Books published by publisher Weinstein Books

"Lessons from the Prairie delivers one belly laugh after another as Melissa tees up an easy-to-follow, step-by-step guide to tackling life's toughest challenges, and making your life happier." - Megyn KellyFor fans of the beloved TV show Little House on the Prairie, a self-help book by Melissa Francis, bestselling author of Diary of a Stage Mother's Daughter and child star of Little House, revealing important life lessons inspired by a childhood on set. Melissa Francis was only eight years old when she won the role of a lifetime: playing Cassandra Cooper Ingalls on the world's most famous prime-time soap opera, Little House on the Prairie. Now in Lessons from the Prairie, she shares behind-the-scenes stories from the set, and lessons learned from the show's dynamic creator, Michael Landon, that have echoed throughout Melissa's adult life. With novel insights on hard work, making mistakes, and even spirituality, Francis shares inspirational and practical life lessons that will appeal both to her current TV fans, and fans of one of the most adored TV shows of all time.

In "The Caper of the Crown Jewels," Jack is summoned to solve a matter of grave national importance: the theft of the Crown Jewels of the British Empire from the Tower of London. Arriving on the scene, he is greeted by a traditional Tower guard- a Yeoman Warder (or Beefeater)- who explains what's missing: The Imperial State Crown, the Sovereign's Orb, and the Sovereign's Scepter with the cross containing the finest-cut diamond in the world, the Star of Africa. Jack identifies Ivan the Incredible and his assistant, Jazz, as the thieves immediately--but puzzling out "how" they did it is stickier. The famous Tower has the most advanced security in the world, and even using his impressive gadgets (the Encryption notebook, Heli-Spacer, Rock Corer, and Rope Tornado) Jack is flummoxed by how the jewels were spirited out. However, Jack can conjure up more than gadgets--he foils the evil magicians with some powerful mojo of his own, dispels an invisibility enchantment, and narrowly avoids the executioner's block before restoring the jewels to the crown and earning the gratitude of the Queen herself!

In "The Caper of the Crown Jewels," Jack is summoned to solve a matter of grave national importance: the theft of the Crown Jewels of the British Empire from the Tower of London. Arriving on the scene, he is greeted by a traditional Tower guard- a Yeoman Warder (or Beefeater)- who explains what's missing: The Imperial State Crown, the Sovereign's Orb, and the Sovereign's Scepter with the cross containing the finest-cut diamond in the world, the Star of Africa. Jack identifies Ivan the Incredible and his assistant, Jazz, as the thieves immediately--but puzzling out "how" they did it is stickier. The famous Tower has the most advanced security in the world, and even using his impressive gadgets (the Encryption notebook, Heli-Spacer, Rock Corer, and Rope Tornado) Jack is flummoxed by how the jewels were spirited out. However, Jack can conjure up more than gadgets--he foils the evil magicians with some powerful mojo of his own, dispels an invisibility enchantment, and narrowly avoids the executioner's block before restoring the jewels to the crown and earning the gratitude of the Queen herself!

Often mistaken for a boy because of her haircut and name, Alex Morningside is an inquisitive girl of ten-and-a-half who attends the prestigious Wigpowder-Steele Academy. Unfortunately, though she loves to learn, Alex just can’t bring herself to enjoy her classes. Her teachers are all old and smelly and don’t seem to know about anything that has happened in the world the past thirty years, and her peers…well they are quite simply ridiculous. Luckily for Alex, the new school year brings an exciting new teacher. Mr. Underwood makes lessons fun and teaches her how to fence. But Mr. Underwood has a mysterious family secret - the swashbuckling and buried treasure kind - and not everyone is glad he has come to Wigpowder-Steele. When the infamous pirates of a ship called the Ironic Gentleman kidnap Mr. Underwood, Alex sets off on a journey to rescue him, along the way encountering a cast of strange and magical characters, including the dashing and sometimes heroic Captain Magnanimous, Coriander the Conjurer, the Extremely Ginormous Octopus, and the wicked Daughters of the Founding Fathers’ Preservation Society.

A New York Times bestsellerThe Haunting of Sunshine Girl,in active development for television by The Weinstein Company, a hit paranomal YA series based on the wildly popular YouTube channel about an "adorkable" teenager living in a haunted house. Shortly after her sixteenth birthday, Sunshine Griffith and her mother Kat move from sunny Austin, Texas, to the rain-drenched town of Ridgemont, Washington. Though Sunshine is adopted, she and her mother have always been close, sharing a special bond filled with laughter and inside jokes. But from the moment they arrive, Sunshine feels her world darken with an eeriness she cannot place. And even if Kat doesn't recognize it, Sunshine knows that something about their new house is just ... creepy. In the days that follow, things only get stranger. Sunshine is followed around the house by an icy breeze, phantom wind slams her bedroom door shut, and eventually, the laughter Sunshine hears on her first night evolves into sobs. She can hardly believe it, but as the spirits haunting her house become more frightening-and it becomes clear that Kat is in danger-Sunshine must accept what she is, pass the test before her, and save her mother from a fate worse than death.

