Humorous Adventure

From the award-winning author of Hidden Talents, two remarkable short-story collections - Kidzilla and The Witch's Monkey - together for the first time. Plus several brand-new stories. Each hilarious and harrowing. A substitute teacher finds out she has some monsters for students. A group of kids attempts a levitation trick with hair-raising results. A neighborhood is so boring the grown-ups are turning into...well...you know. And dozens more.

From rags to riches...When Pete the Barncat offers to trade good, juicy steak scraps for a couple of old corncobs, Hank the Cowdog smells a rat. Why would Pete want to trade - unless the cobs are worth a fortune? So, armed with his Incredible PricelessCorncobs, Hank sets out to plan his Early Retirement. But retirement and the life of luxury don't come as easily as Hank expects. It seems as though everyone is after his treasure - even his faithful sidekick, Drover!

It's summertime, and the weather on Hank's West Texas ranch is hot and dry. So dry, in fact, that everyone is on the lookout for prairie fires. So Hank bravely adds the title of Head of Fire Safety to his already impressive list of responsibilities and gets to work. But patrolling for fires is dull, and it's hard to do on an empty stomach. Despite the distractions - desperate hunger, a cruel trick at the hands of Pete the Barncat - Hank somehow manages to stay focused on the job at hand.

An all-new, mesmerizing adventure from the masterful Gordon Korman! Jackson Opus has always been persuasive, but he doesn't know that he's descended from the two most powerful hypnotist bloodlines on the planet. He's excited to be accepted into a special program at the Sentia Institute - but when he realizes he's in over his head, Jackson will have to find a way to use his powers to save his friends, his parents, and his government.

Is it a gift or is it a curse? Jax Opus can use his color-changing eyes to make people do what he wants. But soon Jax is pulled into a dangerous conspiracy devised by a mysterious group...and now they're going to make Jax do what they want.

After Pete the Barncat starts a rumor about a Phantom Dog in the machine shed, Hank the Cowdog - the head of ranch security - decides that he better check it out. And sure enough, when Hank takes a peek into the shadows, he sees the meanest, toughest, stupidest dog he's ever seen.

Even after an exhausting morning defending the ranch against a vicious one-eyed robot, Hank the Cowdog, Head of Ranch Security, still has energy left to supervise Little Alfred's fishing trip.

Hank couldn't be more thrilled when Beulah the Collie comes to the ranch looking for help. It turns out her beau, Plato the Bird Dog, has wandered off in search of the elusive Great White Quail. With Plato out of the picture, Hank is convinced that he'll finally be able to win Beulah's affections. So he takes up the mission, hoping to score some points with his beloved.

They threw him in a desert hell with one rule — fight to the death or get scrapped. Now T.E.D.D., the glitchy trash droid who’s done taking orders, is trapped in Sector Zero, where the Manager forces humans and machines into brutal bloodsport. Friends could become executioners — or corpses beside him. There’s no walking away. Outsmart the arena, or rust in the sand. Because in Sector Zero, the deadliest enemy isn’t the droids, the humans, or even the Manager. It’s the choice Tedd must make.

Arkspire is a city obsessed by magic. The five Arcanists - a group of all-powerful magicians have protected the great city for as long as anyone can remember. Within the hustle and bustle of these cobbled streets lives Juniper Bell, a thief who'd do anything for her family even her unbelievably annoying twin sister. Then one night, something incredible happens. A mysterious stolen relic (nothing to do with Juni, ahem...) explodes, revealing a mysterious creature, Igna who appears to 'bond' with Juni.

Guilty until proven innocent? Who - or what - has been killing chickens on the ranch? And what is Hank the Cowdog, Head of Ranch Security, going to do about it? Using his top-notch law enforcement skills, Hank launches one of the hardest-hitting investigations of his career. No one is to be trusted, and everyone is a suspect - even Hank!

One fateful day Lucy is invited to study at the prestigious Overworld Academy. The academy offers her the opportunity to learn all of the secrets of the Overworld - and it's an opportunity she can't miss. She's sad to leave behind her friends, Henry and Max, but it's time for her to have an adventure on her own. At Overworld Academy she meets two new friends, Jane and Phoebe. Jane is an expert fighter, and Phoebe is a talented alchemist. With Lucy's own knack for treasure hunting, the trio makes an incredible team.

Since being transported from Earth to an unknown world, Edwin Maxlin has endured angry dwarves, wandering birdfolk, and marauding bandits—and it hasn’t even been a year. So when the opportunity presents itself for him to get off the grid and figure out how to actually use his Skills, he jumps at the chance. But life in the wilderness of Joriah isn’t as straightforward as it might appear.

A rumor on the ranch: who ever heard of a fiddle-playing fox? Not Hank the Cowdog, that's for sure. But when several reports of unexplained fiddle music come in, Hank knows that it's his job to check things out. And to his surprise, he finds that the ranch has indeed been invaded by a fox with a fiddle!

In Hiccup the Viking's misadventures, the stakes have never been higher, and it's friend versus foe to decide the fate of the world. In this, the penultimate title in the amazing story arc that began with How to Train Your Dragon, Hiccup is faced with a personal dilemma against the backdrop of...

Can Violet and Noah protect their village from griefers and ensure the Olympic Games continue uninterrupted? Noah and Violet's village is hosting the Olympics for Minecrafters. The events are disrupted when a TNT attack destroys the Olympic stadium. Noah and Violet are forced to gather the townspeople to wage a battle against Daniel and his powerful griefers. They all must stop the griefers before they destroy the games entirely.

One hungry Tuesday afternoon Jimmy Zangwow’s stomach rumbles. He just has to have some milk and a chocolaty Moon Pie. But his mother says, "Of course not" and sends him outside to play. In the backyard, Jimmy climbs aboard the secret project he has been building: a junk jumbilee jalopy.

Dave Smith is having a bad day, week, month, maybe even year. Freshly unemployed, facing eviction, and now he's been transported to a fantasy world. A wish come true for many a geek, if only he hadn't died less than a day after he arrived. Now trapped in this fantasy realms version of purgatory, he faces the prospect of trying to navigate a new existence as a dungeon. That wouldn't be so bad, except ending dungeons seems to be the path out for many of the other denizens of these Proving Grounds.

Ominous Obelisks land on Earth with a single message: Join the Games to give humanity a fighting chance to survive... Or roll over and die. Too bad for them, Warren isn't the rolling over type. Warren is on the Battle World and, in order to survive, he needs to summon his inner diplomat. Warren is no diplomat. But despite lacking a mouth filter, he's forming very unlikely allies. Will they last? Or is Warren just setting himself (and humanity) up for a knife in the back?

Bob and friends come back to Earth for a little well-deserved R and R. Take a few nice walks in the woods, play a little paintball. Too bad it can’t be that easy. Too many people want Commonwealth tech, for them to ever have any peace.