Books with author Jan McCarthy

Every day Patty visits her big red bus and sometimes she lets her little sister come along. Off they go on exciting adventures to the tops of the highest mountains, to the busiest of cities, to the big-top circus, and even to the moon! Patty has a big imagination, but little does she know that her little sister has an even bigger imagination.Young adventurers will delight in this charming book featuring two irresistible sisters.

Nearly a century years ago, a host of demons brought the empire of the Isles to the brink of destruction. With the sacrifice of the Onmyoji Exorcist priests the demons were banished and the Demon Gates sealed. Until now. The demons make a bid to return to the world and it falls on Hikaru of the Genji, a talented but haunted swordsman, to discover the truth behind the first demon wars before it is too late.When the Great Gate falls, Hikaru finds himself at the centre of an attack nearly one hundred years in the planning. Hikaru joins the other survivors against the spirits of the restless dead to discover who or what is behind the attack and survive.

While our hero, Jack,* sleeps in New York, a couple of crooked crooks are stealing the Mona Lisa from the Louvre in Paris. Their intentions are dark--they plan to deface the famous painting with a mustache! Can brave Jack come to the rescue . . . before it's too late? With bold cartoony illustrations and action-packed text, the talented Meghan McCarthy has created a whirlwind spy tale filled with speeding cars, daring escapes, and astounding heroism. *Names may have been changed to protect secret-agent identities.Includes an author's note with information about the actual theft of the Mona Lisa in 1911.

Joining the King’s Guard is something every kid growing up in the Midlands dreams about. Onin never dared imagine such a life for himself, even after distinguishing himself in battle. When offered a rare opportunity to train within the Heights, he must balance honor, duty, and family. Haunted by persistent dreams and lured by the possibility of becoming a member of the guard, Onin leaves his home and the last vestiges of childhood behind. Follow the story of one of the most beloved characters from the World of Godsland fantasy series in the first installment of the Protector trilogy.

What happens when the wolf no longer howls at the moon? When Otsoa, a young Wolf-thread, finds he can no longer howl, a mysterious grey fog appears and begins destroying the world. Otsoa is then forced into an adventure, along with a rooster that he packed for his lunch, to find the legendary source of natural music – the War Drum. Will the world be saved if the Wolf-thread can find his howl? Or is there a deeper mystery behind the destructive fog?

It was an ordinary night in October of 1938 until a news bulletin interrupted the dance music on CBS radio–aliens were invading the United States! Meghan McCarthy’s hilarious Aliens Are Coming! tells the true story of the Halloween radio prank that duped much of the country into believing that Martians had invaded. The book uses excerpts from the actual War of the Worlds radio broadcast and includes information about the importance of radios in the 1930s (before the time of televisions and computers) as well as facts about Orson Welles and H. G. Wells, author of the novel on which the broadcast was based.From the Hardcover edition.

Gum. It’s been around for centuries—from the ancient Greeks to the American Indians, everyone’s chewed it. But the best kind of gum—bubble gum!—wasn’t invented until 1928, when an enterprising young accountant at Fleer Gum and Candy used his spare time to experiment with different recipes. Bubble-blowing kids everywhere will be delighted with Megan McCarthy’s entertaining pictures and engaging fun facts as they learn the history behind the pink perfection of Dubble Bubble.

Another year has flown away since Minerva Wicks had discovered the legendary Witch Tree deep in the Twisted Cloak Woods. She’d stopped the most powerful tree in the world from falling into the hands of the Banisters. Although Demelza Banister is the new Prankathlon Champion and Minerva had rescued her from a hanging tree, she is still a bully, and meaner than ever.The witch’s moon had disappeared for another year. The half moon took its rightful place in the sky, but something felt different. Minerva no longer had aviophobia—she had lost the fear of flying. Emberglint, the ruby-red sea dragon had joined the family in Cottage Number Thirteen, much to Twitch’s displeasure. And so, with the school year in full swing, she had little time for detective work. Nevertheless, when everything fell back to normal, at least as normal as a witchy village like Witch Tree Falls would allow, things took a turn for the worse. Strange things were happening at the Banister mansion. Minerva watched each night as witches flew to Grackle’s Nest Hill. They disappeared inside the stone fortress that towered over Witch Tree Falls.Now, a new witch’s moon was less than three days away and so was her eleventh witchy birthday. It wouldn’t take long before a mystery was in full swing. Why are the witches in Witch Tree Falls suddenly disappearing? And, why are strange and horrible creatures, straight out their worst nightmares, suddenly appearing? Etched in The Legend of the Witch Tree is the truth of what happened so long ago and only Minerva can discover it. To save her village she must uncover the clues and journey into the Twisted Cloak Woods to destroy The Book of Transformation Spells before it’s too late, and before the witch’s moon vanishes for another year.