Books with author F. McDonald

Learn from home and explore the world with these fun and easy board books!All young children love dinosaurs. Here’s a Hello, World! board book that teaches toddlers all about Triceratops, Stegosaurus, T-rex, and many more—with colors, shapes, sizes, and super-simple facts. Hello, World! is a series designed to introduce first nonfiction concepts to babies and toddlers. Told in clear and easy terms (“T. rex’s arms were very small, even though its body was large”) and featuring bright, cheerful illustrations, Hello, World! makes learning fun for young children. And each sturdy page offers helpful prompts for engaging with your child. It’s a perfect way to bring science and nature into the busy world of a toddler, where learning never stops. Look for all the books in the Hello, World! series: •Solar Sytem•Weather•Backyard Bugs•Birds•Dinosaurs•My Body•How Do Apples Grow?•Ocean Life•Moon Landing•Pets•Arctic Animals•Construction Site•Rainforest Animals•Planet Earth •Reptiles

Sixteen-year-old Byron James has been forced to move around a lot since his father’s death. But as his father was a literature professor, the one constant in his life remains books and libraries. When his nomadic mother drags him to yet another New England town, he doesn’t hesitate to apply to be a volunteer at the local public library. As he’s shelving one summer afternoon, Byron discovers a strange, out-of-place book. Moments later, he discovers a strange, out-of-place girl who wants the book. According to her, the book is not only a little misplaced, but is actually tens of thousands of light years so. Not only is it in the wrong library system, it’s on the wrong side of the Milky Way galaxy altogether. Alive for the first time in years, Byron is immediately entranced by the mysterious girl. He soon learns her name is Celestia Freyy and, like the book, she isn’t from Earth either. The wondrous world she is from is home to the biggest, grandest library in the entire galaxy, the cultural heart of a string of planets and moons.The youngest librarian of her order, Celestia is part of a special division of materials management known simply as Book Chasers. Their daring and prestigious order is responsible for the discovery, retrieval, and protection of all the lost books scattered across the stars. Celestia tracked one such book all the way to Byron’s library on Earth. No simple text, it is inexplicably linked to the rebirth of an entire planet.Crafted of simultaneously ancient but hopelessly advanced technology, the exotic book accidentally grafts onto Byron. With no choice, Celestia has to take him with her when she blasts out of the solar system on a StarWinder. Caught up in a sweeping interstellar adventure, Byron eventually discovers all of this is bound to a much larger and more personal quest than he ever could have imagined … Author’s Note: This is the first volume in a young adult series, one that aspires to hover somewhere between John Green, Star Wars, and The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu.

Beloved science commentator Bob McDonald takes us on a tour of our galaxy, unraveling the mysteries of the universe and helping us navigate our place among the stars.How big is our galaxy? Is there life on those distant planets? Are we really made of star dust? And where do stars even come from? In An Earthling’s Guide to Outer Space, we finally have the answers to all those questions and more. With clarity, wisdom, and a great deal of enthusiasm, McDonald explores the curiosities of the big blue planet we call home as well as our galactic neighbours—from Martian caves to storm clouds on Jupiter to the nebulae at the far end of the universe. So if you’re pondering how to become an astronaut, or what dark matter really is, or how an asteroid wiped out the dinosaurs, look no further. Through a captivating mix of stories, experiments, and illustrations, McDonald walks us through space exploration past and present, and reveals what we can look forward to in the future. An Earthling’s Guide to Outer Space is sure to satisfy science readers of all ages, and to remind us earthbound terrestrials just how special our place in the universe truly is.

A Dragon is dead. Corta Helio, one of the five family corporations that rule the Moon, has fallen. Its riches are divided up among its many enemies, its survivors scattered. Eighteen months have passed . The remaining Helio children, Lucasinho and Luna, are under the protection of the powerful Asamoahs, while Robson, still reeling from witnessing his parent’s violent deaths, is now a ward--virtually a hostage-- of Mackenzie Metals. And the last appointed heir, Lucas, has vanished of the surface of the moon. Only Lady Sun, dowager of Taiyang, suspects that Lucas Corta is not dead, and more to the point―that he is still a major player in the game. After all, Lucas always was the Schemer, and even in death, he would go to any lengths to take back everything and build a new Corta Helio, more powerful than before. But Corta Helio needs allies, and to find them, the fleeing son undertakes an audacious, impossible journey--to Earth. In an unstable lunar environment, the shifting loyalties and political machinations of each family reach the zenith of their most fertile plots as outright war erupts.Luna: Wolf Moon continues Ian McDonald's saga of the Five Dragons.Luna 1. Luna: New Moon2. Luna: Wolf Moon3. Luna: Moon Rising

