SKULDUGGERY PLEASANT by Derek Landy
Meet Skulduggery Pleasant. Sure, he may lose his head now and again (in fact, he won his current skull in a poker match), but he is much more than he appears to be --- which is good, considering that he is, basically, a skeleton. Skulduggery may be long dead, but he is also a mage who dodged the grave so that he could save the world from an ancient evil. But to defeat it, he'll need the help of a new partner: a not-so-innocent 12-year-old girl named Stephanie.

To coincide with the release of SKULDUGGERY PLEASANT, HarperCollins Children's Books has created an amazing website, www.SkulduggeryPleasant.com/us. Here, you can read more about the book, enter the Skulduggery Pleasant Sweepstakes for your chance to win some fabulous prizes, watch the Skulduggery video (and send your friends a personalized Skulduggery Pleasant video), play a cool game, and much more!

-Click here to read a review of SKULDUGGERY PLEASANT.
-Click here to read an excerpt from SKULDUGGERY PLEASANT.
-Click here to read Derek Landy's bio.

RED ROCK MYSTERIES Series by Jerry B. Jenkins and Chris Fabry
Bryce and Ashley Timberline are normal 13-year-old twins, except for one thing --- they discover action-packed mystery wherever they go. Whether it's tracking down a missing groom or uncovering a drug-dealing ring, Bryce and Ashley never lose their taste for adventure. Wanting to get to the bottom of any mystery, these twins find themselves on a nonstop search for the truth. Reviewed by Michele Howe.

WINNIE THE HORSE GENTLER Series by Dandi Daley Mackall
Twelve-year-old Winnie Willis has a way with horses. She can gentle the wildest mare, but other parts of her life don't always come as easily. Along with her dad and sister, Lizzy, Winnie is learning how to live without her mom, who was also a natural horse gentler. As Winnie teaches her horses about unconditional love and blind trust, God shows Winnie that he can be trusted too. Reviewed by Michele Howe.

SEPTIMUS HEAP Series by Angie Sage
Calling all Harry Potter fans! If the bespectacled wizard has you yearning for more fantasy stories, then you're going to love the Septimus Heap series, with its wild adventures and quirky characters, imaginative spells and bizarre contraptions --- not to mention wizards (including an ExtraOrdinary Wizard), witches, evil schemes, hidden royalty, dragons, spell charms, human-munching trees, vicious beasts, ghosts and much more. These books sparkle with laugh-out-loud humor and, thanks to the characters' close-knit family ties, warm the heart as well. Reviewed by Terry Miller Shannon.

-Visit SeptimusHeap.com for more about this series.

BATTLE OF THE DUM DIDDYS: Rotten School #12 by R.L. Stine

Hey! Where Is Everyone?

That's what Bernie Bridges wants to know when he can't find any of his friends. Everyone has disappeared! And when he finally does find them, they're acting really weird. For instance, his shy friend Chipmunk thinks he is a fearless warrior, and football star Jennifer Ecch thinks she is a princess. What is going on?

Soon Bernie realizes that everyone at Rotten School is acting! They are all playing parts in a big battle. A battle between the Dum Diddys and the Knighty Knight Knights. But it's not a real fight. It's a video game called Wungo Warriors --- and everyone has to pay that spoiled rich kid Sherman Oaks to play.

Bernie can't let Sherman get away with this. He has a plan to outsmart Sherman --- by bringing the Wungo Warriors to life!

What Bernie doesn't know, though, is that a real-life battle between the Dum Diddys and the Knighty Knight Knights could shut down Rotten School forever.


-Click here to play the Rotten School game!
 

THE WIZARDOLOGY HANDBOOK: A Course for Apprentices by Dugald A. Steer
When we last heard from the legendary Merlin, he had fashioned a journal --- known to magic enthusiasts as WIZARDOLOGY: The Book of the Secrets of Merlin --- from the trunk of a tree in which he'd been imprisoned, divulging centuries' worth of knowledge and insight on the mystical world, in hopes of finding his next great successor. In this companion volume, scribbled on the remaining pieces of his wooden confines, he once again extends the invitation to wizards-in-training.

