New Releases by Barbara Brooks Wallace

If you think nothing much is going on when Rupert P. Brown III begins sixth grade at Pepperdine Elementary School, you''d be dead wrong. Consider the following: a new teacher with the unlikely name of Miss Blossom; a new principal who has all the girls swooning; a talking bird who thinks he''s a math whiz; a computer that goes berserk and produces a Web site called computowitch.com that not only displays some very ominous poetry, but whose password is the name of a witch Rupert has tangled with in the past. Yes, a witch! Faster than you can say "witchcraft and wizardry," Rupert figures he could be in big trouble. He can really use the help of Miss Switch, a real, honest-to-goodness witch herself, who also, amazingly, was once a former popular teacher of Rupert''s class at Pepperdine. He has reason to believe she''s back, but where? Once again, Rupert records another scary (well, sort of) and funny encounter with Miss Switch. His earlier accounts, equally scary and funny, appear in the books The Trouble with Miss Switch and Miss Switch to the Rescue.

One flight up the narrow, steep stairs, Robin finds himself swallowed up by the darkness, terrified and hating the thought of the misery and fear his knock will bring to the wretched families who huddle behind every door in the building. Thus begins the story set in a grim tenement district of New York City before the turn of the twentieth century. It is there that Robin, once protected by a loving mother and father, both now dead, must contend with a brutal stepfather, Hawker Doak. Yet Robin is faced with only two choices: remain in the ruthless charge of Hawker, collecting the hated rents, and, perhaps worse, being sent to work in a factory or escape into the treacherous slum streets, haunted by, among other horrors, the bullying boys who work and live in the streets, and whom Robin so fears. Either choice provides a sure recipe for a very short life. But in the end it is fear for the life of his baby brother that makes Robin''s agonizing decision for him. The answer to whether or not they survive will only be found when Robin discovers the secret guarded by a place called St. Something. Within this true picture of tenement life, Barbara Brooks Wallace has created another chilling mystery that starts with one kind of terror, only to weave its way into yet another, deepened by intrigue and unspeakable treachery.

This enchanting story of a sheep that grows multicolored wool has "the brevity, simple style, and layered meanings of the classic fables. . . . All told, a natural for reading aloud".--School Library Journal. Full color.

Sent to San Francisco to live with her beloved aunt and uncle, newly-orphaned, eleven-year-old Emily expectantly enters their once-happy mansion only to find unimaginable horrors.

"Bad things always happen in threes!" If a very old person like Grandmama says it, is it not true? This is the very normal, understandable worry eight-year-old Julia has when she has knocked a burning hot iron into her little sister''s hand. The first bad thing! And surely two more must follow, if Grandmama says so. What will they be? When will they happen? This is an enormous worry, indeed! Although this gentle story about a family with three little girls takes place in Russia at the turn of the twentieth century, it has universal appeal, as both family life, and eight-year-old Julia''s fears and concerns are all so true and believable. Perhaps this is because they are true, inspired by the real-life experiences of the author''s mother.

Pudding, the youngest of three Furkins, or elves, living in a barrel in the basement of a human named Noah, proves that a shy Furkin is capable of great deeds like the heroes of the past.

The long-awaited sequel to Wallace''s popular Victorian thriller "Peppermints in the Parlor" finds plucky Emily Luccock facing boarding school, a villainous headmistress, and the temptation of peppermints.

A scientifically-minded fifth grader finds himself in a frightening predicament when he proves that his teacher is a witch.

When Rupert''s friend Amelia is kidnapped by Mordo the warlock, Miss Switch the witch returns in the guise of a substitute teacher to help him rescue her.

In the same dramatic and exciting style of her other Victorian mysteries, Wallace tells the story of 11-year-old Jenny, who arrives from China at her grandfather''s Graymark House. No one recognizes her, so, taking the job of a maid, Jenny must figure out what is going on within the dark hallways. A 2001 Edgar Award nominee.

After the Air Force transfers his dad from California to Virginia and his mom gets sick, Andy, the intellectual misfit in an athletic family, is forced by a series of disasters to really use his intelligence.

Colin Trevelyan, newly orphaned heir to his parents'' fortune, is kidnapped in the night from his ancestral home and taken to the grim Broggin Home for Boys, where he is underfed, overworked, and destined for a short life in a deadly glass factory. This story "immediately hooks readers, who will gobble up this satisfying fare," says "School Library Journal," "Fully realized Victorian melodrama that would make Dickens proud," says "The Bulletin of the Center for Children''s Books," A "Junior Literary Guild" selection and winner of the "Mystery Writers of America" EDGAR Award.

A new friend comes to Amelia''s rescue when she finds herself the victim of a dastardly villain''s fiendish plans.

Discovered by thieves looting his uncle''s house, orphaned Taddy has no choice but to accept their offer of a warm place to sleep and good meals in return for keeping his mouth shut about the robbery. But Taddy soon discovers that he is nothing more than a prisoner, and he must take steps to free himself.

Harvey''s love of anything free continues to lead him into countless escapades and dilemmas.

Looking in her fourth grade class for a girl to be her best friend, Claudia is surprised when her new companion turns out to be a boy two years younger.

All the troubles in sixth-grader Claudia Harper''s life seem to start with her fourth-grade friend Dunford Wylie Booth V.

Harvey Small and his friends solve the problems of their losing soccer team with special assistance from Hawkins, the "gentleman''s gentleman."

Lizabeth risks her popularity with the other sixth graders by becoming friends with the class outcast.