Family Life Science

Will's beloved granny made cakes and knitted itchy jumpers - that's what he thought. But when she passes away and dodgy Jasper Fitchet moves in to their village, dark magic begins to unravel in Knitford. Can Peter and his gran's old craft group tie Fitchet in knots? With the help of her old motorbike and a flock of magical sheep, they might just do it...so long as they don't drop a stitch.

Kay Catt has a nickname - Scaredy Catt. And with good reason. You've never met a more timid, anxious girl in your life. And when you meet her dad, you'll start to understand why. But when a mysterious old man is spotted on Storey Street, it heralds the start of a great adventure for Kay. Because Wilf Wilkinson isn't your average sherbet lemon-sucking old codger. Oh no. Wilf wears a cloak and a strange pointy hat, and his walking stick looks suspiciously like an oversize wand. Wilf couldn't be a wizard...could he?

In West of the Moon, award-winning and New York Times bestselling author Margi Preus expertly weaves original fiction with myth and folktale to tell the story of Astri, a young Norwegian girl desperate to join her father in America. After being separated from her sister and sold to a cruel goat farmer, Astri makes a daring escape. She quickly retrieves her little sister, and, armed with a troll treasure, a book of spells and curses, and a possibly magic hairbrush, they set off for America.

It's been almost a year since Jenna Samuels' stoner brother, Casey, bit the dust and returned as her guardian angel; a year since Casey and his "angel boss", Amber Velasco, saved Jenna's life and helped her foil the bad guys, more or less; a year in which Jenna has solved the true mystery of the universe: how to get one Ryan Sloboda to ask her out.

Sapien is a relic of a bygone age, searching for meaning in a world where his outdated allegiances to a time long past have left him isolated and hopeless. Seeking peace and quiet, he retires to a beach house at Barren Cove, a stately Victorian manor even more antiquated than he. He becomes increasingly fascinated with the family whose lives are entwined with the home - angry and rebellious Clark; flamboyant Kent; fragile, beautiful Mary; and, most of all, Beachstone, the mysterious man whose history may hold all the answers Sapien has been searching for.

Adelaide Goode has never been good enough. Everyone knows she's the weakest witch born to the Goode family in centuries. And now her mom is betraying her in the worst possible way: abandoning her in Cranberry Hallow, where she has no friends at all, for three whole months! And she's pushing her to compete in the town Halloween pageant!

Kyana Turner has just found out the family secret—she’s a witch! This means lessons every Saturday at Park Row Magick Academy, the magic school hidden in the back of her local beauty shop. Learning spells, charms, and potion recipes, and getting a wand made to match her hair's curl pattern, Kyana feels like she's a part of something really special. The hardest part will be keeping her magic a secret from non-Magick folks, including her BFF, Nae.

Dr. Mick Strong has bought himself something unusual for his seventy-fifth birthday: a LifeTime projection. This new tech crunches data including your medical history, diet, and lifestyle to predict how much—or little—time you’ve got left. That’s all well and good, but he’s also bought them for his daughter, his grandchildren, and even his eleven-year-old great-grandson. He wants them each to wait until their next birthday to use the app. But whether they scoff at it, sneak an early look, desperately turn into a health nut, or die before their appointed time, the gift is wreaking havoc.

As the alien Authority’s invasion begins, mankind stands on the brink of annihilation. Cassius Stevenson and his brother Jesse Fisher - descendants of the planet Haven’s resistance forces - must forge alliances with the embittered factions on Earth to defend against the brutal attack. But the Authority has only begun to fight. When their terrible new weapon sends Earth’s fragile coalition into turmoil, humanity’s last chance at survival lies in the hands of the two brothers, whose fates are linked more closely than they ever imagined.

In a small Southern town, two teenagers find themselves falling into a once-in-a-lifetime love affair, while the people around them watch with hope or despair. Flora Jean is a young Black girl who daydreams of leaving the segregated caste system of Mississippi far behind her. She's being raised by her single mother, Lily, a no-nonsense woman who is willing to do whatever is necessary to raise her daughter to be smart and independent. Bobby Jr. is the oldest son of the richest family in the region. He has learned at an early age that money does not buy happiness, nor does it guarantee love.

