Sid Fleischman

A Prince and a Pauper Jemmy, once a poor boy living on the streets, now lives in a castle. As the whipping boy, he bears the punishment when Prince Brat misbehaves, for it is forbidden to spank, thrash, or whack the heir to the throne. The two boys have nothing in common and even less reason to like one another. But when they find themselves taken hostage after running away, they are left with no choice but to trust each other.

The Whipping Boy

For fans of the I Survived series, this classic rollicking adventure about the California Gold Rush and one determined twelve-year-old has sold nearly a million copies! When Jack's aunt is forced to sell her beloved mansion but is still unable to raise enough money to pay her debts, the twelve-year-old goes to California in search of gold to help her. Joined by his trusty butler, Praiseworthy, Jack finds adventure and trouble at every turn. Will Jack strike gold in San Francisco or come home empty-handed? This new edition features illustrations by Brett Helquist.

By the Great Horn Spoon!

Who was this man who could walk through brick walls and, with a snap of his fingers, vanish elephants? In these pages you will meet the astonishing Houdini—magician, ghost chaser, daredevil, pioneer aviator, and king of escape artists. No jail cell or straitjacket could hold him! He shucked off handcuffs as easily as gloves. In this fresh, witty biography of the most famous bamboozler since Merlin, Sid Fleischman, a former professional magician, enriches his warm homage with insider information and unmaskings. Did Houdini really pick the jailhouse lock to let a fellow circus performer escape? Were his secrets really buried with him? Was he a bum magician, as some rivals claimed? How did he manage to be born in two cities, in two countries, on two continents at the same instant? Here are the stories of how a knockabout kid named Ehrich Weiss, the son of an impoverished rabbi, presto-changoed himself into the legendary Harry Houdini. Here, too, are rare photographs never before seen by the general reader!

The Story of the Great Houdini

Escape!

Twelve-year-old Oliver tries to escape from pirates who take him to an island to find the ghost and treasure of Gentleman Jack.

The Ghost in the Noonday Sun

When Josh McBroom learns that the eighty acres of Iowa farmland he's purchased are all stacked up on top of each other at the bottom of a muddy little pond, he thinks he's been bamboozled. But McBroom knows he's got the better of the bargain when the pond dries up to reveal an acre of soil so rich that seeds spring up into full-grown plants in no time and even nickels grow into quarters.

Three Tall Tales

McBroom's Wonderful One-Acre Farm

On a coach bound for Cricklewood, the orphan boy Touch caught his first glimpse of the haunt named The Great Chaffalo. According to rumor, he was once a famous magician who could turn a pile of straw into a horse. Now, Touch needs the ghost's help in order to escape his wicked great-uncle. So, with an armload of straw and a determined spirit, Touch makes his plea to The Great Chaffalo -- and, magically, a horse appears! But can magic save Touch when his great-uncle’s schemes grow even more villainous?

The Midnight Horse

One night The Great Freddie, a young ventriloquist, is possessed by a dybbuk. A what? A Jewish spirit. A scrappy demon who glows as if spray-painted by moonlight. The dybbuk is revealed to be the ghost of a twelve-year-old boy named Avrom Amos, a victim of the Nazis during World War II. In a plucky scheme to seek revenge, he commandeers The Great Freddie's stage act and entraps the entertainer in the postwar ashes of Germany. Behind the footlights, the dybbuk lights up the terrible fate of a million and a half Jewish children, including Avrom himself. What tricks does the dybbuk have up his ghostly sleeve? Prepare to be astonished. . . .

The Entertainer and the Dybbuk

In old Siam, young elephant trainer Run-Run and his old charge, Walking Mountain, must deal with the curse of a sacred white elephant.

The White Elephant

Newbery Medalist Sid Fleischman tells a moving tale of loneliness and friendship with tenderness and simplicity. Full color.

The Scarebird

Peter Sís

Whipping Boy

Case of Flying Clock

Eric Von Schmidt

Jack and the butler stow away on a side-wheeler bound for California, where they join the Gold Rush of 1849.

