Books in Richard Jackson Books series

Most of us agree -- penguins included -- that there is no place like home. Also no business like show business. For Penguin and Little Blue, home is Antarctica and far, far away. They are both missing all one million three hundred twenty-eight thousand and forty-eight of their feathered friends. And show business is hard work. The only homelike treats anywhere in their Kansas hotel are an ice machine and a bathtub (much more fun than the pool they have to dive, dive, dive into for spectators). After long days signing autographs Little Blue and Penguin dream of enjoying the white ice, blue ice, pancake ice, pencil ice, ice cakes, ice falls, and fast ice of home. But how oh how can they escape show business and reach Antarctica?

John Huffam is sure the tall man's beard is false. He's sure of little else in November 1849, the year he is fourteen, the year his father is sentenced to London's Whitecross Street Prison.Maybe the man following John -- who claims to be one Inspector Copperfield -- can explain why. Surely, Pa isn't prepared to reveal the truth, any more than the jovial bailiff, Mr. Tuckum, who knows something, but remains mum. Or the little Frenchman, Mr. Farquatt, who courts John's sister but seems most keen on Pa's work at the Naval Ordinance Office. Or Mr. O'Doul, the Irishman who insists Pa owes him the unimaginable sum of three hundred pounds.Or what of the one-legged, single-mindedly fierce Sergeant Muldspoon, John's teacher? What about the boy's great-great-aunt, Lady Euphemia Huffam, who could pay the debt but won't for reasons of her own? What about the secretive Mr. Snugsbe of All Hallows Church, who hides himself away in the City's most voluminous coat?Then there's Chief Inspector Ratchet of Scotland Yard, who is after somebody for some crime or other. True, John has a new friend and ally in Sary the Sneak...but what has even she got up her sleeve? What John learns on his own is that there's a traitor on the loose, somewhere. And he must uncover the villain -- no matter who it might be.

"What a gorgeous painting," exclaimed the judge of Ms. Fair's first-grade art contest. "What a beautiful rabbit!" For Emily, the words are a shock. Her painting is of her dog, Thor. Not a rabbit. But instead of thinking: What's wrong with this judge? Emily takes the words, and the judgment, to heart. Just as she takes her art. Not everyone, not Ms. Fair, or even Emily's best friend, Kelly, can see that. At first.

Sonny is only one of the spies at the Bradshaw house in Mozier, Alabama. But as a child he saw a tray full of dinner come flying across the front hall at his father. His mother's aim was dead on. And Daddy's departure promptly followed.Loretta, Sonny's older sister, spies by eavesdropping. As she tells him, "How else am I going to survive in a family tight-lipped as tombs?"But the kids' spying only scratches the surface of what's really going on in this 1950s family in the deep South. While Deaton, the youngest, worries about pirates and vampires, and Uncle Marty, family protector, serves up scripture with every bite at the Circle of Life donut shop, somebody is watching.Somebody unsuspected by Sonny. But at thirteen he knows something's fishy, and he intends to find out what. That's why one Friday after Uncle Marty pays him for dishwashing at the Circle of Life, he sneaks out of town, first by bike and then by bus. Selma, his mama; Mamby; Nissa; Uncle Sink; Aunt Roo; his sister and brother -- nobody from that all-too-serious but often hilarious crew has a clue where he's gone. And even Sonny can't say exactly what he's after, until those tight-lipped tombs start talking, and life in the house on Rhubarb changes for good.

Once a year, every year, the seven uncles gather. Shaggy coats, scarves of red. Two tall antlers on each head. Is it their niece they've come to see? Surely, yes. Is it their job they've come to do? Most definitely. And is she eager to join in the fun? Absolutely Here is a playful tribute to a famous team of eight relatives who, once a year, every year, bring delight to children.

Combining unfussy, gently rhyming language with vibrant, airy illustrations, Caldecott Medalist Chris Raschka has created a book that will inspire in young readers the wonder of wondering. A little boy wonders about a crow’s life—from the simple “Where do you go in the cold white snow?” to the not-so-simple “Do you ever worry when you hop and you hurry? Are you ever afraid of mistakes you made? Are you never afraid?” All of life is touched on in simple words and spare, elegant artwork. Little Black Crow is not to be missed.

How do you avenge -- or forgive -- your own murder four hundred years after it happened?Prompted by recurrent dreams, sixteen-year-old Dana Landgrave uncovers an ancient crime that has drawn the same souls together through three lifetimes.There's nothing sinister about the girl's sunlit twenty-first-century American life in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Yet, centuries ago, terrible things were done -- by someone she knows! Could it be her easygoing, easy-to-look-at boyfriend, Chase? Or her younger brother, Ben, who has been confined to a wheelchair since a school bus accident? What about Gianna, her inscrutable enemy on the yearbook staff? Or her eccentric psychotherapist, Dr. Sprague?As Dana summons courage to reenter the past, each incarnation propels her to new discoveries -- and new suspicions -- until the threads of all three lives converge in a devastating revelation.

In Paul Goble's Caldecott-winning story, tending to the horses is the special pleasure of one young girl in the village...As narrator, Lance White Magpie sets an expectant tone...his voice becomes one of confidence and satisfaction when the young girl finds her place beside the spotted stallion. Gentle music surrounds the story. Chants and songs from Sioux and Navaho traditions complete the recording. - AudioFile