Natalie Minks' big secret is that she cannot ride the special bicycle she and her father rebuilt. Her father owns the bicycle repair shop in the town of Arcane, Missouri. The year is 1913, ten years after another pair of bicycle repair shop owners, Wilbur and Orville Wright, first began their experimental airplane flights. Natalie's mother tells the most amazing stories about people who live and have lived in their town, such as the time old Tom Guyot met the Devil and won a guitar playing contest with him. Natalie wonders if the story could be true. While the town doctor is called away to another town to battle a mysterious illness, Dr. Jake Limberleg is forced to stop in Arcane, due to a broken wagon wheel. He sets up his Nostrum Fair and Technological medicine show right outside the town. Dr. Limberleg claims to be able to diagnose and cure any illness, a claim which seems to be true. Natalie finds Dr. Jake Limberleg and his fellow 'scientists' to be highly suspicious. Could Dr. Limberleg be in league with the Devil?

Similar books: The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brain Selznick

Reviewed by: vverscaj

Date read: 4/14/2011

ISBN-10: 0547241879

ISBN-13: 9780547241876

Check the library catalog

Boo loves to play dinosaur games with her older brother, but most of all she loves real dinosaurs. So one day she sets out to find one for her very own. When Boo brings her new friend home, it seems that she is the only one who can see it. Together, Boo and her dinosaur play games, read stories and go for adventures. However, one day Boo's dinosaur must say 'Good-bye'. This is a gentle story of saying good-bye to our imaginary friends.

Similar books: Dragon Tooth Trouble by Sarah Wilson; Little Horse by Betsy Byars; Little Horse on His Own by Betsy Byars; Fat Bat and Swoop by Leo Landry

Reviewed by: mb

Date read: 7/8/2009

ISBN-10: 0805079580

ISBN-13: 9780805079586

Check the library catalog

A boy named Boy has worked for his master Valerian until he wonders about his past.

Reviewed by: St. Charles Reader

Date read: 11/5/2009

ISBN-10: 0385730551

ISBN-13: 9780385730556

Check the library catalog

This is a collection of ten short, fantasy stories ,full of swords and sorcery, wizards and enchantments, heroes and heroines, and even a bit of humor.

Reviewed by: sc

Date read: 3/27/2009

ISBN-10: 0152012559

ISBN-13: 9780152012557

Check the library catalog

Medieval life is not easy for an indentured servant. Johanna must do whatever her mistress tells her to do. Her mistress is Dame Margery Kempe, known for her public prayers and fits of weeping in sympathy with the Lord's suffering. Dame Margery says she was told by God that she must go on a pilgrimage to Rome and the Holy Land, and Johanna must accompany her. This is Johanna's story of the difficult journey, by boat and by foot, from England to Rome. It is a journey that takes pilgrims through what is now Germany and over the Alps. Her fellow pilgrims treat Johanna as though she is servant to them all. Along the way, Dame Margery deserts Johanna, but Johanna continues to travel and search for Dame Margery, since that is the only way Johanna knows she can return home. This story is based on the actual first-known autobiography of Dame Margery Kempe about her life and pilgrimage. The maidservant was real, too, although she was never named in Dame Margery's story.

Similar books: Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! Voices From a Medieval Village by Laura Amy Schlitz; Ramsay Scallop by Frances Temple

Reviewed by: vverscaj

Date read: 12/13/2011

ISBN-13: 9780375858567

Check the library catalog