Nathan Hale's Hazardous Tales are graphic novels that tell the thrilling, shocking, gruesome, and TRUE stories of American history.
Nathan Hale's Hazardous Tales Website
In 1914, the world's biggest countries (and some of its smallest, too) were gearing up for a massive fight. Land, history, geography-each country came to war for different reasons and with different resources. But most ended up the same: sending their young men to fight for their lives in the mud, on the sea, and in the air, in a conflict that would eventually claim more than 9 million lives. Nathan Hale's Hazardous Tales are graphic novels that tell the thrilling, shocking, gruesome, and TRUE stories of American history. Nathan Hale's Hazardous Tales Website
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I'll never forget the day I found Skellig. I thought he was dead. He was small, covered in dust and webs, lying in a dark corner in my family's deserted garage. I shined the flashlight on his pale face and black suit. His voice squeaked, like he hadn't spoken in years: "What do you want?" "What are you?" I whispered. Somehow I sensed this mystical creature was more than he seemed. He turned his face away. I left quickly, wondering what I should do. Should I tell my parents that a withered old man was in our garage? It was a bad time for them. My baby sister was deathly ill. I did tell my new friend, Mina. She helped me move Skellig to safety. One magical day Mina removed Skellig's black jacket. Beneath the jacket were wings. The wings began to unfurl from his shoulder blades. "Ooh, you're beautiful," Mina whispered. She repeated my question: "Skellig, what are you?" -From Keep Talking That Book!, by Carol Littlejohn. Lexile: 490 Movie Trailer "Josh is hitchhiking his way from Massachusetts to Dallas and a new life he didn't ask for and doesn't want, when he is beaten, robbed, and abandoned beside a remote mountain road. He awakes in a strange, primitive village called Canara, seemingly hidden from the modern world, with no cars or telephones or electricity.
But are the people of Canara Josh's rescuers or his jailers? As he slowly heals from his injuries and the tragedy he has been running away from, Josh begins to realize that Canara is far stranger than just an isolated community passed over by time. How can hills and trees shift in place, and even buildings appear and then vanish? Why can't he escape from Canara? And does he really want to?" The way to Sang Hollow is not the same way out. No one gets in or leaves the same way. Sang Hollow's aura is misty gray, sealed forever in fog." After a stranger robbed him and left him on a deserted road, Josh found himself in Sang Hollow. There he began digging along with the Melungeons for the plant ginseng (called "sang") in the Appalachian area. If he wasn't thinking about escaping, he was thinking about his mother's sudden death. Once Josh tried to escape, but the path led him back to Sang Hollow. His feet just seemed to return the the starting point. When he asked Mavis questions about Sang Hollow, she only talked in riddles. Maybe she, too, was a part of this witches' spell, this sang spell. Would he ever be able to escape the Sang Spell? -Keep Talking That Book! by Carol Littlejohn Lexile: 880 Melungeons What is a Melungeon? Melungeon Mystery Solved? Google Images Old Gregory's time as the county Spook is coming to an end. Who will take his place? Twenty-nine apprentices tried and failed. Tom, the seventh son of a seventh son, is chosen to be the Spook's next apprentice. Tom begins his training to keep the living safe from ghosts, ghasts, boggarts and witches. But Mother Malkin, an evil witch, escapes her prison while the Spook is away. Can Tom succeed where other apprentices failed and fight the evil witch? The Last Apprentice: Revenge of the Witch Book Trailer Author Website Lexile 790 Juliette has been locked up for 264 days. She lives amongst 4 walls, 1 window, and 144 square feet of space. This becomes her life. Solitude, loneliness, and her notebook. She does not know why she is locked up and has no idea who took her. All she knows is that her touch is deadly. Lethal, in fact. Her own parents gave her up and the community she grew up in wants nothing to do with her. She has killed before, on accident, but that does not matter. What matters is she is dangerous, a weapon, and a monster. The world outside of Juliette’s cell is polluted. There are no birds, no animals. Livestock and other sources of food have been poisoned and the world’s population is starving to death. The weather no longer has seasons and oxygen is low – almost running out. The Reestablishment has promised a better future for citizens. According to this regime, the weak must be destroyed and only the strong deserve life. That is, until one day another cellmate arrives. After going 264 days without speaking, Juliette is frightened. His name is Adam and neither will admit why they are locked up. Juliette feels an immediate draw to Adam but cannot touch him for fear he will die if she does. Shortly after their stay, the doors open and both are taken away. Juliette does not admit that she remembers Adam from her childhood. Adam does not admit that he was put in Juliette’s cell for a reason. The Reestablishment offers Juliette a deal: help us and we will help you. In this novel, Juliette learns that her lethal touch may be a power that can be used for good. But how does she tame it? How can she use it to fight the cowardice that runs the Reestablishment? Shatter Me is an origin story at its finest; showing the making of a heroine from an unlikely place. (Book Talk Author: Jaime Rogers, Colorado Blue Spruce Award, 2015) Author Website Lexile 650 Welcome to the Weenie Zone! Wipeout of the Wireless Weenies is the seventh collection of scary short stories for middle grade readers by acclaimed author David Lubar.