-Click here to read our review of THE WIZARDOLOGY HANDBOOK.

PIRATEOLOGY: GUIDEBOOK AND MODEL SET by Dugald A. Steer
Ahoy, mateys! Famed pirate hunter Captain William Lubber just will not rest until he has captured every last seafaring villain to wreak havoc on the open water. In PIRATEOLOGY: GUIDEBOOK AND MODEL SET, the companion to Dugald A. Steer's PIRATEOLOGY, the good captain employs (forces, rather) the help of one very bad pirate to better understand just how these wily buccaneers storm the seven seas.

-Click here to read our review of PIRATEOLOGY: GUIDEBOOK AND MODEL SET.

ATHERTON: THE HOUSE OF POWER by Patrick Carman
Edgar, a gifted climber, is a lonely boy scaling the perilous cliffs that separate the three realms of Atherton: a humble fig grove, a mysterious highland world of untold beauty and sinister secrets, and a vast wasteland where he must confront an unspeakable danger that could destroy the people of Atherton. Edgar's world --- quite literally --- begins to turn inside out. Reviewed by Sally M. Tibbetts.

-Click here to read an excerpt from ATHERTON: THE HOUSE OF POWER.

GERONIMO STILTON #29: DOWN AND OUT DOWN UNDER by Geronimo Stilton
Geronimo's latest adventure lands him in Australia, where he surfs and then swims with dolphins. Although he ends up enjoying these watery feats, he isn't so keen to find himself in the Australian outback, lost and all alone (and without a crumb of cheddar). Will Geronimo survive to return to his own cozy apartment back in New Mouse City? Reviewed by Terry Miller Shannon.

-Click here to read a review of DOWN AND OUT DOWN UNDER.

April's roundup of Cool New Books includes ATHERTON: THE HOUSE OF POWER by Patrick Carman, a riveting adventure set in an extraordinary satellite world that begins to collapse and forever change the lives of its inhabitants; THE MISADVENTURES OF BENJAMIN BARTHOLOMEW PIFF: YOU WISH, the first installment in Jason Lethcoe's series about a young orphan who unknowingly sets into a motion a chain of events that threatens to disrupt the balance between the magical realm of wishes and curses; THE NEDDIAD, a rollicking and totally bizarre adventure from Daniel Pinkwater in which circus beasts, ghostly bellboys, ancient mythology and 1940s Los Angeles collide; JOHNNY AND THE BOMB, which marks the intriguing end of Carnegie Medalist Terry Pratchett's Johnny Maxwell Trilogy; and GHOST SHIP by Mary Higgins Clark, whose first book for children will transport readers to a time and place beyond their imaginings.

April's roundup of New in Paperback titles includes ARK ANGEL, the sixth installment in Anthony Horowitz's series of adventures starring teen spy Alex Rider; INKSPELL, the bestselling, award-winning sequel to Cornelia Funke's INKHEART; JOHNNY AND THE DEAD by Terry Pratchett, book two in The Johnny Maxwell Trilogy --- featuring the brave 12-year-old from ONLY YOU CAN SAVE MANKIND; Justin Somper's VAMPIRATES: DEMONS OF THE OCEAN, in which young twins are shipwrecked and separated from each other; and PRINCESS ACADEMY, a compelling fantasy and 2006 Newbery Honor Book from acclaimed author Shannon Hale.

THE MISADVENTURES OF BENJAMIN BARTHOLOMEW PIFF: YOU WISH by Jason Lethcoe
Orphaned Benjamin Bartholomew Piff closed his eyes, blew out the candle and wished with all his might. Soon after, sirens wailed all over the Wishworks Factory. Ben had followed every rule of birthday wishing to a T and had made the most dangerous wish of all --- a wish for unlimited wishes. Reviewed by Sally M. Tibbetts.

