Showing results by narrator "Josh Hurley" in All Categories

When reading and writing are the most important things in the world. Jevick, the pepper merchant's son, has been raised on stories of Olondria, a distant land where books are as common as they are rare in his home - but which his mother calls the Ghost Country. When his father dies and Jevick takes his place on the yearly selling trip to Olondria, Jevick's life is as close to perfect as he can imagine. Just as he revels in Olondria's Rabelaisian Feast of Birds, he is pulled drastically off course and becomes haunted by the ghost of an illiterate young girl.

It's Spirit Week, and that means costumes, competitions, and chaos. And it's only Monday.... I've got to step up and win the Spirit Week games or Wyatt's red ninjas will have free rein to take over the school. But no matter how hard I play, Wyatt keeps beating me. It's gonna take all my ninja skills to get through this week. My name is Chase Cooper, and I'm a sixth grade ninja.

Over 50 years, Charles M. Schulz created a comic strip that is one of the indisputable glories of American popular culture. Some 20 years after the last strip appeared, the characters Schulz brought to life in Peanuts continue to resonate with millions of fans, their beguiling four-panel adventures and television escapades offering lessons about happiness, friendship, disappointment, childhood, and life itself. Here, 33 writers and artists reflect on the deeper truths of Schulz’s deceptively simple comic, its impact on their lives and art and on the broader culture.

Left reeling from a brutal attack by the Ulfrangar, Thatcher and his friends struggle to regroup. But their time is already running out. With the forces of their mysterious enemies now allying against them, the group fears they may have stumbled into an unwinnable fight for their lives. They know they need to get Phillip back in order to even the odds, but haggling with notorious crime lords and dueling assassins in the streets is not what any of them bargained for.

Meghan Chase thought her time with the fey was over, that the sacrifices she had to make were done. But war is brewing as another Iron King rises to destroy the courts of Faery and corrupt the Nevernever forever. The age-old rivalry of the Summer and Winter courts must be put aside as the rulers prepare to face their mutual enemy…and Meghan must step up once more and finally claim her secret destiny. But first, she must make one final, heartbreaking sacrifice.

The Scavengers are back, and if you've followed my story up until now, then you'll know it's not all gumdrops and lollipops over here. If it were just The Scavengers, I might've been all about the challenge, but this time they've brought their leader - an eighth grader named Victor. He's everything that Wyatt is, only a bajillion times worse. Victor won't rest until he takes away the most important thing in my life, and guess what? He's doing a bang-up job of it.

Chase Cooper here, and this is my sixth diary as a sixth grade ninja. As always, there's trouble brewing in the halls of Buchanan School. A bandit is on the loose who's stealing from innocent students, and as each day passes, the bandit's reach grows even further. As if the situation wasn't bonkers enough, help has come in the unlikeliest of places - Wyatt. But I have sick feeling in my stomach about the whole mystery, like something far worse is going on than anybody realizes.

After the loss of Bastion, everyone who’s not a zombie has holed up in FFO’s sole remaining safe haven: the lowbie town of Windy Lake. But the undead armies never rest, and it’s only a matter of time before the Once King’s forces come to crush what’s left of life in this world. But Tina, James, and the rest of the players are facing a crisis of their own. After so long in this world, their human bodies are dying on the other side. If they don’t find a way home soon, they may have nothing to go back to.

Based on the award-winning 10-million-plus-hit blog 1000awesomethings.com, The Book of Awesome is an international best-selling high five for humanity and a big celebration of life's little moments. Sometimes it's easy to forget the things that make us smile. It’s tempting to feel that the world is falling apart. But awesome things are all around us, like: popping bubble wrap; wearing underwear just out of the dryer; fixing electronics by smacking them; and much more! The Book of Awesome reminds us that the best things in life are free (yes, your grandma was right).

Chase Cooper here, and I'm back with my 11th diary as a sixth-grade ninja! Craziest. Week. Ever. It's the week of the supermoon, and the Astronomy Club is hosting an overnight on Thursday. Sounds like an awesome time, except for the fact that the red and green ninjas, a.k.a. the holiday ninjas, have secretly planned a finishing move for Wyatt that would destroy him forever. As if that weren't enough, some kid name Chris Moss, a.k.a. Christmas, makes me an offer that's hard to refuse.

