The Golden Compass forms the first part of a story in three volumes. The first volume is set in a world like ours, but different in many ways. The second volume is set partly in the world we know. The third moves between many worlds. In The Golden Compass, readers meet for the first time 11-year-old Lyra Belacqua, a precocious orphan growing up within the precincts of Jordan College in Oxford, England. It quickly becomes clear that Lyra's Oxford is...

Now a full-fledged Ranger responsible for a sleepy fief, Will finds a new adventure seeking the traitors who poisoned the king, investigating rumors of sorcery, and trying to rescue his friend Alyss, who is taken hostage.

After his last run-in with the fairies, Artemis Fowl's mind was wiped of memories of the world belowground and any goodness grudgingly learned is now gone, with the young genius reverting to his criminal lifestyle. Artemis has no memory of the fairy people and has returned to his unlawful ways. In Berlin, he is preparing to steal a famous Impressionist painting from a German bank. He doesn't know that his old rival, Opal, has escaped from prison...

Born and raised in the appalling deprivation of a Victorian-era London workhouse, the orphan Oliver escapes the drudgery of apprenticeship only to fall into the hands of the notorious Fagin and his gang of child thieves. But Oliver is an innocent at heart and the attempts by Fagin and the impudently witty Artful Dodger to teach the boy the trick of the pick-pocket's trade lead only to his almost immediate capture. Oliver's rescue by the kindly Mr....

Eighteen-year-old Finn, an outsider in his quiet Midwestern town, is the only witness to the abduction of town favorite Roza, but his inability to distinguish between faces makes it difficult for him to help with the investigation, and subjects him to even more ridicule and bullying.

Thirteen-year-old Dan Cahill and his older sister Amy race against time to find an ancient map that has not been seen for half a century and use it to redeem their family members who have been kidnapped by a sinister organization called the Vespers.

As Bluejay--Mo's fictitious double--tries to keep the Book of Immortality from unraveling, Adderhead kidnaps all the children in the kingdom, asking for Bluejay's surrender or the children will be doomed to slavery in the silver mines.

"13-year-old Alice TodHunter Moon goes in search of her friend Ferdie, who has been kidnapped by the malevolent Lady, encountering Septimus Heap, ExtraOrdinary Wizard, and awakening her own Magykal potential"--

It started with a kidnapping. A shadowy organization known only as the Vespers snatched seven members of the Cahill family and demanded a series of bizarre ransoms from around the world. Thirteen-year-old Dan Cahill and his older sister Amy began a global treasure hunt, determined to bring back whatever Vesper One needed, so long as it kept the hostages safe. But when they deliver the last ransom, Amy and Dan discover Vesper One's terrifying endgame....

"Based on a set of unfinished Mark Twain notes for a children's story, this is the tale of Johnny, a young boy with a magical ability to speak to animals who sets off to rescue a stolen prince"--