A “stellar series opener about a boy who travels to parallel universes . . . Shining imagination, pulsing suspense and sparkling writing make this one stand out” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review).When Everett Singh’s scientist father is kidnapped from the streets of London, he leaves young Everett a mysterious app on his computer: the Infundibulum, the map of all the parallel earths, the most valuable object in the multiverse. There are dark forces in the Plenitude of Known Worlds who will stop at nothing to get it. They have power, authority, and the might of ten planets—some more technologically advanced than our Earth—at their fingertips. Meanwhile, all Everett has are his wits and a knack for Indian cooking.Everett must trick his way through the Heisenberg Gate that his dad helped build and go on the run in a parallel Earth. But to rescue his dad from the sinister Order, this Planesrunner’s going to need friends. Good thing he meets Cpt. Anastasia Sixsmyth, her adopted daughter, Sen, and the crew of the airship Everness.“McDonald writes with scientific and literary sophistication, as well as a wicked sense of humor. Add nonstop action, eccentric characters, and expert universe building, and this first volume of the Everness series is a winner.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

Secrets can’t stay buried forever.I’m Indi Bellamy and my whole world is about to come crashing down.I thought I was living an ordinary life, but it was all a carefully constructed lie. Truth is, I'm not ordinary at all. I might not even be human.Vampires tell me I'm a threat that must be eliminated. Witches steeped in black magic are targeting me. Abilities I never knew I had are rising to the surface, and the person who can help me figure this all out is the one guy I'm certain I shouldn't trust.My very existence is forbidden. My past has been taken from me. For me to survive, I must discover why I've been declared too dangerous to live.A YA Urban Fantasy with plenty of dangers, demons, and delightful twists, Of Blood and Magic is a spellbinding story of paranormal creatures hunting down a strong heroine with powers she has yet to unveil. Fans of dark tales of magic, vampires, angels, paranormal romance, and urban fantasy with splashes of horror will be hooked. One-click above to get hooked today!

Learn from home and explore the world with these fun and easy board books!Toddlers can learn all about the lives of Arctic animals in the popular Hello, World! board book series, with easy-to-understand facts about how these incredible animals eat, sleep, camouflage, and stay warm in such a cold environment.Hello, World! is a series designed to introduce first nonfiction concepts to babies and toddlers. Told in clear and easy terms ("Siberian huskies curl into a tight ball to sleep") and featuring bright, cheerful illustrations, Hello, World! makes learning fun for young children. And each page offers helpful prompts for engaging with your child. It's a perfect way to bring science and nature into the busy world of a toddler, where learning never stops. Look for all the books in the Hello, World! series: •Solar Sytem•Weather•Backyard Bugs•Birds•Dinosaurs•My Body•How Do Apples Grow?•Ocean Life•Moon Landing•Pets•Arctic Animals•Construction Site•Rainforest Animals•Planet Earth •Reptiles

What happens when a broken doll is touched by stardust? She becomes a ghost doll, of course! The newly awakened Ghost Doll and her companion Jasper, a mangy black cat, set off in search of a safe place to live. But the city is new and dangerous territory for Ghost Doll (who fell asleep in quieter times). The noise and rush of traffic terrifies her, and as for the new style of toy—complete with computer chip and battery—she can’t think of anything worse. But there is something far more sinister and dangerous lurking in the city. Someone else witnessed the falling star and is anxious to get a hold of the fragment—and Ghost Doll—for his own evil purposes. How will Ghost Doll and Jasper escape their hunter and find a home where they both are safe and loved?Fiona McDonald has created a visually stunning and poignantly told story about an unlikely friendship and the importance of feeling secure and wanted. Ghost Doll and Jasper is an Edward Gorey-esque graphic novel for kids—sure to captivate and enchant as the ethereal Ghost Doll and her alley cat Jasper embark on an adventure full of magic, suspense, and, most importantly, friendship.

Everett Singh has escaped with the Infundibulum from Charlotte Villiers but at a terrible price. His father is lost, banished to one of the billions of parallel universes of the Panoply of All World, and Everett and the crew of the airship Everness have taken a wild Heisenberg Jump to a frozen earth far beyond the Plenitude of Known Worlds, he plans to rescue his family.It’s deadly chase from the frozen wastes of iceball earth; to Earth 4 (like ours, except that the alien Thryn Sentiency occupied the moon in 1964); to the dead London of the forbidden plane of Earth 1, where the remnants of humanity battle a terrifying nanotechnology run wild. Everett has the love and support of Sen, Captain Anastasia Sixsmyth, and the rest of the crew of Everness, but will that be enough when your deadliest enemy isn't the Order or the world-devouring nanotech Nahn—it's yourself. Because the villainous Charlotte Villiers is always one step ahead.