Introduction: Cold Streets (Vampire Files #10) Vampire detective Jack Fleming's latest venture-the Lady Crymsyn nightclub-has become the favorite haunt for Chicago's elite. But amongst his patrons lurk a smarmy blackmailer and a dangerous up-and-coming mobster from New York-both unaware how deadly Jack can be when blood is spilled...View Details>

Introduction: Blood on the Water (Vampire Files #6) As a journalist in Capone-controlled Chicago, Jack Fleming is used to blood--even though it's from a vampire's perspective. When the new mob boss decides to rid the city of its friendly vampire, Fleming's thirst for the red stuff gets in the way of his safety.View Details>

Introduction: Art in the Blood (Vampire Files #4) I'm a vampire, not an artist, but I know what I like. And I don't like murder: So when the career of a talented young artist is fatally cut short, I know I won't sleep easy in my coffin until I find the killer: But the world of high art--with its big money, bigger egos, and expensive forgeries--makes even bloodsucking seem simple. And safer. Dead artists can live forever: An undead detective may not be so lucky...View Details>

Introduction: Where do dreams come from? What stealthy nighttime messengers are the guardians of our most deeply hidden hopes and our half-forgotten fears? Drawing on her rich imagination, two-time Newbery winner Lois Lowry confronts these questions and explores the conflicts between the gentle bits and pieces of the past that come to life in dream, and the darker horrors that find their form in nightmare. In a haunting story that tiptoes between reality and imagination, two people&mdasha lonely, sensitive woView Details>

Introduction: The Birthday Ball by Lois Lowry , Jules Feiffer (Illustrator) Princess Patricia Priscilla is bored with her royal life and the excitement surrounding her sixteenth birthday ball. Doomed to endure courtship by three grotesquely unappealing noblemen, she escapes her fate—for a week. Disguised as a peasant, she attends the village school as the smart new girl, “Pat,” and attracts friends and the attention of the handsome schoolmaster. Disgusting suitors, lovable peasants, and the clueless kinView Details>

Introduction: Stay Keeper's Story by Lois Lowry , True Kelley (Illustrator) This is the story of a dog who tells his own tale. As a pup he is separated from his mother and siblings. This unusual dog learns about living on the dangerous streets and even makes up poetry. He finds human friends, has the chance to win fame and fortune, and is given the name Keeper. Through it all Keeper can't forget his long lost little sister. If only they could be together again, life would be perfect. But an old enView Details>

Introduction: Bless This Mouse by Lois Lowry , Eric Rohmann (Illustrator) A resilient and quirky colony of church mice fears another Great X more than they fear cats. Under Mouse Mistress Hildegarde’s leadership, they save themselves from one danger after another—sometimes just by the skin of their tails! Can one ultimate act of bravery during the feast day of St. Francis get Father Murphy to bless these mice and keep them safe forever? Rife with humor and personality, this young middle-grade novel has View Details>

Introduction: Gooney Bird Is So Absurd (Gooney Bird Greene #4) The fourth hilarious title in Lowis Lowry's popular Gooney Birdseries! It’s a cold January at the Watertower Elementary School--the perfect weather for Gooney Bird Greene to break out her special brain-warming hat! It's a good thing she has one. Gooney Bird's brain will need to be as warm as possible this month, because Mrs. Pidgeon is teaching her class about poetry. Who knew there could be so many different ways to write a poem? HView Details>

Introduction: The Enchanter Heir (The Heir Chronicles #4) They called it the Thorn Hill Massacre—the brutal attack on a once-thriving Weir community. Though Jonah Kinlock lived through it, he did not emerge unscathed: like the other survivors, Jonah possesses unique magical gifts that set him apart from members of the mainline guilds. At seventeen, Jonah has become the deadliest assassin in Nightshade, a global network that hunts the undead. He is being groomed to succeed Gabriel Mandrake, the sorcerer,View Details>

Introduction: Pick your poison: Vampires, devils, werewolves, faeries, or . . . ? Find them all here in Holly Black&rsquos amazing first collection. In her debut collection, New York Times best-selling author Holly Black returns to the world of Tithe in two darkly exquisite new tales. Then Black takes readers on a tour of a faerie market and introduces a girl poisonous to the touch and another who challenges the devil to a competitive eating match. Some of these stories have been published in anthologies suchView Details>