A miser learns the true meaning of Christmas when three ghostly visitors review his past and foretell his future. Illustrated notes throughout the text explain the historical background of the story.

Eden Starling is the glamorous singing diva of a theatre in Victorian London. Along with her snooty cat, Chuzzlewit, Eden selfishly plans to make the entire company of theatre performers stay and rehearse on Christmas Day. Not even Eden's costume designer and childhood friend, Catherine can talk Eden out of her self-centered tantrum. It will be up to three very unusual Christmas Spirits to take Eden on a fantastical holiday journey that will open...

Harry, Ron, and Hermione, now teenagers, return for their third year at Hogwarts. There they are forced to face escaped prisoner Sirius Black, who poses a great threat to Harry. Harry must overcome the threats of Dementors, outsmart a werewolf, and finally deal with the truth about Sirius and his relationship with his parents. Harry and friends master advanced magic classes, cross time barriers, and change the course of more than one life.

"Twenty-one-year-old Emma Woodhouse loves playing matchmaker. When pretty and socially inferior Harries arrives, Emma decides to indulge her passion. Against the advice of family friend and surrogate older brother Mr. Knightly, Emma persuades Harries to reject a marriage proposal from a local farmer in order to hold out for an offer from the dashing Mr. Elton. But Emma soon discovers Mr. Elton's true motives and her advice to Harriet goes terribly...

"When the critic who gave his new play scathing reviews is murdered, stabbed in the heart with his ornamental dagger, author Anthony Horowitz is arrested by an old enemy out for revenge and the only man who can help him is his estranged partner in solving crime, Daniel Hawthorne.

When orphaned governess Jane Eyre arrives at imposing Thornfield Hall, she's intrigued by her brooding, wealthy employer, Rochester. His dark moods and the strange occurrences in the house lead her to discover a terrible secret that he had hoped to hide from her forever.

Alex Rider has been trained since birth for a career as a spy. It's not until his beloved uncle, Ian Rider, dies that Alex learns of his intended purpose in life. At just 14, Alex is not sure he can do all that is required of a super spy. Without much choice he is taken under the wing of Britain's secret intelligence service. The Special Operations Division of the MI6 sends Alex on a mission which could save or cost millions their lives. As Alex embarks...

Emma Woodhouse is a young woman who, having engineered the marriage of her companion, turns her attention toward making a match for the local vicar and her new protegee, Harriet Smith. Her one voice of reason and restraint is Mr. Knightley, who has known her since she was a child and who watches her behaviour with wry amusement and sometimes with real anger. Emma presides over the small provincial world of Highbury with enthusiasm, but she will find...

When Nanny McPhee appears at the farmhouse door of a busy young mother Isabel Green, she discovers that Mrs. Green's children are in an all-out household war with their two spoiled city cousins. Relying on everything from a flying motorcycle and a statue that comes to life to a tree-climbing piglet and an elephant that turns up in the oddest places, Nanny McPhee uses her magic to show the children five valuable lessons, the most important of which...

"In Jane Austen's gentle parody of gothic fiction, romance novel addict Catherine Morland is invited to a medieval country house that appeals to her most lurid fantasies. She forms a close friendship with the younger son on the estate, Henry Tilney, but their budding romance is mysteriously cut short"--Container.