Humorous Nature

Luthor, a former attack dog, is supposed to be on his best behavior now that he's in the care of Savannah, a girl who's easily a dog's best friend. But every time a certain truck passes by Savannah's house, Luthor goes into attack mode - and chaos follows. Meanwhile, Griffin Bing is locked in the fight of his life with his archenemy Darren Vader. Both are trying to win an invention contest - and will stop at nothing to be victorious. A runaway dog. Some majorly strange inventions. A mysterious neighbor.

What would you do with $30,000,000? That's the question everyone in Cedarville and every town near it is asking, because right now there's an unclaimed lottery ticket worth that much - and the money will go to whomever finds it first. Griffin Bing, The Man With The Plan, wants to be the lucky winner. But he's got competition. Darren Vader, Griffin's number-one enemy, will stop at nothing to find it. And a new kid in town, Victor Phoenix, is also in on the big hunt.

The Man With The Plan and his friends return in this fifth romp in the Swindle series! Hideout: a place to escape detection, especially when being chased by someone determined to have revenge... When Griffin Bing and his friends first met Luthor, he was a vicious attack dog working for the slimy S. Wendell Palomino - as known as Swindle. The kids rescued Luthor, and never thought they'd see Swindle again. But now Swindle's returned. And he wants his dog back.

Cameron Boxer, king of the slackers, has found something worth his time. By playing video games online in front of an audience, he can find both fame and fortune - especially with Elvis (a beaver who seems to love video games as much as Cam) at his side. The only problem? Things keep getting in Cam's way. Like school. And the club he accidentally started. And the misguided people in his life who don't think beavers should be playing video games.

Griffin Bing and his friends are not happy. Instead of going away for winter break, they've been signed up to volunteer at a local Christmas extravaganza...as elves. It's not easy being an elf. Not when Santa is bad news and Rudolph is being played by a Doberman who makes up his own rules wherever he goes. But being an elf is nothing compared to being blamed when a prized Christmas possession - worth over $10 million - is stolen right from under your nose.

Showoff, the fourth book in best-selling author Gordon Korman's Swindle series, finds Griffin hatching a new plan after his friend’s pet Doberman, Luthor, is blamed for ruining a dog show and lands in the pound. Now, to spring Luthor, Griffin and his friends must pull off a scheme involving a large international dog show, lots of red dye, and the help of a reclusive former dog trainer.

This heirloom book about a renaissance pig is lovingly passed from generation to generation, and is an authentic American classic. Freddy the Pig knows the rats have stolen the missing toy train. Now he has to find where it is hidden and convict the rats of the crime. Who will win Freddy's first case, the sly, scheming rats or the honorable Freddy?

The barnyard animals are tired of being cold in the winter. Since Farmer Bean doesn't have enough money to patch the holes in the barn or heat the chicken coop, they are migrating to Florida for the winter. Travelling to the beat of Freddy the pig's funny songs, they meet with one adventure after another. They find gold treasure to take home to Farmer Bean in the spring. Florida is fun, except for the time when alligators try to eat them for lunch.

Gordon Korman knows the types of books kids like to read, considering he published his first novel at the ripe old age of 12. Since then, his unique brand of offbeat humor has helped him become a New York Times best-selling author. In this third tale featuring Griffin “The Man with the Plan” Bing, a tough new principal gets on Griffin’s last nerve, and the feeling is mutual. When a valuable ring is stolen from a school display case, Griffin realizes he’s been framed for the crime.

Freddy is certainly an extraordinary pig by all accounts. Although he spends his time oversleeping and overeating just like a normal pig, he also finds the time to daydream, enterprise, and even write poetry! Always full of new ideas, he proposes that the animals of Bean Farm start a tour company.

A.J. thinks that nothing can possibly be as boring as a sleepover in the natural history museum. However, anything can happen when Ms. Krup is in charge. She says the dinosaur skeletons come to life in the middle of the night. Is she right?

Returning from a riding trip through New England, Freddy the pig, Jinx the cat, and Samuel Jackson the mole are surprised at the cool reception they get from the people of Centerboro. It seems that some animals have been raiding gardens, stealing bicycles, and breaking into houses. And they'e led by a pig that matches Freddy's description!

Honey Santana, impassioned, willful, possibly bipolar, self-proclaimed "queen of lost causes", has a scheme to help rid the world of irresponsibility, indifference, and dinnertime sales calls. She's taking rude, gullible Relentless, Inc., telemarketer Boyd Shreave and his less-than-enthusiastic mistress, Eugenie, into the wilderness of Florida's Ten Thousand Islands for a gentle lesson in civility. What she doesn't know is that she's being followed by her Honey-obsessed former employer.

The cat that Olive rescues from a flood has a secret: He's not really a cat at all, but an alien who crashed to Earth on a beam of light. The cat, whom Olive names Leonard, was prepared to visit the planet as a human - but something went wrong. Now Leonard may never know what it's like to hold an umbrella, go bowling, or host a dinner party. (And his human jokes still need some work: Knock, knock. Who's there? Just Leonard. It is me.)

Rex Dexter is itching to have a dog. His parents surprise him with a box. A box with holes. A box with holes and adorable scratchy noises coming from inside. Could it be? Yes! It has to be! A...a...chicken? One hour and 14 minutes later, the chicken is dead (by a steamroller), Rex is cursed (by the Grim Reaper), and wild animals are haunting Rex's room (hounding him for answers). Even his best friend, Darvish, is not going to believe this, and that kid believes everything.

Mr. Boorschmidt's Stupendous and Unexcelled Circus is back in town. This time one of its attractions is really out of this world. In the big ring are six Martians and their flying saucer! But Boorschmidt doesn't stop there. He wants something even more spectacular to offer the audience, so he asks Freddy for help. Freddy knows what to do. He organizes an amazing baseball team.

Meet the Chicken Squad: four fuzzy little chicks who should fill their days pecking chicken feed and chasing bugs, but instead spend most of their time looking for trouble, and finding it.

Warnings had been printed in the Bean Home News and the Centerboro Guardian, but nobody paid much attention to them. An animal revolt? "Preposterous!" said the Beans and all the other humans.

But it's true - and the outrages begin: cars are stopped and overturned all over the county, farmers starting out to do their morning chores are driven back into the house, and the cows refuse to come in at milking time.

Bill Bryson has been an enormously popular author both for his travel books and for his books on the English language. Now, this beloved comic genius turns his attention to science. Although he doesn't know anything about the subject (at first), he is eager to learn, and takes information that he gets from the world's leading experts and explains it to us in a way that makes it exciting and relevant.

At first, it seems that Peter Hatcher's summer vacation is going to be a scene from his worst nightmare. Peter's parents have decided to spend three weeks in Maine sharing a house with Cootie Queen Sheila Tubman and the rest of her family. Worse, Peter's younger brother, Fudge, the five-year-old human dynamo, has decided to marry Sheila! But things begin to look up once Peter discovers that Maine is full of surprises, and his best friend Jimmy Fargo joins him at the shore to share in the fun!