When he was born, Michelangelo Buonarroti was put into the care of a stonecutter's family. He often said it was from them that he got his love of sculpture. It certainly didn't come from his own father, a respectable magistrate who beat his son when he asked to become an artists apprentice.

But Michelangelo persevered. His early sculptures caught the attention of Florence's great ruler, Lorenzo de' Medici, who invited the boy to be educated with his own sons. Soon after, Michelangelo was astonishing people with the lifelike creations he wrested from marble--from the heartbreaking...

Bella has grown up thinking that she was just a simple peasant girl. But suddenly, Bella's world collapses. First, her best friend, Julian, betrays her. Then she finds out that she is, in fact, Isabel, the daughter of a knight who abandoned her in infancy. And now he wants her back. Bella is torn from her beloved foster family and tries to accept her new life with her deranged father and his resentful wife. But when she finds out about a terrible plot that threatens the kingdom, she sets out on a journey that will lead her to a destiny far greater than she could have imagined.

Against the fascinating tapestry of Frances history during the Hundred Years' War, Diane Stanley unfolds the story of the simple thirteen-year-old village girl who in Just a few years would lead France to independence from English rule, and thus become a symbol of France's national pride. It is a story of vision and bravery, fierce determination, and tragic martyrdom. Diane Stanley's extraordinary gift to present historical information in an accessible and child-friendly format has never been more impressive, nor her skillful, beautifully realized illustrations (here imitating medieval...

Kids all over the country are acting strangely after reading the latest books in the mega-popular Chillers series. First, it's the seemingly innocent Jelly Worm fad. But it quickly turns sinister, with exploding headaches sweeping the nation, and then a serpent surprise that lands several kids, including Franny's little sister, in the hospital.

Franny is convinced that I. M. Fine, author of the Chillers books, is behind it. With the help of her friend Beamer, she is determined to track down the mysterious author and find out once and for all if the books...

She was a queen whose strong will, shrewd diplomacy, religious tolerance and great love for her subjects won the hearts of her people and the admiration of her enemies.

Elizabeth was born into an age of religious strife, in which plots and factions were everywhere and private beliefs could be punished by death. When she became queen, her counselors urged her to marry quickly and turn the responsibilities of governing over to her husband, But she outwitted them by stalling, changing her mind; and playing one side against another, as she steered her country to the glorious era of peace...

Although the country is at war, terrorists strike at random, and widespread rationing is in effect, thirteen-year-old Sky Brightman is remarkably untouched by it all. She and her family live off the grid on sixty acres of rural New Mexico ranch land with chores to do, horses to ride, and no television or internet to bring disturbing news into their home.

But when a string of mysterious arrests begins and Sky's new friend, Kareem, becomes a target, she is finally forced to confront the world in all its complexity. With courage, ingenuity, and fierce determination, Sky meets injustice...

Celebrate 400 years of Shakespeare's legacy with this repackage of award-winning author Diane Stanley's tribute to the world-famous playwright William Shakespeare.

Nobody knows exactly when or why William Shakespeare left his boyhood home of Stratford-on-Avon for the great city of London, but it didn't take long for him to make a name for himself. His plays are now performed almost every day in just about every part of the world; even people who've never seen them use words and phrases he introduced into the English language.

How did a man from an unremarkable family create a...