Learning Library

Have you ever wanted to captivate readers with a great opening, create fantastical creatures, realize a dastardly villain, or make your characters leap off the page? If you answered yes to any of these questions, Gail Carson Levine can help you achieve your goals. This companion to the popular Writing Magic teaches you how to become a world-class author. Drawing from her popular blog, the Newbery Honor author answers readers' questions and dives into how to make a story come alive.

What has a spine, a table, and a cover? A book, of course! Listen to learn about the parts of a book.

To make a book, you first start with an idea. What comes next? Listen to find out how books are made.

Street signs, menus, game directions - words are everywhere! Where else do you put your reading skills to use? Listen to this book to find out.

Discover how Dav Pilkey became a best-selling children's author! Did you know Dav Pilkey created his Captain Underpants character while sitting in his elementary school's hallway? Explore the life and career of one of today's most popular and cherished children's authors. Full of fact-packed sidebars and direct quotes, this eye-opening biography showcases the influences, talents, and creativity that helped Pilkey rise to the top of best sellers lists.

In this fascinating work, winner of the Wolfson Prize for History Mark Mazower uncovers the history of the Balkans with detail and clarity. He explores the reasons for current conflicts and examines the Balkans as a religious, cultural, and economic melting pot for Europe and Asia. Through Robert O'Keefe's articulate narration, listeners will be absorbed by this rich world.

In Just Ask, United States Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor celebrates the different abilities kids (and people of all ages) have. Using her own experience as a child who was diagnosed with diabetes, Justice Sotomayor writes about children with all sorts of challenges - and looks at the special powers those kids have as well. As the kids work together to build a community garden, asking questions of each other along the way, this book encourages listeners to do the same.

Jack and Annie are off on another adventure! This time they are sent to ancient Greece, where a very important event is taking place. Join them as they race against time and witness the very first Olympic Games!

Captured by cats! It's every rodent's worst nightmare. It all started when my cousin Trap convinced me to join him on a quest for a legendary island covered in silver. But before you could say "hot cheese on toast", we were attacked by a ship of pirate cats!

Twelve-year-old Danny Walker may be the smallest kid on the basketball court, but don't tell him that. Because no one plays with more heart or court sense. But none of that matters when he is cut from his local travel team, the very same team his father led to national prominence as a boy. Danny's father knows Danny isn't the only kid who was cut for the wrong reason, and together, this washed-up former player and a bunch of never-say-die kids prove that the heart simply cannot be measured.

Stargirl has moved and left everything behind: Arizona, Mica High, enchanted desert places, and Leo. He's all she can think about, and her life begins to feel like a parade of unhappy anniversaries. Then Stargirl meets her wonderfully bizarre new neighbors: Dootsie, the curly-headed five-year-old "human bean"; Betty Lou, who hasn't stepped outside her house for nine years; Charlie, who sits among the tombstones; hot-tempered Alvina, with that one glittery nail....

From his first day at boarding school, Toyo Shimada sees how upperclassmen make a sport out of terrorizing the first-years. Still, he's taken aback when the seniors keep him from trying out for the baseball team, especially after he sees their current shortstop. Toyo isn't afraid to prove himself; He's more troubled by his uncle's recent suicide. Although Uncle Koji's defiant death was supposedly heroic, it has made Toyo question many things about his family's samurai background.

Greg had started looking around the cafeteria, and everywhere he looked, he saw quarters. He saw kids trading quarters for ice-cream sandwiches and cupcakes and cookies at the dessert table. There were quarters all over the place, buckets of them. At that moment, Greg’s view of school changed completely and forever. School had suddenly become the most interesting place on the planet. Because young Greg Kenton had decided that school would be an excellent place to make his fortune.

It isn't easy being a pioneer in the state of Washington in 1899 - particularly when you are the only girl ever born to the new settlement. With seven older brothers and a love of adventure, May Amelia Jackson just can't seem to abide her family's insistence that she behave like a Proper Young Lady. Not when there's fishing to be done, sheep to be herded, and real live murderers to be captured!

When Joe is traveling to stay with his mother and stepfather for Christmas, little does he imagine the excitement and magical intrigue that await him when he falls headfirst into an evil plot to rid England of witches. With great bravery and more than a little help from his half sister, Esme, and a new friend, Twiggy, he has to muster all his courage and ingenuity to solve the riddles surrounding him and save his newfound friends.

A rainy day brings Katie and the rest of the neighborhood to the library. The librarian, Miss Bliss, is the best at finding the perfect book for each listener. But it’s almost time to go, and Katie still doesn’t have a book. What super-duper books will she find?

Jack and Annie set off to find an original copy of an ancient Chinese myth. Armed only with their magic library cards, they must take on a book-burning emperor. But with the help of a scholar and a silk weaver, they triumph again.

Jim Frayne has run away from Sleepyside, before Trixie could tell him that he is the sole heir to a huge fortune. With her best friend, Honey, Trixie sets out in a trailer across upstate New York to track Jim down...and stumbles upon another mystery along the way!

When my old friend Professor von Volt called to ask for help, I agreed immediately, even though it meant trekking halfway around the world to Mouse Everest! The trip was long and dangerous. I almost froze my tail off along the way. And then I was kidnapped by a Yeti! Yes, it was truly an amazing adventure.

For years, 16-year-old Hattie's been shuttled between relatives. Tired of being Hattie Here-and-There, she courageously leaves Iowa to prove up on her late uncle's homestead claim near Vida, Montana. With a stubborn stick-to-itiveness, Hattie faces frost, drought, and blizzards. Despite many hardships, Hattie forges ahead, sharing her adventures with her friends, especially Charlie, fighting in France, through letters and articles for her hometown paper.