Late on Christmas Eve a boy boards a mysterious train that waits for him: the Polar Express, bound for the North Pole. When he arrives there, Santa offers him any gift he desires. The boy modestly asks for one bell from the reindeer's harness. It turns out to be a very special gift, for only believers in Santa can hear it ring.

The game under the tree looked like a hundred others Peter and Judy had at home. But they were bored and restless and, looking for something interesting to do, thought they'd give Jumanji a try. Little did they know when they unfolded its ordinary-looking playing board that they were about to be plunged into the most exciting and bizzare adventure of their lives. Bestselling Polar Express creator and Caldecott Medal winning Chris Van Allsburg explores the ever-shifting line between fantasy and reality with this story about a game that comes startlingly to life.

The award-winning author of Jumanji and The Polar Express, Chris Van Allsburg, challenges young readers to use their creativity and imagination in this one-of-a-kind book that asks readers to finish the story. When author-illustrator extraordinaire Harris Burdick goes missing, all he's left behind are a series of images with accompanying captions, ideas for separate picture books. But what can a picture of a nun quietly sitting in a chair floating in a cathedral have to do with a caption that says, "THE SEVEN CHAIRS: The fifth one ended up in France?" Enticed to come up with their own endings, readers will marvel at the mystery behind these lasting drawings and the charm of an everchanging narrative. Caldecott medal winner Chris Van Allsburg's call for readers to write their own stories will enthrall young minds again and again.

Sweetie Pie, the hamster, is so excited to leave the pet shop with his new owner. In the great outdoors he feels the wind in his fur and experiences its wonderful sights and smells for the very first time. But soon he is stuck back inside, living a cage-bound life controlled by the whims of his awful owners. As Sweetie Pie looks longingly out of his cage at the squirrels frolicking in the trees, he wonders if he will ever get the chance to answer the call of the wild.

"She could remember standing in a park near the falls, hypnotized by the sight and sound, and ""holding her father's hand as they took a walk that would lead them closer." "That's what everyone wonders when they see Niagara . . . How close will their courage let ""them get to it?" At the turn of the nineteenth century, a retired sixty-two-year-old charm school instructor named Annie Edson Taylor, seeking fame and fortune, decided to do something that no one in the world had ever done before--she would go over Niagara Falls in a wooden barrel. Come meet the Queen of the Falls and witness with your own eyes her daring ride

After seeing the hypnotist Lomax the Magnificent, Calvin and Rodney decide to make a hypnotizing machine and try it out on Calvin's little sister Trudy. The machine works and Trudy is convinced that she's a dog. Unfortunately, the boys can't get Trudy to snap out of her trance, and Mama is on her way home.