Things are looking up when she meets Evie, the new girl in town. She is going to be in Stella s class at school and she needs a new best friend, too.Stella can t wait to introduce her to the other third graders. Except when they get to school, things don't exactly go the way Stella planned....

One of the best things about having parents who own a candy store is getting to be an official taste-tester. When her dad brings home Magical Glow-in-the-Dark Chewing Gum, Stella can’t wait to try it out - especially since her younger sister is already blowing bubbles and making magic-gum wishes that come true. Except the gum seems to bring Stella bad luck. First she can’t even blow a bubble, and then she falls asleep chewing a piece of gum that ends up wadded in her hair, resulting in a drastic haircut. And now her best friend, Willa, announces she’s moving clear across the country!

The Vanderbeekers have always lived in the brownstone on 141st Street. It's practically a member of the family. So when their reclusive, curmudgeonly landlord decides not to renew their lease, the five siblings have 11 days to do whatever it takes to stay in their beloved home and convince the dreaded landlord just how wonderful they are...and all is fair in love and war when it comes to keeping their home.

The Vanderbeekers have always lived in the brownstone on 141st Street. It's practically another member of the family. So when their reclusive, curmudgeonly landlord decides not to renew their lease, the five siblings have 11 days to do whatever it takes to stay in their beloved home and convince the dreaded Beiderman just how wonderful they are. And all is fair in love and war when it comes to keeping their home. A modern classic in the making reminiscent of the Penderwicks series.

Matilda is the world's most famous bookworm, no thanks to her ghastly parents.Her father thinks she's a little scab. Her mother spends all afternoon playing bingo. And her headmistress, Miss Trunchbull? She's the worst of all. She's a big bully, who thinks all her pupils are rotten and locks them in the dreaded Chokey. Despite these beastly grownups trying to push her down, Matilda is an extraordinary girl with a magical mind. And she's had enough. So all the terrible adults had better watch out, because she's going to teach them a lesson they'll never forget!

Penguin presents the unabridged, downloadable, audiobook edition of The Rabbit Who Wants to Fall Asleep by Carl-Johan Forssén Ehrlin, read by Rachel Bavidge and Roy McMillian. This groundbreaking number-one best seller is sure to turn nightly bedtime battles into a loving and special end-of-day ritual. This child-tested, parent-approved story uses an innovative technique that brings a calm end to any child's day.

My naughty little sister is the naughtiest little girl in the world. She is guaranteed to cause mischief wherever she goes! She digs up the garden, eats all the trifle and she doesn't even like Father Christmas!

Jack and Amnie are taken on a series of adventures by the Magic Tree House, accompanied by companions such as Teddy, the enchanted dog. With the Magic Tree House, you can experience far away places like Australia and learn about the past on a whirlwind tour through the history books.

My naughty little sister is the naughtiest little girl in the world... she's always having adventures! She wins a prize in the Fancy Dress parade, and she goes to the hairdresser with Bad Harry to watch him have his golden curls chopped off. But she's a very stubborn girl at the photographer's shop - she won't say cheese!

A story of friendship, courage and a bit of crime. Bridget wants a quiet life, including, if possible, keeping her parents out of prison. Then a boy called Menzies makes her an offer she can't refuse, and they set off on a job of their own. It's a desperate, daring plan, to rescue two kids, Jamal and Bibi, from a desert detention centre. Can Bridget and Menzies pull off their very first jail break, or will they end up behind bars too? Sometimes to help a friend, you have to dig deep.

Megin is 12; her brother Greg is 14. Megin is a slob; Greg is fastidious. They call each other Megamouth and Grosso. Between the two, the household is filled with their teasing and fighting. They are experts at the usual games of sibling rivalry and experts at inventing new ones. From carefully-planted cockroaches to creme doughnut fights, Megin and Greg's antics keep them in constant trouble. But even as they think up new ways to bug each other, they are also growing up.

Young listeners will love next installment of the award-winning beginning chapter book series, Charlie & Mouse. This time, the two brothers and their family are off on a new adventure: going camping! Follow along as they take a long drive, hike a short distance, defeat a big lion, hide in a small tent, and conquer the great outdoors - together.

Parents, educators, therapists, and social workers alike have declared The Invisible String the perfect tool for coping with all kinds of separation anxiety, loss, and grief. In this relatable and reassuring contemporary classic, a mother tells her two children that they're all connected by an invisible string. "That's impossible!" the children insist, but still they want to know more: "What kind of string?" The answer is the simple truth that binds us all: An Invisible String made of love.

The second book in the classic Just William series, read by Martin Jarvis. It was on Christmas Day that the centipede appeared on Aunt Evangeline's plate, the library clock was found mysteriously dismantled, and the conjuring trick with the egg went disastrously wrong. But as William's Aunt Lucy told him, 'A Busy Day is a Happy Day' - and William is always eager to please adults. The terror of the Brown family is back, leaving a trail of havoc behind him - with the very best of intentions.

Simone is a mind reader. She knows a great many things, but she can't seem to remember anything about her past. So when she gets the chance to search for her family, she sets off to finally find her home. When she stumbles across a man with two minds inside him - the real one, shoved deep down, and one of a body walker, someone who can take over a person's body against their will - Simone is even more eager to leave her old life behind.

A new term spells disaster for Mildred!After a disastrous first year, Mildred is determined to lose her embarrassing reputation as the worst witch the Academy has ever seen - but things rapidly get out of hand when her arch-enemy Ethel turns her into a frog ...

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe meets I'll Give You the Sun in an exhilarating and emotional novel about the growing relationship between two teen boys, told through the letters they write to one another. Jonathan Hopkirk and Adam "Kurl" Kurlansky are partnered in English class, writing letters to one another in a weekly pen-pal assignment. With each letter, the two begin to develop a friendship that eventually grows into love. But with homophobia, bullying, and devastating family secrets, Jonathan and Kurl struggle....

You could have a Harvard degree or a lifetime’s experience as a librarian, and you still wouldn’t have come across some of the facts found in Interesting Facts for Smart Kids. But after a few rounds of listening to some of the most bizarre things you’ll ever learn about the world, you’ll have a family of experts in, well, everything!

Ivy and Bean are back, and they are funnier than ever. Ivy's worried. She's read a lot of books about only children, so she knows that they are sometimes spoiled rotten. They don't share their toys. They never do any work. They scream and cry when they don't get their way. Spoiler alert! Ivy doesn't have any brothers or sisters. That's why she's worried. How can she keep from getting spoiled? She could give away all her clothes, but she'd probably get in trouble. She could give away all her toys, but she likes her toys. There's really only one solution: She needs a baby sister.

A conversation-changing look at the social, familial, neurological, and psychological benefits of reading aloud, especially for parents and children. A miraculous alchemy occurs when one person reads to another, transforming the simple stuff of a book, a voice, and a bit of time into complex and powerful fuel for the heart, brain, and imagination. Grounded in the latest neuroscience and behavioural research, and drawing widely from literature, The Enchanted Hour explains the dazzling cognitive and social-emotional benefits that await children who are read to.