A boy and his family narrowly escape a zombie apocalypse—or do they? A girl neglects her cat’s litter box and finds herself in a heap of trouble. And a group of clicking, scrolling, tapping wireless weenies find themselves on the edge of disaster. Here are thirty-three hilarious and harrowing stories that will scare you, make you laugh, or see the world in a whole new way. Find out where the author got the idea for each story at the end of the book. Don’t be a weenie. Read these stories. If you dare! Author Website 12-year-old Charlie is a fantasy football guru. He may be just a bench warmer for his school's football team, but when it comes to knowing and loving the game, he's first-string. He even becomes a celebrity when his podcast gets noticed by a sports radio host, who plays Charlie's fantasy picks for all of Los Angeles to hear. Soon Charlie befriends the elderly owner of the L.A. Bulldogs — a fictional NFL team — and convinces him to take a chance on an aging quarterback. After that, watch out... it's press conferences and national fame as Charlie becomes a media curiosity and source of conflict for the Bulldogs general manager, whose job Charlie seems to have taken. It's all a bit much for a kid just trying to stay on top of his grades and maintain his friendship with his verbal sparring partner, Anna.
Author Website "Sometimes I wish I could trade places with the dogs. They only have to worry about running and eating. They love fiercely and don't worry about things they can't control. And when someone dies, they can sit on top of their house, throw their head back and howl." Lost. That's how 14-year-old dogsledder Victoria Secord has felt ever since her father died. A champion musher, Victoria is independent, self-reliant, and thanks to her father, an expert in surviving the unforgiving Alaskan bush. When an injured "city boy" and a freak snow storm both catch Victoria and her dog team by surprise, however, a routine trip becomes a life or death trek through the frozen wilderness. As temperatures drop and food stores run out, Victoria must find a way to save them all in this high stakes, high adventure middle grade novel of endurance, hope and finding your way back home. Terry Lynn Johnson is a musher herself, and her crackling writing puts readers at the reins as Victoria and Chris experience setbacks, mistakes, and small triumphs in their wilderness adventure." -Author's website Author Website Lexile: 690 "The magic is disappearing from Oz," said Gert.... "Someone's taking it," I said.... "It's Dorothy," I realized. "Dorothy's stealing the magic." "Now you've got it," Glamora said. "And losing its magic to Dorothy will mean the end of Oz. That's why you're here. We need you to stop her...." "Me? I just got here. How am I supposed to stop anyone from doing anything?" ...."Simple. You're going to kill her." She looked right at me and said, "Dorothy must die." Salvation Amy, that's what the kids call her. Amy Gumm lives in Kansas in a trailer park with her dead-beat mother. One evening a tornado sweeps through her town, depositing Amy and her pet rat, Star, in Oz. Amy soon learns that Dorothy found a way to return to Oz and take control of the land and its magic. Dorothy turned evil, is destroying Oz and enslaving its people. Amy is recruited by the Revolutionary Order of the Wicked where she is trained to fight. Her mission is simple, remove the Tin Woodman's heart, steal the Scarecrow's brain, take the Lion's courage and then - Dorothy Must Die. Lexile 720 Sequel coming March 2015 Jessie Elliot is no longer a little kid. This year she will begin her freshman year at Hochelaga High School. Jessie is not ashamed of her uncool status. Determined to remain uncool while surrounded by the "cool" kids who smoke, have body piercings, and make out in abandoned parking lots, she spends her summer beating her high score in Tetris, hanging out with her best friend, Julie, and drawing Super Pickle comics. But when Julie becomes BFF with one of the cool kids, Jessie is scared she'll have to spend her summer of uncoolness alone.
