Kate Messner

Twelve-year-old Ava finds an old pencil in her family's junk drawer and discovers, during a math test, that it will answer factual questions, so she and her best friend Sophie have a great time--and Ava grows in self-confidence--until the pencil reveals a truth about her family that Ava would rather not know.

"Discover the magical depths of the kelp forest, and all the fascinating creatures living just a paddle's length away-both over and under the waves"-- Provided by publisher. A girl and her parents paddle into the bay. Over the water pelicans fly; under the water all kinds of sealife go through their daily life. Discover the magical depths of the kelp forest and all the fascinating creatures living just over and under the waves. - adapted from jacket...

"Under the canopy of the rainforest, hundreds of animals make their homes--from the slender parrot snake to the colorful poison dart frog. But up in the trees hides a whole other world, where toucans and pale-billed woodpeckers chatter and call, capuchin monkeys swing from the vines, and sleek-furred jaguars rule the night. In this exuberant book, discover the wonder and activity that lie hidden among the roots, above the winding rivers ... and under...

A young sea monster experiences his first day of school and, after a rocky start, he makes friends and has fun.

This time the mysterious box that Ranger the Golden retriever found transports him to a Maryland plantation before the Civil War, where he must help a young house slave named Sarah and her younger brother Jesse find their way to the underground railroad and North to freedom, before Jesse is sold to a plantation further South.

Ranger, a golden retriever, could have been a great search-and-rescue-dog except for the squirrels--but one day he unearths a mysterious box and finds himself transported back to the year 1850 where his faithful service is really needed by a family traveling west along the Oregon Trail.

This time Ranger, the time-traveling Golden retriever, finds himself in San Francisco in the middle of the great 1906 earthquake, and his mission is obviously to get a young Chinese immigrant, Lily Chen, to safety, but as they make their way through the ruined and burning city Ranger finds that he must also accomplish something else--finding Lily, who was sold as a servant by her parents, a new family who will care for her.

Ranger the time-travelling Golden retriever and young Isaac Pope come together in 1776 during Washington's retreat after the Battle of Long Island, and Ranger stays with Isaac while he slowly recovers from Smallpox--but Ranger's real mission comes later when Isaac is sent to spy out the Hessian troops' intentions before the Battle of Trenton.

This time Ranger, the time-travelling Golden retriever finds himself transported to the deck of the USS Arizona on December 7, 1941, where he rescues the young sailor Ben Hansen who is badly burned when the ship explodes--and there is a Japanese-American boy and girl in a rowboat who also need his help to find their father amid the chaos of the attack.

This time the mysterious box transports the golden retriever Ranger back to the shipyards of Belfast in 1912, where a ship is being prepared for her maiden voyage, and when he saves young Patrick Murphy from being crushed by falling boards, Ranger expects to be transported home; when he is not, he knows that somehow his job is not finished--but then, Ranger has never heard of the Titanic, and knows nothing of the fate that awaits Patrick, and all...