New Releases by TONY ABBOTT

Welcome to the Weird Zone, the UFO capital of the world, where crazy is ordinary and Martians will eat your brain! Life in Grover''s Mill is never boring. When best friends Liz, Holly, and Jeff arrive at the local lake one morning, they know it is only a matter of time before something weird happens. And unfortunately, they''re right. When disgusting alien zombies start rising from the center of the lake, the trio must escape—or their brains will become an afternoon snack! Now the three kids must put their heads together to stop the hungry monsters and save their town from destruction. But when Holly is marked as the next victim, can Liz and Jeff save her from a grisly fate?

Humongous Studios makes the weirdest horror movies ever, and in its next film, the monster is a real-life threat! Sean and Holly''s dad owns the wackiest business in Grover''s Mill: a horror filmmaking studio. For his newest movie, their dad has decided to feature a gigantic robot octopus as the star of the show. When Holly and Sean visit the studio with their friends, they are excited to get a first-hand look at how movies are made. Unfortunately, there is one problem: Gigantopus is completely out of control, and its alien master plans to use the star to take Grover''s Mill back to her home planet! In a fight fit for the big screen, Holly and Sean must battle Gigantopus and save their town from being sucked into space. This may turn out to be their dad''s oddest movie yet!

It''s time for the W. Reid Elementary science fair—home to the weirdest inventions ever, and a lot of trouble! Mike is sure he''s going to win the school science fair with his potato-powered radio, "Potadio." But when his contraption is electrocuted to life, Mike suddenly has more to worry about than winning first prize. Potadio has a bad attitude, and he now controls the minds of the teachers and students. With his army of minions, Potadio plans to take over the world! Mike must figure out how to beat this spud before becoming a brain-dead zombie himself. Luckily, he has access to a science fair full of crazy inventions that just might help him defeat his creation!

Huge Tiki heads with a grudge against Grover''s Mill are turning the town back into a jungle—it''s the Weird Zone''s weirdest trouble yet! All Mike and his friends want to do is play a game of baseball on their first day of summer vacation. But when Liz gets up to bat, home plate begins to shake. Suddenly, five odd-looking men carrying long sticks appear in the middle of the field. When they bang their sticks on the ground, Grover''s Mill turns into a jungle, and giant Tiki heads start popping out of the earth. Even worse, these evil Tiki heads are out for revenge against Grover''s Mill! An ancient prophecy predicts that the Tiki heads will destroy Grover''s Mill. The kids must find a way to prevent it from coming true—and then turn back time. But the Tiki heads seem too powerful to beat. Can the kids save the day before they get trapped in the past?

Liz and her friends battle a prehistoric dinosaur with a craving for junk food Everyone knows W. Reid Elementary has the grossest lunches—and the strangest problems. When piles of junk food start disappearing from the school''s cellar, Liz Duffey and her friends brush it off as another unexplainable mystery of life in the Weird Zone—their nickname for the zany town of Grover''s Mill. But when a scaly beast bursts out from underneath the cafeteria, they realize that what they thought was a mystery is a real monster with major hunger pangs! The kids must stop the creature from eating their entire school—and everyone in it. Is there anything this animal won''t eat? Liz has an idea, but she may not have time to put her plan into action before becoming a meal herself!

The Danger Guys find themselves in a real-life scary movie, and the ending is up to them It’s Halloween, and best friends Noodle and Zeek have decided to make a horror movie in honor of the holiday. To show the boys how real films are made, Zeek’s family takes them to Paragon, the oldest studio in Hollywood. During the tour, a huge lightning storm separates Noodle and Zeek from the rest of the group. The two boys suddenly find themselves in a world of famous sets and exciting props. It’s the perfect location for their own movie! But it turns out that Paragon Studio has more than a little danger—and not just the staged kind. The lightning damaged the studio’s central control center, and all the electronic props are now going crazy. Noodle and Zeek must battle an evil robot, a sneezing dinosaur, and a deadly mummy in order to find and warn Zeek’s family. Little do they know that Zeek’s family is also under attack! With some luck and a lot of movie drama, the Danger Guys show Paragon Studio what real heroes look like. Danger Guys: Hollywood Halloween on Ice is the 3rd book in Danger Guys, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.

