Books with author Elise Primavera

When Fred and Anthony are faced with their unfinished history project, they come up with a great idea: pay someone else to do it. There's just one problem: they have no money. Luckily, they have plenty of schemes for making quick dough. So, after a paralyzing case of writer's block forces them to abandon careers as best-selling authors, they ride around town on their skateboards, trying to get "old people" to hire them. But Fred and Anthony never imagined that in their quest to avoid work, they would stumble into a portal to the Netherworld, where terrifying (or just plain wacky) encounters with ghosts, monsters, and other paranormal creatures eerily echo the plots of their favorite horror movies . . . We're launching with two titles and following with one a season thereafter.

Fred and Anthony may have escaped the evil dentist, Dr. Nietsneknarf -- but they never did finish their horrible hideous history project. So when the boys fail the class, they figure the only way to convince their diabolical teacher, Mr. Bomzie, to change their grades is to catch the mysterious OCD Ghost who is wrecking havoc--not to mention squeaky-cleaning houses all over town. While they're at it, they figure they can earn extra dough by ghost-busting some condos on the other side of the tracks. But when the boys end up at Maniac Towers, they discover to their horror that it is the home of many Netherworld denizens, including the Giant Slimy Snot-Sandwich-Eating Fungus Blob and the Demented Super-DeGerm-O Zombie from Maniac Towers.

Auntie Claus is just another eccentric New Yorker--or is she? Young Sophie has often wondered about her unusual great-aunt, Auntie Claus. She lives in penthouse 25C at the Bing Cherry Hotel and is so curioso! After all, Auntie Claus serves Christmas cookies all year long and her tree is always the best-decorated in the city. And then there's her annual "business trip," right around the holidays. This year Sophie is determined to get to the bottom of Auntie Claus's mysterious ways. Put on your mittens and bundle up for an adventure beyond your wildest dreams. Ho, ho, ho!

Horror has never been so absurd.After a bloodcurdling summer at camp, Fred and Anthony are eager to get back to watching horror movies and slacking off at school. But on their first day back, the boys' plans are dashed by some chilling changes at Sunny Babbling Brook Elementary. Their nicest teachers have been replaced by maniacs, and the cafeteria now serves nothing but organic health food. Then worse, a new kid named Billy Bob Bomzie, son of the infamous Mr. Bomzie, shows up to torment the boys.Right away Fred and Anthony are framed for a rash of weird accidents at school. Clearly Billy Bob is guilty, but the whole school is suddenly in love with him. Not only that, he's rolling in awards and dough for his hit picture book, which is thirty-two blank pages. How can this be? The boys suspect he is receiving help from some being in the Netherworld in charge of making dreck popular. Now it's up to Fred and Anthony and their new ally, the Phantom of the Mop Closet, to defeat the dark forces at Sunny Babbling Brook. While they're at it, maybe they can find the supernatural force to make their own dreck popular and rake in some dough!

"Dream big" is Louise the Big Cheese's motto. But try though she might, she's just plain old Louise, no Cheese. When the casting call goes out for Cinderella, Louise just knows that it's her moment to shine and take the stage as the STAR of the show. Unfortunately, the director casts Louise as a mouse while her best friend, Fern, who wasn't even going to try out in the first place, gets to be Cinderella. Louise may be a mouse in the show, but in the end it's up to her to save the day.

Fans of Mary Poppins will love this whimsical tale of a boarding school for children of very busy parents, where an extraordinary headmistress teaches them life lessons about courage, adventure, friendship . . . and the importance of birthday cake.Nestled inside a lighthouse, Great Rapscott School for the Daughters of Busy Parents takes its motto from Amelia Earhart: Adventure is worthwhile in itself. Headmistress Ms. Rapscott couldn’t agree more, but her students, who are shipped to the school in boxes, could use a little convincing. Still, despite their initial reluctance, the students are soon soaring through the sky and getting lost on purpose. In addition to learning what birthday cakes are and how best to approach a bumbershoot tree, the students also manage to learn a little something about strength and bravery.Bestselling author Elise Primavera has created an irresistible, richly illustrated story about finding your way.

Lulu was a thumb sucker. She and her thumb were very happy together—in sickness and in health, in good times and in bad, Lulu and her thumb were best friends. Despite the urging of her family and the teasing of her friends, Lulu just would not give up her thumb-sucking habit. That is, until one day . . . when Lulu made up her mind to stop. And to help herself and thumb suckers all over the world, Lulu developed a program—one with steps. Twelve steps, to be exact. Join Lulu in her quest to kick the habit as she goes through the steps in this funny and insightful picture book. Told in a light-hearted manner and filled with good humor about a universal and important concern, Thumb Love will be embraced by parents and caregivers alike. This is not an issue book but a story that will resonate with anyone who is—or was—a kid.From the Hardcover edition.

When Fred and Anthony are faced with their unfinished history project, they come up with a great idea: pay someone else to do it. There's just one problem: they have no money. Luckily, they have plenty of schemes for making quick dough. So, after a paralyzing case of writer's block forces them to abandon careers as best-selling authors, they ride around town on their skateboards, trying to get "old people" to hire them.

For seven years, bad luck has followed Ivy around like a dog on a leash. Her father disappeared, her mother is a washed–up beauty–pageant winner, and now Viola and her mother have moved into a raqmshackle house on Gumm Street. Ivy's new neighbors–bookish Pru, stuck–up Cat, and wannabe adventurer Franny–are worse than unfriendly. But then a mysterious pair of ruby red slippers turn up, and the four girls are swept away...not to OZ, but to the jaw–droppingly strange lands of SPOZ, and SPUDZ, and OOZE, pursued by the fashionably mad Cha–Cha Staccato, who bears a frightening resemblance to a certain wicked witch.... Ages: 8 –12