Fiction

When Charlie McButton Lost Power

Charlie McButton likes computer games so much, he never plays with anything else. When a thunderstorm knocks out the electricity, his tech empire comes tumbling down, and his whole world loses power. Charlie needs batteries—FAST! But the only triple- A’s he can find are in his little sister’s talking doll. Will he resort to desperate measures and cause his sister to have a meltdown of her own? Or will he snap out of his computer craze long enough to realize his sister might be fun, even if she doesn’t come with batteries? Collins and Lester team up for a hilarious and timely tale that will crack up young computer addicts and those who love them!

Arthur's Computer Disaster: An Arthur Adventure (Arthur Adventure Series)

Thanks for Nothing (From the Files of Madison Finn, Book 5)

Caught in the Web (From the Files of Madison Finn, Book 4)

Katie.com: My Story

"Our lips met... I felt a few stray whiskers... and suddenly I realized that this was a grown man who was giving me my first real kiss... Something inside me snapped. Now I didn't want this at all. But I couldn't speak." Fourteen-year-old Katherine Tarbox wasn't sure how things had gone so wrong. She had planned to slip away during a school trip to meet 27-year-old Mark, whom she had corresponded with on the Internet for the last six months. Instead, she discovered that "Mark" was actually Frank Kufrovich, a man in his forties with a history of pedophilia. Katie.com is Katherine Tarbox's true story of how Kufrovich used the Internet to manipulate and molest her, and how she fought back by prosecuting him under the Communications Decency Act of 1996 and sharing her experiences so that other teens might avoid a similar situation.

The saddest thing about Katie's memoir are the reasons she sought company on the Internet in the first place. Over and over she states that her mother was a workaholic who had little time for her. She was growing apart from her childhood friends and her oldest sister and confidante was always away at school. Like most teens, Katie was searching for someone or something to connect with--a search her own parents tragically didn't seem to recognize. Articulate, strong and brutally honest, Katie.com should be shared between adults and teens alike, not only as a warning against Internet dangers, but also as a reminder that a computer can never be a replacement for a caring, listening parent. (Ages 12 and older) --Jennifer Hubert

Katherine Tarbox was thirteen when she met twenty-three-year-old "Mark" in an online chat room. A top student and nationally ranked swimmer attending an elite school in an affluent Connecticut town, Katie was also a lonely and self-conscious eighth-grader who craved the attention her workaholic parents couldn't give her. "Mark" seemed to understand her; he told her she was smart and wonderful. When they set a date to finally meet while Katie was in Texas for a swim competition, she walked into a hotel room and discovered who-and what-her cyber soul mate really was.

In Katie.com, Tarbox, now eighteen, tells her story-an eye-opening tale of one teenager's descent into the seductive world of the Internet. Tarbox's harrowing experience with her online boyfriend would affect her life for years to come and result in her becoming the first "unnamed minor" to test a federal law enacted to protect kids from online sexual predators.

In an age when a new generation is growing up online, Tarbox's memoir is a cautionary tale for the Internet Age.

Firestorm (danger.com)

Worldweavers: Spellspam (Worldweavers)

What do you get when ordinary e-mail spam becomes infused with magic? Spellspam—and it's not supposed to exist. As far as Thea and her friends know, computers are meant to be inert vehicles for storing magic spells, not magical processors themselves. But all that seems to have changed as students at Wandless Academy find themselves the victim of practical jokes—with magical consequences—simply by opening an e-mail.

Now the spellspams are getting worse, and it's possible there's someone behind them who is not just bent on stirring up trouble but has a much scarier and more wide-reaching agenda. Until now, Thea has been the only person she's ever met who can reach through the computer using magic. But someone else is out there, and even her friends can't help her track down the source of the spellspam before it gets much, much worse.

This sequel to Worldweavers: Gift of the Unmage ups the ante on a fantasy world that is rich and nuanced, like our own, but with a core of wildly original magic.

Play it Again (From the Files of Madison Finn, Book 3)

Act one, scene one.When Mr. Gibbons posts the cast for the upcoming production of the seventh-grade musical, The Wiz, Madison's world gets a dose of serious drama.Can her role as stage manager of the show help her figure out who likes whom and who her real friends and enemies are?

Gemini7 (danger.com)

Danger Com 6 Bad Intent (danger.com)

The Internet...a world without rules, without boundaries. Where you can be anyone you want, whoever you aren't. And it's all just a click away...

Words -- they can be so powerful. Brian Rittenhouse knows all about words. He knows you have to choose them carefully if you want people to like you. Sometimes Brian wishes he were more like LoneLobo, the coolest surfer on his high school net. Lobo lets his words rip, and doesn't care what damage they do. It's a riot to watch him in action -- unless you're his target.

Only Brian can stop Lobo's cruelty, because they actually have more in common that most people realize. The only problem is, Brian's not sure he wants to.

Different people in different places. The one thing they have in common is a new address on the Internet: danger.com. Where all your fears come true.