The Danger Guys head to the jungle on a quest to find an ancient treasure It’s Noodle and Zeek’s greatest adventure yet! The boys are excited to learn that they are going on a quest for the mysterious Golden Lizard with the Emersons, the famous husband-and-wife explorer team. What could be more daring and fun than a treasure hunt in the jungle? But as the group soon discovers, they aren’t the only ones after the Golden Lizard. When the Emersons are kidnapped, Noodle and Zeek know it is up to them to save the day. The boys must rescue the Emersons, fight off ninja linebackers, and find the Golden Lizard before the bad guys can. But the truth about the legendary Golden Lizard is something that Noodle and Zeek could never have imagined. Danger Guys and the Golden Lizard is the 6th book in Danger Guys, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.

When an old nemesis reappears, Noodle and Zeek must save their town from a band of frozen cavemen Best friends Noodle and Zeek are on a skiing trip for Zeek’s birthday when they uncover more than just snow hidden away in the mountain: The boys have stumbled across cave dwellers who are thousands of years old! But when Noodle and Zeek come across their old nemesis, the evil Mr. Vazny, the boys are shocked to learn that he plans to resurrect the cavemen and make them destroy Mayville. Once again, the boys must work together to take down Mr. Vazny and stop his wicked scheme. But what happens if one of the cavemen escapes? It’s Noodle and Zeek to the rescue in this thrilling installment in the Danger Guys series. Danger Guys on Ice is the 5th book in Danger Guys, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.

Noodle and Zeek team up again to beat an evil scientist and save their school When best friends Noodle and Zeek get on a rocket ride at the carnival, they have no idea that they are about to be blasted into danger. The rocket turns out to be real, and when Noodle and Zeek crash-land, they are sucked into a secret laboratory under Mayville School. There they find their old science teacher Mr. Vazny—who’s about to blow it up! The boys must snap into action to stop Vazny from going through with his evil plan. But to do so, they must defeat a giant robot, learn to fly the rocket, and defuse the bomb before it’s too late. Can Noodle and Zeek save their school in time? The boys have their work cut out for them in this exciting Danger Guys adventure. Danger Guys Blast Off is the 2nd book in Danger Guys, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.

Fans of Dav Pilkey''s The Adventure of Ook and Gluke and Patricia Reilly Giff''s ZigZag Kids series will flock to this chapter book series full of slapstick humor and silly situations by the wildly popular Tony Abbott, author of The Secrets of Droon Series. When the Goofballs--Jeff, Brian, Mara, and Kelly--hear about a house that might be haunted, where someone disappeared years before, it sounds like the perfect case for them to solve on Halloween. But they''ll need their best sleuthing skills and, of course, the help of the Goofdog, because this may be their silliest--and scariest--mystery yet.

Fans of Dav Pilkey''s The Adventures of Ook and Glook and Patricia Reilly Giff''s ZigZag Kids will flock to this chapter-book mystery series full of slapstick humor and silly situations by the wildly popular Tony Abbott, author of the Secrets of Droon series. The Badger Point School is holding a talent show, and the Goofballs - sleuths Jeff Bunter, Mara Lubin, Kelly Smitts, and Brian Rooney - are set to be its stars. That is if the show even happens, with problems and mysteries at every turn. A giant pink tuba goes missing, the costumes are all the wrong size, and the talent show''s director disappears before the cast''s eyes. Good thing that the Goofballs are expert detectives. Funny, punny, and full of fun, this latest case in the Goofballs series will be eagerly devoured by old and new fans, alike.

Fans of Dav Pilkey''s The Adventures of Ook and Glook and Patricia Reilly Giff''s ZigZag Kids will flock to this chapter-book mystery series full of slapstick humor and silly situations by the wildly popular Tony Abbott, author of the Secrets of Droon series. Jeff, Brian, Mara, and Kelly are self-proclaimed goofballs. Since first grade these friends have been solving mystery among their schoolmates etc and now their reputation is expanding. Rich kid Randall Crandall''s horse, Thunder, goes missing and he calls upon the Goofballs to find him. Deciphering the clues that range from a flower delivery truck, a thunderstorm and a horse who''s afraid of thunder, leads the Goofballs to recover missing Thunder, the flower-loving horse. In the meantime, they follow a trail of chomped-up flowers, disguise themselves as bushes in a florist shop and spend some time in a house that''s bigger than the White House.

