Books in Beech Tree Chapter Books series

When Josh McBroom learns that the eighty acres of Iowa farmland he's purchased are all stacked up on top of each other at the bottom of a muddy little pond, he thinks he's been bamboozled. But McBroom knows he's got the better of the bargain when the pond dries up to reveal an acre of soil so rich that seeds spring up into full-grown plants in no time and even nickels grow into quarters.

"This unique collection of short stories celebrates the creative power of imagination. At Hurwitz's invitation 10 well-known children's authors have written pieces based on a single premise: a young person finds an empty box among his or her birthday gifts. The enormously varied responses range in tone from amusing to heartwarmingly sad; all provide food for thought....An excellent surprise package."--School Library Journal.

A madcap tale of fog and phantomsOpie and Aunt Etta think there's something funny going on when Professor Pepper announces that he's going to raise the ghost of a dead outlaw--live on stage. Can Opie cut through all t he fog to get to the bottom of the professor's plans?See the Ghost of Crookneck John! That's what Professor Pepper's sign promises, and Opie can hardly wait to see such a sight. But the unseen specter escapes from his coffin during the show, and if that weren't bad enough, the town bank is robbed too! Is Crookneck John a bandit from beyond the grave--or is more than the fog being pulled over the townsfolk's' eyes? A reissue of one of Sid Fleischman's early novels.

Sam acts like a smart aleck to keep from looking dumbSam Mott's made it most of the way through sixth grade barely able to read and write. Now Sam's family's moved again, and none of the kids in his new school have started calling him Dumbhead Sam -- yet. But how long can Sam keep his problem secret when even the second grader he baby-sits for reads better than he does?

A magic show is in town! See Jane float through the air. Watch the head in the box move its lips and talk (that's Paul behind the whiskers). See tall, light-hearted Mr. Mysterious--Pa himself--make a cow lay an egg and a chicken give milk. Follow the adventures and high comedy of this family of magicians traveling in a show wagon through the Old West. The wonder workers are heading for California, where Pa intends to retire the show so that the kids can go to school. But the frontier has tricks of its own up its sleeve, and the magicians find themselves in hairbreadth escapes and nose-to-nose encounters with villains galore--including the notorious and short-tempered Badlands Kid.Mr. Mysterious & Company, otherwise known as the Hackett family, is a traveling magic show making its way across the country toward California. When this family passes through town in their brightly painted wagon, anything can happen--even the capture of a notorious bandit, the Badlands Kid! Here is the Newbery Medalist's first book for children, reissued for a new generation of readers.

What I did last summer. Nothing.The end." Or is it?Hobie just knows this will ge his most boring summer ever. His best friend's at camp, and pesky Molly Bosco keeps popping up. It's not so bad when Hobie and Molly win a pie-eating contest together. But when a picture of Molly kissing Hobie winds up on the front page of the paper, summer's turning weird, very weird.