Troy Howell

When Kat, her father, and brother visit an old gold mine that has been turned into an amusement park, she falls down a shaft and meets an ancient dragon, the last of his kind, and inadvertently triggers a twenty-first century gold rush.

An ugly duckling spends an unhappy year ostracized by the other animals before he grows into a beautiful swan.

From Arlington National Cemetery (once part of Robert E. Lee's homestead) to magnificent Monticello, Virginia has always had a prominent place in American history. Jamestown, Williamsburg, and even the Pentagon are just a few of the many places highlighted in O is for Old Dominion. Readers will also be introduced to such history makers as George Washington, Patrick Henry, and Booker T. Washington.

Under the Paris Opera House lives a disfigured musical genius who uses music to win the love of a beautiful opera singer.

A hideously disfigured composer, who lives in seclusion beneath the Paris Opera House, becomes a Svengali figure to young singer Christine Daaé, moulding her into a star performer. But his obsessive love for Christine is unrequited and when he fears she will be lost to him, his jealousy endangers everyone. Gaston Leroux's Phantom is one of literature's most famous tragic outsiders, inspiring fear and pity in an enthralling tale of fixation and thwarted...

A collection of rarely retold tales from the "Elder Edda" and the "Younger Edda, " two six-hundred-year-old Norse manuscripts.

Retells twelve tales from Greek mythology, including the stories of King Midas, Echo and Narcissus, the Golden Apples, and Cupid and Psyche.

"Mark Twain's classic The Adventures of Tom Sawyer has been enjoyed by generations of readers across the world since its publication in 1876. With its humorous glimpses into life in nineteenth-century, small-town America, this novel has provided unique social commentary that continues to be discussed in classrooms today. Tom Sawyer, a mischievous boy growing up in the fictional town of St. Petersburg, Missouri, is constantly getting in and out of...

"When Heidi is sent to live in the Swiss Alps with her grumpy grandpa, the village takes pity on her. But Heidi's sweet and inquisitive nature quickly softens Grandpa's scowl and his heart. Heidi loves her new life in the mountains shepherding goats, gathering flowers, and playing with her best friend, Peter . . . until she is forced to move away to the soot and smoke of Frankfurt to be the companion of a young girl. Will Heidi ever return to Grandpa...

A collection of well-known tales from medieval Europe, including "Beowulf, " "The Sword in the Stone, " "The Song of Roland, " and "Gudren and the Island of the Lost Children."