Emma nervously entered the classroom and found an empty desk while she felt the burning power of a hundred sets of eyes staring. She expected the teasing and giggles, but she didn’t expect silence.

Mrs. McDoogle had a bugle, But she couldn’t play a note.

One stormy night, as I tried to sleep, The scary monsters began to creep.

For the first time, Becca truly realised that grown-ups couldn’t see magic. Magic that nevertheless was very real, very powerful, and very frightening.

Eventually, some of the bravest voles offered to join Mr. Vole, and they formed a secret club which they called the 'Resistance.'

Beth wore her favorite pink smock. It had bottomless pockets perfect for carrying important things like handfuls of rubber bands, marbles the color of oceans, a red shoelace, a spoon, and two troops of plastic soldiers- one blue and one green.

Oowama loved mud. As large as a school bus, though many times longer, the giant worm swam and played along the muddy lakes and streams.

“This is the one with the four suspects – all students of the watercolour artist who was found dead on the floor after teaching an art class.

Once upon a time, in a small village snuggled into the side of a wooded valley, lived a candlemaker.

People told tales of long, long ago, when they used to enjoy Halloween, dressing up, knocking on doors showing off their fine costumes, playing something called Trick or Treat and, it used to be fun, but not anymore.

Peter was tired. After 10 years of holding together the paperwork for “Johnson, A.P. – SSN 555-66-33xx,” his tensile strength was fading; he could feel his molecules beginning to degrade.

Fluttering into the air, she stretched stiffly and looked over the suburban garden. Her breath steamed in the air. “One more day,” she said brightly.

In a forgotten corner of the city, at the end of a nondescript back alley, was a small health food shop. It had been there more than forty years and was once popular.

Becca laughed and smiled at her brother ruefully. She wished she could go, but something in her heart felt heavy.

Hoover had been the runt of his mother’s fourth litter. He was so small and weak at birth his parents worried he would not get enough to eat or would be smushed by the other babies as they slept, but Mama Muridae had faith in her little pup.

It was the fifth day at her new school and ten-year-old Buseje hung her head as she settled down into her desk.

Was this a riddle? Breanna put the peeler down and peered closely at the message. Her Dad loved entertaining her with riddles and rhymes but she wasn’t sure she’d ever received one by text message! Was this about dinner...?

Helen was born wrong. Her daddy wanted a son who'd grow up to take over the family manufacturing business. Helen didn't qualify. Mommy wanted a dainty little girl. Helen wasn't dainty.

She returns to the kitchen and stops in her tracks. “Now, where’d I put the pork?

Snow fell steadily in the wild woods of Siberia...