Charlie O’Reilly is an only child. Which is why it makes everyone uncomfortable when he talks about his brother. Liam. His eight-year-old kid brother, who, up until a year ago, slept in the bunk above Charlie, took pride in being as annoying as possible, and was the only person who could make Charlie laugh until it hurt. Then came the morning when the bunk, and Liam, disappeared forever. No one even remembers him - not Charlie’s mother, who has been lost in her own troubles; and not Charlie’s father, who is gone frequently on business trips.

A teen criminal hacker turned secret operative must outwit a band of cyberterrorists in this gripping novel from the acclaimed author of The Bone Houses. I was fifteen when I became a murderer. After a hack gone tragically wrong, a teen girl is given an ultimatum: accept a harsh prison sentence...

All her life Barrie Watson has been a virtual prisoner in the house where she lived with her shut-in mother. When her mother dies, Barrie promises to put some mileage on her stiletto heels. But she finds a new kind of prison at her aunt's South Carolina plantation instead - a prison guarded by an ancient spirit who long ago cursed one of the three founding families of Watson Island and gave the others magical gifts that became compulsions.

When Dr. Cyrus Mills returned home after inheriting his estranged father's veterinary practice, the last thing he wanted was to stay in Eden Falls, Vermont. However, the previously reclusive veterinarian pathologist quickly found that he actually enjoyed treating animals and getting to know the eccentric residents of the tiny provincial town - especially an alluring waitress named Amy.

Rieden Reece feels angry all the time. Dealing with a typical thirteen-year-old life is bad enough, but the troubled boy navigates school bullies, a divorced mom he needs to protect, and an absent dad. But when one night his bedroom shakes violently, he peers out his window and watches in stunned disbelief as the moon up above breaks apart. Alarmed when a shadowy figure climbs out of the cracked orb, Rieden is shocked when the quirky alien reveals he’s been sent from the future to help him find something mission-critical.

When Kyan finds a battered old racing-car game in the loft, he doesn't believe the big claims written on the box. I mean, what kind of 'Infinite Race' only has seven pieces of track? So it comes as a shock when the game really does take him on the journey of a lifetime – through multiple universes! Whether he’s a space pilot on the trail of underwater aliens or an unwitting robber in a stolen police car, every adventure is more thrilling than the last. When he lands in a universe as a stunt driver racing for a million-pound prize, he thinks he’s found the way to save his family and their home.

The Wang family is hiding a secret—they all have the ability to time travel. When parents Joshua and Lily depart for the past and never return, their children Tommy and Eva are forced to deal with their grief alone. Eva tries to find her place in the present, while Tommy is pulled further and further into a past that he hopes holds the truth. When he falls in love with a woman from 1930s London Chinatown, his inability to confront his own history has serious ramifications for the people who can truly bring him happiness.

Many fantasize about dramatically changing their lives - living in accordance with their ideals rather than the exigencies of job, bills, and possessions. William Powers actually does it. Here, his family, with baby in tow, searches for balance, community, and happiness in a small town in Bolivia. They build an adobe house, plant a prolific orchard and organic garden, and weave their life into a community of permaculturists, bio-builders, artists, and creative businesspeople. Can this Transition Town succeed in the face of encroaching North American capitalism?

"En el examen de la vida, no todos tienen las mismas preguntas. Aunque las preguntas son las mismas, las respuestas no son las mismas. Cada vida es única. Pero, hay una cosa común en todas las vidas. Nadie está completamente feliz. La historia actual es un ejemplo de eso."

My mother-in-law, Diane Newby, zombified by accident. She still volunteers at her church bake sales and cooks pot roast for her daughter and son-in-law, Ron Yardley. What ticks her off is when people don't treat her like a normal human being - with glowing red eyes and super strength and speed. And if she doesn't get her own way, look out. She explodes and leaves broken plaster and body parts in her wake. Nothing stops her: not brick walls, the federal government, or middle-aged spread.