Full of fear and excitement, a young woman journeys to a distant castle on the back of a great white bear, only to find that her journey has just begun.

Witch-in-training Tiffany Aching hadn't expected magic to involve chores and ill-tempered nanny goats! But as Tiffany pursues her calling, a sinister monster pursues Tiffany, and neither Mistress Weatherwax (the greatest witch in the world) nor the 6 inch high Wee Free Man (the greatest thieves in the world) can defeat it. When the monster strikes, Tiffany will have to save herself - if she can be saved at all!

When seemingly unrelated and strange events start to happen and a precious Vermeer painting disappears, eleven-year-olds Petra and Calder combine their talents to solve an international art scandal.

When Strega Nona leaves him alone with her magic pasta pot, Big Anthony is determined to show the townspeople how it works.

Deeply involved in his cold and manipulative mother's shady business dealings in Flint, Michigan, fourteen-year-old Luther keeps a sense of humor while running the Happy Neighbor Group Home For Men, all the while dreaming of going to college and becoming a philosopher.

In the summer of 1942, when Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands lives down the road from his family's house in Massachusetts, young William decides to take her some of the blueberries he has picked. Includes historical notes.