"Why am I talking to you?" he asked aloud. "I don't believe in ghosts." "You want to know the truth," replied the dybbuk, "Neither do I. But here I am." Avrom Amos likes to crack jokes. He loves the spotlight. And if he wants something, he knows how to get it. He's just like any other boy, except for one thing: He's a ghost—a dybbuk. During World War Two he'd been murdered by the Nazis, right after he saved the life of a young ventriloquist named Freddie. Freddie doesn't know it yet, but he's about to return the favor. Because the dybbuk wants revenge, and he knows exactly how to get it.

"Mark Twain was born fully grown, with a cheap cigar clamped between his teeth." So begins Sid Fleischman's ramble-scramble biography of the great American author and wit, who started life in a Missouri village as a barefoot boy named Samuel Clemens. Abandoning a career as a young steamboat pilot on the Mississippi River, Sam took a bumpy stagecoach to the Far West. In the gold and silver fields, he expected to get rich quick. Instead, he got poor fast, digging in the wrong places. His stint as a sagebrush newspaperman led to a duel with pistols. Had he not survived, the world would never have heard of Tom Sawyer or Huckleberry Finn—or red-headed Mark Twain. Samuel Clemens adopted his pen name in a hotel room in San Francisco and promptly made a jumping frog (and himself) famous. His celebrated novels followed at a leisurely pace; his quips at jet speed. "Don't let schooling interfere with your education," he wrote. Here, in high style, is the story of a wisecracking adventurer who came of age in the untamed West; an ink-stained rebel who surprised himself by becoming the most famous American of his time. Bountifully illustrated.

A Life of Mark Twain in the Wild, Wild West

The Trouble Begins at 8

When Buddy Stebbins stumbles onto the thirteenth floor of a shabby old building, he finds himself suddenly transported aboard a leaking pirate ship in a howling storm—three hundred years in the past! Cast adrift with Captain John Crack-stone, Buddy washes up in New England, where his plucky ancestor, Abigail, is caught up in the witchcraft mania. In an adventure filled with ghosts, witches, pirates, and razzle-dazzle treasure, Buddy might be able to save his wayward ancestors. But will he find his way back to the thirteenth floor—and home?

A Ghost Story

The 13th Floor

The man with the spats rolled up his sleeves and proceeded to pluck a polished red billiard ball out of thin air. Presto! It vanished. Abracadabra! It reappeared. It turned white. it blushed red again. VoiIá! Suddenly there were four billiard balls between this amazing man's fingers. I was stunned. All of this was happening right under my nose. And there was more. He flipped the deck into falling waterfalls of cards, spun them into fans, and thrust a sword through a shower of cards to impale the seven of diamonds -- selected a moment before. I was dazzled. The moment he finished his act and ushered us gawkers back onto the sidewalk, I knew what I wanted to be. Someone else could be president of the United States. I wanted to be a magician.

A Writer's Life

The Abracadabra Kid

In an adventure tale by the author of The Whipping Boy, twelve-year-old orphan Annyrose Smith relates her adventures with Joaquin Murieta and his band of outlaws in the California gold-mining region during the mid-1800s. Reprint.

Bandit's Moon

In the further adventures of Josh McBroom, the crops grow so fast, you'd better step out of the way when you plant corn, red barns turn blue in the cold, and words freeze still in mid-air. "As fresh as ever."--Booklist.

Three More Tall Tales

Here Comes McBroom!

What would you do to rescue your most precious dream? Susana’s best friend moved away, and now the only time Susana can see her is in her dreams. Until one night when the dream suddenly ends. The Dream Stealer has come, her grandmother says. The Dream Stealer does not want pretty silver earrings or dangly gold necklaces, diamonds or rubies. He wants dreams. He’s supposed to take only nightmares, but he’s grown scared of the monsters and phantoms. He’s been stealing good dreams instead. But he’s stolen from the wrong girl. Susana is clever. She is fearless. And she wants her dream back.

The Dream Stealer

An unseen man they call the Toad is stalking twelve-year-old Kevin and his older sister, Holly. They flee town in Holly's beat-up old car, driving west until they reach the Pacific Ocean. They change their names and attempt to hide in plain sight as street performers in Venice, California. But have they really eluded the Toad? Here is Newbery Medalist Sid Fleischman doing what he does best -- spinning a tale with style.

Sid Fleischman

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