What Should I Read? Book Talks and More

Spring semester at the Lab School in Hyde Park finds Petra and Calder drawn into another mystery when unexplainable accidents and ghostly happenings throw a spotlight on Frank Lloyd Wright's Robie House, and it's up to the two junior sleuths to piece together the clues. Stir in the return of Calder's friend Tommy (which creates a tense triangle), H.G. Wells's The Invisible Man, 3D pentominoes, and the hunt for a coded message left behind by Wright, and the kids become tangled in a dangerous web in which life and art intermingle with death, deception, and surprise.

Jim Hawkins, who narrates Stevenson's classic tale, is rewarded for his assistance to an old pirate, Billy Bones, with a map showing the way to buried treasure. He and his associates set sail for the island on a ship manned by a band of pirates--a fact they discover en route. The pirate king is the notorious one-legged cook Long John Silver, one of Stevenson's most delightfully conceived villains. The pirates are vanquished, the treasure is retrieved, and Stevenson's novel is widely loved, and admired as one of the great adventure novels of all time.

Though legally blind, Paul Fisher can see what others cannot. He can see that his parents' constant praise of his brother, Erik, the football star, is to cover up something that is terribly wrong. But no one listens to Paul - until his family moves to Tangerine. In this Florida town, weird is normal: Lightning strikes at the same time every day, a sinkhole swallows a local school, and Paul the geek finds himself adopted into the toughest group around: the soccer team at his middle school. Maybe this new start in Tangerine will help Paul finally see the truth about his past - and will give him the courage to face up to his terrifying older brother.

When 12-year-old Kenny Huldorf and his family move into their new house, Kenny discovers that his room is haunted by the ghost of a slave named Caleb who was murdered in the early 19th century. Caleb summons Kenny back in time where he must solve Caleb's murder before he is able to return to the present. The author himself makes an appearance as a character in this historical mystery.

Tree-ear, an orphan, has become fascinated with the potters' craft; he wants nothing more than to watch master potter Min at work, and he dreams of making a pot of his own someday. When Min takes on Tree-ear as his helper, Tree-ear is elated--until he finds obstacles in his path: the backbreaking labor of digging and hauling clay, Min's irascible temper, and his own ignorance. However, Tree-ear is determined to prove himself.

When Romiette Cappelle and her best friend, Destiny, decide to order The Scientific Soul Mate System from the back of "Heavy Hunks" magazine, they're not sure what they're getting into. But Destiny, a self-proclaimed psychic, assures Romi that for $44.99 plus shipping and handling, it's the only way they're ever going to find out who their soul mates really are. If nothing else, maybe Romi will get some insight into that recurring dream she's been having about fire and water. But they never expect that the scented candle and tube of dream ointment will live up to their promises and merge Romiette's destiny with that of Julio Montague, a boy she's just met in the "cosmos" of an Internet chat room. It turns out they go to the same high school, not to mention having almost the same names as Shakespeare's famous lovers Sweet-scented dreams of Julio have almost overtaken Romi's nightmares... ...when suddenly they return, but this time ...

After their mother is murdered as a reprisal for the work of their outspoken journalist father, 12-year-old Sade and her younger brother are sent from their home in Nigeria to live with their uncle in London. However, when they arrive at their uncle's house, Sade and her brother discover that he is missing. Forced to live in a series of foster homes, the siblings are happy when they learn their father has escaped from Nigeria and is looking for them in England. Still, their father is in danger of being sent back to the perils of Nigeria unless Sade can find a way to save him.