The eldest daughter is often doomed in fairy tales. But Bella--Isabella Beauchamps, daughter of a wealthy merchant--vows to escape the usual pitfalls.

Anxious to avoid the traditional path, Bella dons a red cloak and ventures into the forbidden forest to consult with "Granny," the local wisewoman. But on the way home she's attacked by a wolf--who turns out to be a cursed nobleman. Secluded in his castle, Bella is torn between...

Includes three humorous stories in verse; Yertle the Turtle, Gertrude McFuzz, and The Big Brag

The House of Berethnet has ruled Inys for a thousand years. Still unwed, Queen Sabran the Ninth must conceive a daughter to protect her realm from destruction--but assassins are getting closer to her door. Ead Duryan is an outsider at court. Though she has risen to the position of lady-in-waiting, she is loyal to a hidden society of mages. Ead keeps a watchful eye on Sabran, secretly protecting her with forbidden magic. Across the dark sea, Tané...

The King, tired of rain, snow, sun, and fog, commands his magicians to make something else come down from the sky, but when oobleck falls, in sticky greenish droplets, Bartholomew Cubbins shames the King and saves the kingdom

"A spirited, gracefully polemical introduction and the final story, "She Unnames Them, '' frame this collection of fiction and poetry, placing it in a natural but unsentimental light. These are not really "talking animal'' stories: they are about human apprehension of natural creation (including rocks and plants) and the relations this apprehension governs; or, how communication makes communities. Seven of ten stories and seven of 19 poems having...

As Fred the Mermaid tries to fit in with her own kind, she finds herself hooked on both Artur, the High Prince of the undersea realm, and Thomas, a hunky marine biologist. She's also caught between two factions of merfolk: those happy with swimming under the radar-and those who want to bring their existence to the surface. Contains mature themes.

Rhyming verses catalogue a profusion of amusing, unusual, imaginative, and incredible things that can be thought about.

The lost land of the Aoi has returned to the earth from which it was cast forth millennia ago. And though the battle for survival must be the primary focus, there are always those eager to seize power. Though King Henry demanded that Prince Sanglant accept his crown, many may refuse to honor the dying king's wish. Liath, Sanglant's wife, has been excommunicated and unless he agrees to put her aside, his own aunt, Mother Scholastica, is threatening...

"In the stirring conclusion to THE STAFF AND THE SWORD fantasy epic, after the king's death Illustra faces threats both inside and outside its borders. Will the next king be revealed in time to save their world?"--

Kitty Sugarman is a lot tougher than her name implies. Still, she's content with how her small- town life keeps her removed from all the changes happening in the world--like the Unveiling of the Others. That is, until a near-tragedy strikes and Kitty discovers she has abilities...thanks to a father she never knew was alive. He also happens to be a were-lion and leader of one of the most powerful Prides out West. When Kitty heads to Vegas to find out...