-Click here to read an excerpt from THE MISADVENTURES OF BENJAMIN BARTHOLOMEW PIFF: YOU WISH.

JOHNNY AND THE BOMB: The Johnny Maxwell Trilogy, Book 3 by Terry Pratchett
In this hilarious and exciting, yet insightful, third adventure of The Johnny Maxwell Trilogy, Johnny and his friends travel back through time, landing on the very day the Germans bomb their British town. Is there any way they can change history without causing a disturbance in the future? Reviewed by Terry Miller Shannon.

-Click here to read an excerpt from JOHNNY AND THE BOMB.

THE NEDDIAD: How Neddie Took the Train, Went to Hollywood, and Saved Civilization by Daniel Pinkwater
Daniel Pinkwater is back with his zany, magical and utterly original sense of humor in THE NEDDIAD, in which circus beasts, ghostly bellboys, ancient mythology and 1940s Los Angeles collide in a rollicking --- and totally bizarre --- adventure that could only come from Pinkwater's larger-than-life imagination. Reviewed by Norah Piehl.

THE TALENTED CLEMENTINE by Sara Pennypacker
After her teacher announces that the students will be putting on a talent show, Clementine panics. She doesn't sing or dance or play an instrument. As the night of the big "Talent-palooza" draws closer, the third grader discovers that what she can do exceeds all of her expectations. Reviewed by Jana Siciliano.

THE LOST CITIES: A Drift House Voyage by Dale Peck
Returning for the summer to Drift House, their uncle's seagoing mansion, Susan and Charles Oakenfeld find themselves separated when a tidal wave carries the house out to sea. Charles is stuck up a tree with a parrot and a mysterious book, while Susan and Uncle Farley are adrift in the house. Reviewed by Sarah Sawtelle.

THEODOSIA THROCKMORTON AND THE SERPENTS OF CHAOS by R. L. LaFevers
Theodosia Throckmorton --- Theo, to her family and friends --- has the rare ability to detect and eliminate curses and black magic. Her gift comes in handy at the Museum of Legends and Antiquities, where her father is head curator. Theo uses it to thwart evil and protect the world from chaos, while strengthening the love of her family. Reviewed by Donna Volkenannt.

THE BOOK OF LIES by James Moloney
When Marcel wakes up from a deep and disorienting sleep, he finds himself at an orphanage without any idea of how he arrived or even who he is. Using a magical book called The Book of Lies, he and his friends slowly piece together the truth while battling evil forces trying to overtake the kingdom. Reviewed by Chris Shanley-Dillman.

THE FRISKATIVE DOG by Susan Straight
Sharron was five when her father gave her the Friskative Dog. And just like the best-loved toys from THE VELVETEEN RABBIT, Sharron has made this plush yellow lab real through her love and devotion. Now Sharron is nine and her father is missing, making the Friskative Dog more necessary to her than ever. Reviewed by Patsy Side.

THE TRAITOR KING by Todd Mitchell
An ordinary summer vacation at their eccentric uncle's dilapidated home becomes something magical in Todd Mitchell's debut novel. Siblings Darren and Jackie Mananann set off on a scavenger hunt that leads them not only to revelations about their family history but also into a whole new world. Reviewed by Norah Piehl.

EMILY WINDSNAP AND THE CASTLE IN THE MIST by Liz Kessler
When Emily Windsnap, a preteen half-human, half-mermaid, discovers an ancient diamond ring, will she be able to offset the anger of King Neptune and keep her parents' marriage together at the same time? Reviewed by Jana Siciliano.

MY LAST BEST FRIEND by Julie Bowe
When Ida May's best friend moves away, she swears she'll never have another one ever again; a best friend is just too painful to lose. But when a new girl named Stacey shows up flashing her big, friendly smile, Ida's resolve starts to waiver just a bit. Ida's curiosity compels her to write an anonymous note that sparks off an exciting and secret bond. Will Ida allow a new best friend into her life? Reviewed by Chris Shanley-Dillman.