Alex Rider, teenage British secret service agent, returns. This time, a wealthy villain schemes to make millions by creating disasters and then pocketing the money from false relief agencies. Alex discovers the bad guy’s plan to cause famine in Africa, but he is able to expose the fake philanthropist, although he is nearly fed to hungry crocs in the process. Horowitz's series remains on top of the growing genre of YA novels that feature intelligence agencies employing teenagers. He knows how to pace a thriller and delivers one exciting scene after another. Alex Rider fans will rejoice. Grades 6-9.
Judge Dee (also, Judge Di) is the titular protagonist of Robert van Gulik's series of detective novels. The series is set in Tang Dynasty China and deals with various criminal cases solved by the upright Judge Dee (judges often play the investigator role in ancient Chinese crime stories). Authentic 18th-century Chinese detective novels. Dee and associates solve 3 interlocked cases: The Case of the Double Murder at Dawn, The Case of the Strange Corpse, and The Case of the Poisoned Bride.
Each volume of Novels for Students contains easily accessible and content-rich discussions of the literary and historical background of 12 to 15 works from various cultures and time periods. Each novel included in this new resource was specially chosen by an advisory panel of teachers and librarians - experts who have helped to define the information needs of students and ensure the age-appropriateness of this reference's content.
The English title refers to a later episode in the book involving an attempt to make a deal with the devil. Most of the book's spirit is however lost in translation, as the Portuguese original is written in a register that is both archaic and colloquial, making it a very difficult book to translate. The combination of its size, linguistic oddness and polemic themes caused a shock when it was published, but now it is considered one of the most important novels of South American literature. In a 2002 poll of 100 noted writers conducted by Norwegian Book Clubs, the book was named among the top 100 books of all time.
Every new Elizabeth George novel is a major publishing event. Now the internationally bestselling author shows once again why both The New York Times and the Chicago Tribune have hailed her as "a master" and why Entertainment Weekly has proclaimed her Detective Inspector Thomas Lynley novels "the smartest, most gratifyingly complex and impassioned mystery series now being published."
