Showing results by author "Bruce Coville" in All Categories

In the third volume of the Unicorn Chronicles, Cara Diana Hunter journeys to the Valley of the Centaurs in quest of a mysterious lost story that could hold the key to the survival of the unicorns.

Luster, the world where the unicorns fled to escape the Hunters who have sworn to wipe them out, has dangers of its own - as Cara discovers when she attempts to cross that world in a desperate effort to rescue her grandmother. Each stage of Cara's journey brings new peril, wondrous new characters, and new clues to the mystery of her grandmother's past. And through it all threads the haunting melody of the "Song of the Wanderer."

In the center of Luster towers an enormous tree that is the Heart of the World. Now the tree is wounded, pierced by a tunnel that connects it to Earth. Through that tunnel strides Beloved, the ancient enemy of the unicorns, followed by an army of Hunters eager to destroy every last unicorn. At the center of this great struggle is the human girl, Cara Diana Hunter, who sets out with her friend, the gryphon Medafil, to ask a dragon to aid the unicorns.

On a snowy night, Cara and her grandmother are pursued into St. Christopher's church by an unknown man. Clutching her grandmother's mysterious amulet, and following the old woman's instructions, Cara escapes their pursuer and falls into Luster, the world of the unicorns.

The first day of seventh grade is probably the worst day of Duncan Dougal's life. He knows that things are really bad when he finds an alien's hand in a Dumpster and then gets plugged into an alien brain fryer! Can Duncan find out which of the four new teachers in his school is an alien before his brains get fried to a pulp - or before the aliens try to fry the whole planet? 

The whole situation began when Duncan Dougal was hiding out in a dumpster (it’s a long and smelly story). Stuck in the garbage, he discovered proof that even though the kids drove off the alien named Broxholm the year before, there is still an alien-in-disguise working as one of their seventh-grade teachers! But which teacher is it? That’s the mystery Duncan must solve to protect the school - and himself.

The story begins when Susan Simmons returns to school from spring vacation. Susan has been looking forward to the big class play her teacher has been planning. But to her dismay Ms. Schwartz is gone... replaced by tall, handsome Mr. Smith, a strictly "by the book" teacher with some very strange habits. Investigating her new teacher, Susan makes a shocking discovery: "Mr. Smith" is actually an alien named Broxholm who is planning to abduct five students.

"There is a disease that can twist men’s hearts and make them mad, and the name of that disease is jealousy." So begins this engaging retelling of one of William Shakespeare’s last plays - a fascinating and unique combination of intensity and whimsy. When King Leontes unfairly accuses his wife of infidelity, he sets off a terrible chain of events. But this is not one of Shakespeare’s tragedies. It’s a romance, and one with a healthy dose of fancy and surprise.

A sixth grade student is convinced that an odd substitute teacher is from another planet. Will she be able to prove she's right before he completes his evil plan? Starring Lisa Bonet as Susan Simmons. Adapted for radio. A BBC co-production recorded at KCRW in Santa Monica in October 1992.

As if she didn't have trouble enough after her classmates discovered she had worn her brother's underwear to school (oh, the teasing, the humiliation!), Jennifer Murdley has just stumbled into Mr. Elives' Magic Shop, where she buys a toad named Bufo. Of course the odds of buying a normal toad in that shop are zero, as Jennifer finds out when Bufo starts to talk to her. As it turns out, talking is the least of the toad's strange talents.

When Charlie Eggleston stumbles out of Mr. Elives' Magic Shop clutching the skull of truth, he has no idea the grisly object will force him to tell the truth and nothing but the truth. That would be trouble enough for a kid who has been a chronic liar since second grade. Stir in a pair of talking rats, the fact that the skull itself is a real chatterbox, and the appalling discovery that the truth curse is infecting his entire family, and you can see why Charlie's life is getting more complicated by the minute.

Keeping her promise to her dying father, young Fortune Plunkett is leading his acting troupe west. But fulfilling his dream of establishing a successful theater in San Francisco is an immense challenge for someone who is only 16. Since Plunkett’s Players have joined a wagon train, they have had one adventure after another. Fortune has almost died in a fire, drowned in a flood, and slid over the edge of a cliff with their wagon. Despite the danger, she has managed to find romance with a stranger whose real identity will surprise everyone in the troupe.

A story described by Katherine Paterson as "didactic camp", a very funny but also thought-provoking fantasy about the issue of gayness. This controversial tale has given enormous comfort to many young people struggling with their own sexual identity.

Set in a chilling future that seems more and more possible each year, this unforgettable story asks the question, "When the government becomes too controlling, what does it really mean to be a patriot?"

Sixth-grader Nina Tanleven knows that old Mrs. Watson’s spike-roofed, dark green house is haunted. She feels the ghost as soon as she walks toward the faded porch. But when Nina climbs the stairs to look for an antique wardrobe in the tower room, she has to wonder what else the spooky mansion is hiding. Soon Nina is in the company of a ghostly crying child, a long-dead artist, and a gruesome, hypnotic painting. To break the dark spell surrounding the house, she will have to join forces with these shadowy spirits.

This rib-tickling new novel was inspired by the old Norse poem The Thrymskvitha which tells what happens when Thor's hammer is stolen and he has to dress as a bride to retrieve it. Told by Thialfi the goatboy, and featuring Norse gods, foolish giants, and a pair of cranky goats, this one will have the whole family laughing out loud.

Benjie Perkins' parents make their living by buying old houses and fixing them up to sell, so Benjie is used to odd noises in the night. But this time, it's different. This time what he hears is the ghost of Elvira Thistledown, who is kept from moving on to glory by a truly strange curse. Can Benjie free her restless spirit?

One stormy night, sixth-grader Jacob Doolittle finds a baby in a basket on his front porch. To Jake's surprise, his mother decides to care for the baby, hoping its mother will return. However that surprise is nothing compared to what happens to "Little Dumpling" the first time there's a full moon….

Moongobble has completed his three mighty tasks. But just when Edward begins to fear that their adventures might be over, an annoying little monster called Snelly comes bounding into their lives.

When the messiest kid in Minnesota is saddled with her family's obsessively tidy brownie, the sparks are sure to fly. Warning: you may not want to listen in public, since this story will have you laughing out loud!