Aut hor Website "On the morning I was scheduled to die, a large barefoot man with a bushy red beard waddled past my house. The thirty-degree temperature didn't seem to bother him, but he must have had a lousy breakfast, because he let out a burp as loud as a tuba."
"One minute, Jack McKinley is defending a shrimpy kid from the school bully. The next, he’s blacked out and in a hospital on a tropical island. The adventure begins in book one of Peter Lerangis’ Seven Wonders series, THE COLOSSUS RISES. Imagine an episode of "Lost" meets the popular Scholastic series The 39 Clues ---for which Lerangis has also written --- and you’ve got COLOSSUS, a rollicking adventure with four preteens who battle mythological creatures and their own superpowers." -from kidsreads.com Book Trailer Author's Website: Peter Lerangis Series: Lost in Babylon Reading Level: 5.7 "On one side of the Rift is a technological paradise without famine or want. On the other side is a mystery.
Sixteen-year-old Glenn Morgan has lived next to the Rift her entire life and has no idea what might be on the other side. Glenn’s only friend, Kevin Kapoor, insists there’s monsters and witchcraft, but magic isn’t for Glenn. She has enough problems with reality. Ever since her mother abandoned them years earlier she and her scientist father have led nearly separate lives. He obsessively pursues “The Project,” a patched-together heap of technology whose importance only he seems to grasp, while Glenn dreams of the day she can escape. But when her father’s work leads to his arrest, he gives Glenn a simple metal bracelet that sends her and Kevin on the run—with only one place to go. On the other side of the Rift, Glenn and Kevin find the Magisterium, a world different more wondrous and terrifying than they could have imagined…" Author's Website "When Katharine Tulman wakes in the middle of the night and accidentally foils a kidnapping attempt on her uncle, she realizes Stranwyne Keep is no longer safe for Uncle Tully and his genius inventions. She flees to Paris, where she hopes to remain undetected and also find the mysterious and handsome Lane, who is suspected to be dead. But the search for Lane is not easy, and Katharine soon finds herself embroiled in a labyrinth of political intrigue. From the court of Napoleon III to the underground tunnels of Paris, Katharine will have to decide how a dangerous weapon might be kept from both a queen and an emperor, and whom she can trust –if anyone– to help make Uncle Tully safe once and for all." Author Website The Dark Unwinding Book Talk
"When best friends Dak Smyth and Sera Froste stumble upon the secret of time travel – a hand-held device known as the Infinity Ring – they’re swept up in a centuries-long secret war for the fate of mankind. Recruited by the Hystorians, a secret society that dates back to Aristotle, the kids learn that history has gone disastrously off course. Now it’s up to Dak, Sera, and teenage Hystorian-in-training Riq to travel back in time to fix the Great Breaks… and to save Dak’s missing parents while they’re at it. First stop: Spain, 1492, where a sailor named Christopher Columbus is about to be thrown overboard in a deadly mutiny…"
"In the blink of an eye. Everyone disappears. GONE. Except for the young. Teens. Middle schoolers. Toddlers. But not a single adult. No teachers, no cops, no doctors, no parents. Gone, too, are the phones, internet, and television. There is no way to figure out what's happened. And no way to get help. Hunger threatens. Bullies rule. A sinister creature lurks. Animals are mutating. And the teens themselves are changing, developing new talents—unimaginable, dangerous, deadly powers—that grow stronger by the day. It's a terrifying new world. The first in a breathtaking saga about teens battling each other and their darkest selves, GONE, is a page-turning thriller that will make you look at the world in a whole new way." -HarperTeen Series Website But a larger problem looms. The Darkness, a sinister creature that has lived buried deep in the hills, begins calling to some of the teens in the FAYZ (Fallout Alley Youth Zone). Calling to them, guiding them, manipulating them. The Darkness has awakened. And it is hungry." -HarperTeen Series Website Part of the Scholastic Book Fair Book Talk Series:
"Your first-day-of-school outfit. Sometimes it seems like it can make or break you. Justine knows this feeling all too well - moving around has gotten her used to being the new girl. Luckily, her fashion sense usually propels her to the top of any cliques as quickly as she can throw on a vintage dress and some killer heels. East Falls High might just be the exception, however. This is a world of fierce fashion choices, backstabbing besties, and worst of all, gossip. For once, she does not want to be the center of attention!" Author Website Part of the Scholastic Book Fair Book Talk Series:
"In their journey across the sea, stored below deck in slings that chafe, Estrella's deepest comfort is her mother. Her mother is a wise, kind horse who knows the truth even when the humans do not speak it. But even she does not realize the trouble ahead when the ship becomes too heavy. The crew sees no choice but to throw the horses overboard into the cold waters. This is Estrella's first time off the ship, and although she senses danger, she has no idea what to expect. She's just been flung into a battle between the gods." Author Website Beautiful Redemption: Book Four of the Caster Chronicles by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl4/22/2014
"Is death the end...or only the beginning? Ethan Wate has spent most of his life longing to escape the small Southern town of Gatlin. He never thought he would meet the girl of his dreams, Lena Duchannes, who unveiled a secretive, powerful, and cursed side of Gatlin. So when Ethan awakes after the chilling events of the Eighteenth Moon, he has only one goal: to find a way to return to Lena and the ones he loves. Back in Gatlin, Lena is making her own bargains for Ethan’s return, vowing to do whatever it takes. Worlds apart, Ethan and Lena must once again work together to rewrite their fate, in this stunning finale to the Beautiful Creatures series."