Deep inside China's famous Wolong Nature Reserve, an endangered Giant Panda named Ling has disappeared, and for his seventh mission, Jack is paired with a surly, sixteen-year-old park assistant named Fong to help track the panda down. As a member of the evil Scorpion Gang, Fong and a partner Wong have been posing as assistants to steal Ling, and several other rare creatures from the reserve to sell on the black market. Now Jack must infiltrate the ruthless gang's Beijing headquarters, overrun with menacing teenage thieves, and rescue Ling and the other animals before they, and maybe Jack, disappear forever.

Poppy Hooper and Ember Hawkweed couldn't lead more different lives. Poppy is a troubled teen: moving from school to school, causing chaos wherever she goes, never making friends or lasting connections. Ember is a young witch, struggling to find a place within her coven and prove her worth. Both are outsiders: feeling like they don't belong and seeking escape. Poppy and Ember soon become friends, and secretly share knowledge of their two worlds. Little do they know that destiny has brought them together: an ancient prophecy, and a life-changing betrayal. Growing closer, they begin to understand why they've never belonged and the reason they are now forever connected to each other. Switched at birth by the scheming witch Raven Hawkweed, Poppy and Ember must come to terms with their true identities and fight for their own place in the world. Enter Leo, a homeless boy with a painful past who – befriending them both – tests their love and loyalty. Can Poppy and Ember's friendship survive? And can it withstand the dark forces that are gathering?

Timothy Freshwater's father can't control him, his mother is always out of town, and now the boy too smart for his own good has been expelled from the last school in the city. After he meets Mr. Shen, a mysterious Chinese mailroom clerk at his father's office, Timothy winds up in more trouble than he has ever gotten himself into. It turns out the diminutive Mr. Shen is a dragon. Forced to take human shape for a thousand years, Mr. Shen cannot resume his true form until he scales an ancient Dragon's Gate during a festival for the 125th year of the dragon. Now Timothy finds himself Mr. Shen's latest keeper: stalked by a ninja, and chased by a menacing trio of black taxicabs. And when Mr. Shen falls into the wrong hands, Timothy must rescue the dragon from a fleet of Chinese pirate junks. All hope seems lost until a strange-looking black brig with red sails called the Ironic Gentleman appears on the horizon. Relying on his own ingenuity and an annoying new ally, a girl called Alex, Timothy must take on the fleet and its evil commander, the Man in the Beige Linen Suit. Told in Adrienne Kress's distinctive, sparkling prose, Timothy and the Dragon's Gate is a humorous and astounding story about a boy who ultimately uncovers his own ability to love and opens his heart to the world around him.

Zero Dark Thirty meets 127 Hours—a riveting war journal from photographer Paul Conroy, who accompanied Marie Colvin (called by her peers “the greatest war correspondent of her generation”) during her ill-fated final assignment in Syria.Marie Colvinwas an internationally recognized American foreign war correspondent who was killed in a rocket attack in 2012 while reporting on the suffering of civilians inside Syria. She was renowned for her iconic flair and her fearlessness: wearing the pearls that were a gift from Yasser Arafat and her black eye-patch, she reported from places so dangerous no other hard-core correspondent would dare to go. Paul Conroy, who had forged a close bond with Colvin as they put their lives on the line time and time again to report from the world’s conflict zones, was with her when she died. Under the Wire is Paul’s gripping, visceral, and moving account of their friendship and the final year he spent alongside her. When Marie and Paul were smuggled into Syria by rebel forces, they found themselves trapped in one of the most hellish neighborhoods on earth. Fierce barrages of heavy artillery fire rained down on the buildings surrounding them, killing and maiming hundreds of civilians. Marie was killed by a rocket which also blew hole in Paul’s thigh big enough to put his hand through. Bleeding profusely, short of food and water, and in excruciating pain, Paul then endured five days of intense bombardment before being evacuated in a daring escape in which he rode a motorbike through a tunnel, crawled through enemy terrain, and finally scaled a 12-foot-high wall. Astonishingly vivid, heart-stoppingly dramatic and shot through with dark humor, in Under the Wire Paul Conroy shows what it means to a be a war reporter in the 21st century. His is a story of two brave people drawn together by a shared compulsion to bear witness.