Showing results by author "Kelly Barnhill" in All Categories

Alex Green is four years old when she first sees a dragon. In her next-door neighbour's garden, in the spot where the old lady usually sits, is a huge dragon, an astonished expression on its face before it opens its wings and soars away across the rooftops. And Alex doesn't see the little old lady after that. No one mentions her. It's as if she's never existed. Then Alex's mother disappears, and reappears a week later, one quiet Tuesday, with no explanation whatsoever as to where she has been. But she is a ghostly shadow of her former self, with scars across her body.

Every year, the people of the Protectorate leave a baby as an offering to the witch who lives in the forest. But Xan is in fact a good witch who rescues the children. One year, Xan accidentally feeds a baby moonlight instead of starlight, filling the ordinary child with extraordinary magic.

When Ned and his identical twin brother tumble from their raft into a raging river, only Ned survives. Villagers are convinced the wrong boy lived. But when a bandit king comes to steal the magic Ned's mother - a witch - is meant to protect, it's Ned who safeguards the magic and summons the strength to protect his family and community. Meanwhile, across the enchanted forest that borders Ned's village lives Aine, the resourceful and pragmatic daughter of the bandit king, who is haunted by her mother's last words to her: 'The wrong boy will save your life, and you will save his.'

Stone-in-the-Glen, once a lovely town, has fallen on hard times. Fires, floods and other calamities have caused the townsfolk to lose their library, their school, their park and all sense of what it means to be generous and kind. The people put their faith in the Mayor, a dazzling fellow who promises he alone can help. After all, he is a famous dragon slayer. Only the clever orphans of the Orphan House and the kindly Ogress at the edge of town can see how dire the town's problems are. When one of the orphans goes missing from the Orphan House, all eyes turn to the Ogress.

A fifteen-year-old teenager is the backbone of her small Midwestern family, budgeting the household finances and raising her younger brother while her mom, a talented artist, weaves beautiful tapestries. For six years, it’s been just the three of them—her mom has brought home guests at times, but none have ever stayed. Yet when her mom brings home a six-foot tall crane with a menacing air, the girl is powerless to prevent her mom letting the intruder into her heart, and her children’s lives.

Mondlicht ist pure Magie. Das weiß jeder. Es war einmal eine Stadt am Rande des dunklen Waldes. Dort lebte die Hexe Xan. Keiner hatte sie je gesehen, doch sie war böse. Und gefährlich. Das wusste jeder. Jedes Jahr holte sie sich das jüngste Kind und verschonte dafür die Stadt. Na gut, sie holte es sich nicht, die Bewohner der Stadt setzten es im Wald aus, und Xan nahm es mit. So war es immer gewesen.

Contributors to the latest book in the Guys Read series present a bone-chilling collection of original ghost stories perfect for sharing around the campfire, listening to under the covers with a flashlight, and scaring your friends' pants off.