"This second novel begins in 1940, immediately after the first book ended. Having escaped Miss Peregrine’s island by the skin of their teeth, Jacob and his new friends must journey to London, the peculiar capital of the world. Along the way, they encounter new allies, a menagerie of peculiar animals, and other unexpected surprises. Complete with dozens of newly discovered (and thoroughly mesmerizing) vintage photographs, this new adventure will delight readers of all ages." Book Trailer "Lenny is a diehard baseball fan. He's not a good player, but he believes he would make a great announcer. To try and fulfill his dream, Lenny enters an Armchair Announcer contest at a Phillies game. But on the night of the big game, a young pitcher drops dead on the mound! It's assumed he died of a heart attack, but Lenny is suspicious about what really happened. Everyone in the stadium that night is a murder suspect! Lenny and his two best friends launch an investigation. Will the trio find themselves on the heels of a real killer?" Author Website Part of the Scholastic Book Fair Book Talk Series:
"Hiding is not a game when you are trying to survive. And during World War II, more people died than survived. In Holland, thousands of Jews sought refuge in the homes and farms of non-Jews. There was a network to help people find places to hide. Sometimes you only stayed with a family for a week and then moved, because the danger was too great for everyone involved. Close your eyes and imagine making yourself small enough to hide in a two-foot space at the bottom of a closet or attic. This was a reality for the authors’ parents, who were among the 14 lucky children who survived to share their stories in this book. But as you read about their horrific experiences, you’ll see that, at the time, they felt far from lucky." Excerpt from th e book Part of the Scholastic Book Fair Book Talk Series:
"A Group of men gather on a dark night to discuss a horrible plan involving President Abraham Lincoln. Hardened criminals who have fallen on bad luck, they see this as the opportunity to finally make things turn in their favor. But they're not planning to assassinate him. No, President Lincoln is long dead, which is just what they need; they plan to steal his body. They know his loved ones, and the government, will pay a pretty penny to get it back. Little do they realize that on of their most trusted men is not who he seems." Author Website Part of the Scholastic Book Fair Book Talk Series:
"SNAP! The sound Peter's elbow made on his last baseball pitch. Ever. CLICK! The last time Peter's grandfather took a professional photo. Ever. Peter's baseball career comes to a halt just as high school is beginning. How can he fill his days without sports? A photography class could start a new hobby; his grandfather already taught him plenty. But grandfather's memory loss and meeting Angelika were only two huge challenges he'll face this year. He can't even tell his best friend he'll never play ball again. Good thing Peter still has a sense of humor." Author Website "Danger. Heartbreak. Choices. Is forever too long to wait for true love? Five mythical Chinese dragons and the open sea beckon nineteen-year-old Kelsey who must embark on a third voyage--this time to find the goddess Durga's Black Pearl Necklace and free her beloved Ren from both the tiger's curse and his sudden amnesia. Ren's bad-boy brother, Kishan, however, has other plans, and the two vie for her affection and try to outsmart those intent on foiling their goal. Tiger's Voyage, the third book in the Tiger's Curse series, spins a deliciously suspenseful tale of enchanted creatures, love-torn hearts, and edge-of-your-seat actions as Kelsey, Ren, and Kishan journey toward their true destiny." - Author Website Tiger's Curse Book Talk Tiger's Quest Book Talk Series: Tiger's Curse, Tiger's Quest, Tiger's Voyage, Tiger's Destiny |