How Mr Monster Biggens Changed My Life

My classmates wouldn’t play with me because I was different. I wanted to be just like them. However, when Mr. Monster Biggens visited our school, I wanted to be me...more than anything.

The book follows a young boy as he humorously goes through the various steps that are needed to sneak a monster into school.

Farmer Francis is unhappy with one of his turkeys. For some reason, it is as flat as a pancake. How can he possibly have it ready in time for Thanksgiving? Farmer Francis desperately searches for clever ways to plump up his unique little turkey. In the process, Farmer Francis unexpectedly finds himself learning the true meaning behind Thanksgiving, while making a new friend.

The Ogre-Beast showed the town of Red Apple Creek that being different was cool. He taught me to be proud of who I was. He changed my life. But the Mayor decided to lock him up in a cage. Who does that to a beautiful creature? Our fourth grade class went to visit him along Glarington River, and all I wanted to do was cry. When I happened to see a legendary Whispering Tree floating by, I decided to jump off the ferry boat and escape. I just didn't want to be on that stupid field trip anymore. However, when I climbed onto the trunk of the giant tree, I had no clue I was about to go on the strangest, most heroic journey of my life.

Kaylee Cooper is certain that Alex will become friends with a ghost this year. Alex thinks that he is far too old to be listening to a little grade one and encourages Kaylee to stop jeopardizing his important sixth-grade social life. Kaylee doesn’t listen and finds awkward ways to spend as much time with Alex as possible, even if it means following him into the boy’s washroom. Fed up, Alex develops a strategic plan to ultimately get rid of Kaylee Cooper for good. However, he soon learns about the mysterious legend of Screaming Ridge Road that pulls an unlikely group of friends together, including the girl of his dreams, and the school’s meanest bully. When they discover the legend is real, and that Kaylee Cooper is at the core of the mystery, Alex stares death in the face and helps save her from an eternal life of misery and confusion.

As a young boy and girl struggle with the idea of having to go to sleep, they get interrupted by the moon who questions their desire to stay up. The moon tells them that by going to sleep they will get to do lots of fun things, such as saving the world from a gang of nose-picking space zombies, or drinking from a cream-soda flavored river and riding in air bubbles from a pink underwater elephant. However, before the moon can finish, he notices their dreaming adventures have already begun.

What induced the British to adopt foreign coffee-drinking customs in the seventeenth century? Why did an entirely new social institution, the coffeehouse, emerge as the primary place for consumption of this new drink? In this lively book, Brian Cowan locates the answers to these questions in the particularly British combination of curiosity, commerce, and civil society. Cowan provides the definitive account of the origins of coffee drinking and coffeehouse society, and in so doing he reshapes our understanding of the commercial and consumer revolutions in Britain during the long Stuart century. Britain’s virtuosi, gentlemanly patrons of the arts and sciences, were profoundly interested in things strange and exotic. Cowan explores how such virtuosi spurred initial consumer interest in coffee and invented the social template for the first coffeehouses. As the coffeehouse evolved, rising to take a central role in British commercial and civil society, the virtuosi were also transformed by their own invention.

Robert Blair was about to knock off from a slow day at his law firm when the phone rang. It was Marion Sharpe on the line, a local woman of quiet disposition who lived with her mother at their decrepit country house, The Franchise. It appeared that she was in some serious trouble: Miss Sharpe and her mother were accused of brutally kidnapping a demure young woman named Betty Kane. Miss Kane's claims seemed highly unlikely, even to Inspector Alan Grant of Scotland Yard, until she described her prison -- the attic room with its cracked window, the kitchen, and the old trunks -- which sounded remarkably like The Franchise. Yet Marion Sharpe claimed the Kane girl had never been there, let alone been held captive for an entire month! Not believing Betty Kane's story, Solicitor Blair takes up the case and, in a dazzling feat of amateur detective work, solves the unbelievable mystery that stumped even Inspector Grant.

"Guy Rivers" by William Gilmore Simms is a captivating example of Southern Gothic literature that delves into the intricacies of morality and justice in the antebellum South. Set against the backdrop of the American frontier, Simms weaves a tale of intrigue, betrayal, and redemption. The novel follows the eponymous protagonist, Guy Rivers, a complex character who grapples with his own moral compass as he navigates through a world rife with corruption and violence. As Rivers confronts the consequences of his actions and struggles with his inner demons, Simms offers readers a poignant exploration of the human condition. Through vivid descriptions and rich character development, Simms creates a hauntingly atmospheric narrative that transports readers to a bygone era of Southern society. Themes of guilt, redemption, and the search for meaning permeate the story, leaving a lasting impression on readers long after they have turned the final page. "Guy Rivers" stands as a testament to Simms' literary talent and remains a timeless classic in the canon of Southern literature, showcasing the author's keen insight into the complexities of human nature.

Carol Milford dreams of living in a small, rural town. But Gopher Prairie, Minnesota, isn't the paradise she'd imagined. First published in 1920, this unabridged edition of the Sinclair Lewis novel is an American classic, considered by many to be his most noteworthy and lasting work. As a work of social satire, this complex and compelling look at small-town America in the early 20th century has earned its place among the classics.