Bobby and his family are visiting Civil War battlefields on the eve of the war''s centenary, while inside their car, quiet battles rage. When an accident cuts their trip short, they return home on a bus and witness an incident that threatens to deny a black family seats. What they don''t know is the reason for the family''s desperation to be on that bus: a few towns away, their child is missing. Lunch-Box Dream presents Jim Crow, racism, and segregation from multiple perspectives. In this story of witnessing without understanding, a naïvely prejudiced boy, in brief flashes of insight, starts to identify and question his assumptions about race.

What''s next for the conservative side of politics? Where are new battlelines to be drawn? Current opposition Leader Tony Abbott offers a frank analysis of the way forward for the Liberal Party from 2009 when he was Federal Shadow Minister for Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs. Here he draws lessons from the dying days of the Howard Government, and gives his views on his contemporaries, including Kevin Rudd, Peter Costello, Julia Gillard and Malcolm Turnbull. In Battlelines, Abbott looks at the values and instincts that drive the Liberal Party and proposes policy that the party should adopt. This is the often humorous story of his own political development. He describes the truth about politicians'' lives; his ''days from hell''; insider moments from the halls of power; and how a would-be priest believed he had fathered an unknown son. Battlelines outlines a state of play for the Liberal Party, cementing Tony Abbott''s reputation as one of the Liberal Party''s most interesting thinkers and fearless advocates.

Derek and his older brother, Ronny, are on therun from the dead. Souls are translating intoliving bodies on the brink of death. Even Ronny''sbody is inhabited by a different soul. Lucky forRonny, this soul is one of the good ones.Not all of them are.The evil souls are coming back, and they''reready for a fight.

Derek can''t claim to be a normal fourteen-year-old anymore. Not after what he discovered at the Red House. His role in the war against the dead is more pivotal --- and more terrifying --- than he could have imagined. And so it all comes down to this. The Rift between the worlds of the living and the dead has to be closed . . . forever. It seems like an impossible task. And it rests squarely on the shoulders of a slightly overweight, not especially brave kid named Derek Stone. If Derek is ever going to become a hero, now''s the time. "...kids looking for some down-home zombie action with a young hero to root for will likely find this a tantalizing appetizer for horrific bounty to come." --The Bulletin of the Center for Children''s Books

The Time Surfers are in a race against Zoa, a slimy dronth, to be the first to find the photon crystal, which allows those that possess it the power to change the present, future, and even the past.

This poignant novel about a boy''s friendship with a burn victim is perfect for fans of R. J. Palacio''s Wonder From the moment Jessica arrives, life is never quite the same for Tom and his seventh-grade classmates. They learn that Jessica has been in a fire and was badly burned, and will be attending St. Catherine''s will receiving medical treatments. Despite her appearance and the fear she evokes in him and most of the class, Tom slowly develops a tentative friendship with Jessica that changes his life. This quietly powerful novel demonstrates that a small gesture can make a huge impact in someone''s life.

When a wicked ancient sorcerer named Shadowface vows to wake the infamous Warriors of the Skorth to aid Ko''s army of beasts, Eric, Julie, Neal, and Keeah must pursue him through the treacherous Dark Lands to stop him.

A small storage room underneath the staircase leading down to Eric''s basement is a magical doorway that takes Eric, Neal, and Julie to the magical land of Droon and to adventure.

This is make or break time for the Australian Constitution. Should we retain an allegiance to the Queen or should we reject two hundred years of constitutional heritage? These are the big questions canvassed by this book - which is essential reading for anyone who cares about Australia''s future. Tony Abbott has been a leading opponent of an Australian republic. In this book, he acknowledges the emotional power of the republican case and offers republicans an historic compromise that establishes an Australian head of state but preserves the existing system of government. His proposal, to turn the Governor-General and Commander-in-Chief into an Australian President and head of state too, is the first significant attempt by a defender of the existing system to participate in the process of constitutional reform.

Ned Banks is miserable. He''s the new kid in school--and he sticks out like a sore thumb. His life is going downhill fast. Until something happens. Ned''s not sure how he did it--but he beamed two kids from the year 2099 into his bedroom closet! Roop and Suzi are Time Surfers--cool kids who travel through time. And they want Ned to join them! Of course Ned says yes. He''s ready for excitement! Action! But he might get more than he bargained for.

Winning a planet-shaking battle against their arch-enemy Vorg, Time Surfers Ned, Roop, and Suzi fear for their lives when an enraged Vorg plots his revenge--to eliminate the Time Surfers forever. Original.