Maylea Broadfeather is not a dragonrider like her parents. That small detail hasn’t stopped her from sneaking aboard Reigh’s latest mission, though. Why? Because she has a mission all her own: to rescue her childhood friend from a gruesome demise in the distant land of Nar’Haleen and prove that her family’s legacy of greatness hasn’t ended. But trying to fill her father’s shoes may cost Maylea more than she ever imagined—especially when the God of Life, Paligno, offers her power in exchange for loyalty in the divine war now looming on the horizon.

The year is 2016. Not our 2016. Theirs. Earth is dying, the result of a worldwide nuclear holocaust caused by America’s dictatorial President-for-Life Lewis Henderson, a man who will use any means necessary to maintain power and survive. Enter: The Splitter. A machine capable of splitting off an exact replica of Henderson’s world. A world where the cataclysmic events causing its destruction have yet to occur. That world is ours.

Gemma Turner once dreamed of stardom. Now the actress is on the cusp of obscurity. When she’s offered the lead in a radical new horror film, Gemma believes her luck has changed—but her dream is about to turn into a nightmare. One night, between the shadows of an alleyway, Gemma disappears on set and is never seen again. Yet, Gemma is alive. She’s been pulled into the film. And the script—and the monsters within it—are coming to life. Gemma must play her role perfectly if she hopes to survive.

My name is Chase Cooper, and this is my second diary as a 6th grade ninja. It's only been a month since my last entry, but in a school as crazy as mine, a month is an eternity. My school recently had a day where everyone talked like a pirate, but it didn't stop after that! It became worse as the week went on, and pretty soon there were rumors of a massive pirate invasion. I ignored the warnings because I thought they were a joke. Turns out...I was wrong. Now my entire school is in danger, and I'm the only one that can save it.

Reigh knows time to complete his mission is running out. With Ronan trapped in the clutches of the evil sorceress, Sadeera, and the codex lost in the ashes of the destroyed Compendium Library—the odds are now stacked against him. But when Nar’Haleen’s powerful warships arrive in the island kingdom of Rienka, determined to take it by force, Reigh realizes their situation may be far more dangerous than he anticipated.

The undead are more alive today than ever. Immortal? Indeed! Nothing has sunk its teeth into 21st century popular culture as pervasively as the vampire. The fangsters have the freedom to fly across all genres and all mediums - there''s even apps for vamps. Whether roaming into romance, haunting horror, sneaking into science fiction, capering into humor, meandering through mystery - no icon is more versatile than the vampire.

My name is Chase Cooper, and this is my fourth diary as a sixth grade ninja. A few weeks have breezed by since my last entry, but things don't stay quiet at my school for long. The science fair is coming up, and everyone's been working crazy hard to get their projects finished on time. But at the beginning of the week, projects started disappearing, only to be found later completely destroyed. Did I mention the anonymous invitation I got that sent me on a messed up treasure hunt in search of the missing projects?

Ryan and Regan Resnick have just moved to the world's most boring place. But when they discover their parents are part of an ultra-secret project called Prometheus, they are plunged into a nonstop adventure - one that will be the ultimate test of their wits, courage, and determination. Soon they are under attack and facing hostile alien worlds, alien technology, and unimaginable dangers at every turn. Now, with their mother facing certain death, they must race to solve a seemingly impossible mystery to have any hope of saving her.

It's been one disaster after another lately, and things aren't slowing down. During talent show rehearsals, someone trashed the stage and set a penguin loose. (Seriously!) Now I'm on the hunt for a pet penguin and the kid who set him free. This week is gonna be wild. My name is Chase Cooper, and I'm a sixth-grade ninja.

Twelve-year-old Fee is a shy Korean American boy and a newly named section leader of the first sopranos in his local boys' choir. But when Fee learns how the director treats his section leaders, he is so ashamed he says nothing of the abuse, not even when Peter, his best friend, is in line to be next. When the director is arrested, Fee tries to forgive himself for his silence. But when Peter takes his own life, Fee blames only himself.