Nature Mysteries

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.

While Freddy the pig relaxes in his best cowboy outfit and sings a song, he decides that he needs a vacation. He will ride his pony, Cy, out West. He'll see some wide-open spaces and maybe find some excitement. But before Freddy can leave, the excitement finds him first. Uncle Ben races up to the farm and asks Freddy for help. A pack of sneaky spies is trying to steal Uncle Ben's plans for building a flying saucer.

Beware of avalanches! When the magic tree house whisks Jack and Annie back in time to the highest pass in the Swiss Alps, they discover an ancient monastery filled with monks and Saint Bernard dogs. Annie can’t resist offering to train a wild young dog named Barry, but he is quite the handful! Before the night is over, Jack and Annie will be forced to use some crazy magic!

To cheat or not to cheat? That is just one of the questions to be answered on the ranch! While interrogating J. T. Cluck, will Hank be able to figure out what scary creatures are planning an attack on the ranch? After Hank lures Pete the Barncat into making a foolish bet for scraps, would Pete try to cheat the Head of Ranch Security? Will truth and justice win in the end?

The Aldens are helping out at the Greenfield Ice Cream Barn. They are learning to make ice cream and creating some new flavors. But they soon notice that the ice cream isn’t the only thing getting mixed up at the Ice Cream Barn. It appears that someone wants to shut the shop down! Can the Boxcar Children sort out this sticky mess before the Ice Cream Barn gets licked?

Marie Russell and Detective Roméo Leduc are finally getting married, but the joyous occasion is overshadowed by the unexpected arrival of Magnus Sørenson, renowned eco-warrior and Marie’s first great love. When Magnus’ plans for a dramatic environmental protest take a dark turn, Roméo and Marie are forced to abandon their honeymoon in the Laurentians in order to catch a killer, unearthing long-buried secrets along the way.

The Monroe house is going mad with excitement. Pete has just won a contest, and the prize is a school visit from none other than M. T. Graves, Pete’s idol and the bestselling author of the FleshCrawlers series. He’s even going to stay with the Monroes while he’s visiting!

Twelve-year-old Epic McDade isn't ready for middle school. He'd rather help out at his family's dog-friendly bed-and-breakfast all summer or return to his alternative elementary school in the fall, where learning feels safe. But change comes in all shapes and fur colors. When Carmelito, California, is named America's number one dog-friendly town, all the top dogs and their owners pour into Epic's sleepy seaside neighborhood for a week of celebration.

Of all the creatures of the deep blue, none is as captivating as the octopus. In Many Things Under a Rock, marine biologist David Scheel investigates four major mysteries about these elusive beings. How can we study an animal with perfect camouflage and secretive habitats? How does a soft and boneless creature defeat sharks and eels, while thriving as a predator of the most heavily armored animals in the sea? How do octopus bodies work? And how does a solitary animal form friendships, entice mates, and outwit rivals?

Fairies abound in the realms of myth and folklore. They have enchanted humans for centuries—but are these mischievous, ethereal creatures more than just myth? One could ask for no better guide to the fairy realm than Ralph Harvey, one of England's foremost modern-day witches. In Fairy Lore he intersperses his own intriguing fairy encounters (among them, a mysterious musical interlude in an Irish valley) with succinct yet interesting introductions to the folktales of the fae.

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.

Our fluffy, fearless young detectives are back out sleuthing, because there's a new cage in the yard, and the Chicken Squad is determined to figure out just who this new addition is. Because whatever it is, it's definitely up to no good. So, equipped with the latest surveillance gear - which apparently includes copious amounts of marshmallows - the chicks venture into the wild to get answers. Let's just hope they can beat that giant rain cloud that's closing in - because everyone knows that chickens can't swim!

Watchmaker Hermux Tantamoq is a hardworking mouse who is thankful for ordinary things: donuts, coffee, peaceful evenings at home with his pet ladybug. But his quiet life takes a dramatic turn when Ms. Linka Perflinger, dashing daredevil aviatrix and adventuress, bursts into his watch shop, drops off a broken watch and steals his heart.

Arthur's friend Buster is searching for a crime to solve. So when the quarters Arthur has collected for Mrs. MacGrady's charity drive mysteriously disappear, Buster is committed to cracking the case. Will Buster be able to prove Arthur's innocence so that he can attend the class picnic?

Abi and her two step-brothers, Max and Louis, find that strange things happen when they are alone in their eerie, ivy-covered new house. Abi, reading alone, finds herself tumbling deep into books, while Louis summons a startling guest through his bedroom window. Even Max has started to see shapes in the shadows....Their busy parents see none of it - but Louis' secret visitor is growing too alarming to keep secret, and he finds he cannot manage without Max and Abi's help. Can they find out where the mysterious creature has come from - and how to get it back there?

Case brief: The opening of the Kalamazoo City Dome - the world's largest indoor/outdoor amusement complex - has everyone in the city buzzing, especially because it's going to be the shooting site for Chase Mercy's new blockbuster film. But that's when things start to go haywire, and Mayor Saunders suspects foul play. Who would want to sabotage the Dome, and why?

Life innovates constantly, producing perfectly adapted species—but there's a catch. Many animals and plants eke out seemingly unremarkable lives. Passive, constrained, modest, threatened. Then, in a blink of evolutionary time, they flourish spectacularly. Once we start to look, these 'sleeping beauties' crop up everywhere. But why? Looking at the book of life, from apex predators to keystone crops, and informed by his own cutting-edge experiments, renowned scientist Andreas Wagner demonstrates that innovations can come frequently and cheaply to nature, well before they are needed.

The Allen family loves their many pets, and they’re excited to adopt just one more - Henry, the bull-terrier. But why are dangerous men after him? He’s not telling, and the other pets must find out before someone in the family gets hurt: Why is Henry angry about being adopted? Can a dachshund actually concentrate for more than two minutes? What do Henry’s stalkers really want? Can a cat’s natural stubbornness foil a dastardly scheme of kidnapping and robbery?

This bundle includes Basil and the Lost Colony, Basil and the Big Cheese Cook-Off, Basil and the Royal Dare, and Basil and the Library Ghost.

Emily the Strange: 13 years old. Able to leap tall buildings, probably, if she felt like it. More likely to be napping with her four black cats; or cobbling together a particle accelerator out of lint, lentils, and safety pins; or rocking out on drums/guitar/saxophone/zither; or painting a swirling feral sewer mural; or forcing someone to say "swirling feral sewer mural" 13 times fast...and pointing and laughing.