Most Popular Books by Susan Cooper

Includes an excerpt from Silver on the tree.

This is the fifth and last book in "The Dark Is Rising" sequence. The Dark is rising in its last and greatest bid to control the world. The servants of the light: Will Stanton, the last of the Old Ones, the mysterious Professor Merriman, and the strange albino Welsh boy, Bran, are helped by three ordinary children in this last desperate battle.

Three children on a holiday in Cornwall find an ancient manuscript which sends them on a dangerous quest for a grail that would reveal the true story of King Arthur.

West and Cally, who speak different languages and come from different countries thousands of miles apart, are wrenched by catastrophe out of reality into a perilous world through which they must travel toward the sea.

Includes an excerpt from the next story in the Dark Rising Sequence, ''The grey king.''

In this seasonal treasure, Newbery Medalist Susan Cooper’s beloved poem heralds the winter solstice, illuminated by Caldecott Honoree Carson Ellis’s strikingly resonant illustrations. So the shortest day came, and the year died . . . As the sun set on the shortest day of the year, early people would gather to prepare for the long night ahead. They built fires and lit candles. They played music, bringing their own light to the darkness, while wondering if the sun would ever rise again. Written for a theatrical production that has become a ritual in itself, Susan Cooper’s poem "The Shortest Day" captures the magic behind the returning of the light, the yearning for traditions that connect us with generations that have gone before — and the hope for peace that we carry into the future. Richly illustrated by Carson Ellis with a universality that spans the centuries, this beautiful book evokes the joy and community found in the ongoing mystery of life when we celebrate light, thankfulness, and festivity at a time of rebirth. Welcome Yule!

YA. An eleven-year-old boy searches for six magical signs in order to save the world from the threatening evil of the Dark.

Only a child can find the way to bring Saint George back to the play. The Boy works for the Magician, and he wants more than anything to learn magic. But the Magician always says, "Not yet, Boy. Not till the time is right." So the Boy has to be content with polishing the Magician''s wand, taking care of the rabbits the Magician pulls out of hats, and doing his favorite job: operating the puppets for the play Saint George and the Dragon, which the Magician always performs as part of his act. Until one day the Saint George puppet disappears, and the angry Magician hurls the Boy into the strange Land of Story to find Saint George. His quest is full of adventures with oddly familiar people, from the Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe to the Giant at the top of Jack''s beanstalk. But the Boy''s last adventure is the most amazing of all -- and changes his life forever.

At the end of a winter-long journey into manhood, Little Hawk returns to find his village decimated by a white man''s plague and soon, despite a fresh start, Little Hawk dies violently but his spirit remains trapped, seeing how his world changes.

When the Scottish owner of Castle Keep died, the ancient castle went to his Canadian great-nephew, Robert Volnik. There was no way the Volniks could keep the castle, so it was sold to an Edinburgh lawyer, Mr. Maconochie. Two years later, Emily Volnik and her younger brohter Jessup return to the castle for a visit. To their delight, the Boggart, a mischievous shape-shifting spirit who has lived in the castle for centures, playing tricks on the owners, is still there, making Mr. Mac coubt his won sanity as strange things happen. At Jessup''s urging, Mr. Mac takes them and Tommy Cameron, a local friend, on a comping trip to Loch Ness, Where a new expedition with advanced underwater equipment is planning another search for the Loch Ness Monster. The boggart comes along, and, on thier first night there, he is entranced to rediscover Nessie, a boggart cousin who has long forgotten how to change shape and remains in the prehistoric-monster form he long ago adopted. Beautifully imagined and beautifully written, this is an unforgettable adventure, filled with humor, suspense, and wonderful characters. It is a stunning companion to Susan Cooper''s earlier book, The Boggart.

Only in the world of the theater can Nat Field find an escape from the tragedies that have shadowed his young life. So he is thrilled when he is chosen to join an American drama troupe traveling to London to perform A Midsummer Night''s Dream in a new replica of the famous Globe theater. Shortly after arriving in England, Nat goes to bed ill and awakens transported back in time four hundred years -- to another London, and another production of A Midsummer Night''s Dream. Amid the bustle and excitement of an Elizabethan theatrical production, Nat finds the warm, nurturing father figure missing from his life -- in none other than William Shakespeare himself. Does Nat have to remain trapped in the past forever, or give up the friendship he''s so longed for in his own time?

Six one-act plays by six Newbery Medal-winning authors.

Twelve-year-old Trey and his seven-year-old brother Lou, who does not speak, cross the barrier between two worlds, that of their island in the Bahamas, and a land called Pangaia, and play a mysterious role in restoring the natural environment in both places.

Alternating chapters follow the mysterious connection between a homesick English girl living in present-day America and an eleven-year-old boy serving in the British Royal Navy in 1803, aboard the H.M.S. Victory, commanded by Admiral Horatio Nelson.