"The very last words Fergal McNally heard in his life were: 'Don't lean out of that window!'" Fourteen stories later, he was just a splat on the sidewalk. And that's just page one. Join the McNally family for a series of bizarre and darkly funny adventures in the "Unlikely Exploits" trilogy, which continues with Heir of Mystery, or, Four Legs Good and The Rise of the House of McNally, or, About Time, Too. By the author of the ridiculously tragic "Eddie Dickens" series.

The mad creator of Eddie Dickens and the clan McNally is at it again. This time he combines a series of historical engravings with outrageous captions to tell a meandering and very silly tale. A quick and hilarious read.

A classic tale of an orphan searching for a home and family in the seamy world of Victorian London. Innocent young Oliver is on the run from the tender loving care of the nastiest orphanage ever. He is soon adopted by the wily Fagin and his band of young pickpockets: out of the frying pan... into the conflagration! For lovers of luscious words and colourful characters, this is a must read.

Nobody wants the Schluffmuffin twins. Every time a potential family visits the Jolly Days Orphanage, the two get their hopes up, but one whiff of Wally's seriously stinky feet and a hint of Cheyenne's prodigious plethora of allergies - and some other kids get adopted instead. That is, until Wally and Cheyenne are claimed by the aunts (to be pronounced "onts"). The two old ladies don't seem to mind Wally's stinking and Cheyenne's snarfling. Are the Mandible sisters the most loving and tolerant women ever, or do they have some secret and dastardly reason for taking the orphans back to their home in Dripping Fang Forest? The adventures of the Schluffmuffin twins continue in Treachery and Betrayal at Jolly Days, The Vampire's Curse, Fall of the House of Mandible, and more. Read on!

Is Primrose Squarp an orphan or isn't she? Primrose's real parents are "lost at sea" and she is not exactly fending off would-be substitutes with a stick. The town of Coal Harbour is paying the somewhat dotty and wholly unsuitable Miss Perfidy to babysit her, but Primrose is quite certain that her parents will return to her someday. Meanwhile, she has her own ideas about what family means. By the author of The Trolls and No More Cornflakes.

Annika's origins are a mystery. She was found abandoned in a small church in the hills outside of Vienna. Fortunately for her, she was found by Ellie and Sigrid, the kindest cook and maid in all of Vienna. They take very good care of her in the servants' quarters of a large house owned by three somewhat daffy professors. She loves Vienna, loves her family and friends, but still can't help dreaming, longing for the mother she has never known. When a mysterious lady arrives in a swirl of expensive clothes and exotic perfume to claim Annika as her daughter, our heroine is entranced. Annika goes to the remote Spittal castle to live her dream with her aristocratic mother. But the lovely Edeltraut von Tannenburg may not be all that she seems, and Annika feels suddenly far from home - and help...

Maia is alone in the world. Her parents were killed in a train crash two years ago. Now, finally, her relatives have been found and they are willing to take her in. Even better, they have twin daughters close to her own age. It sounds too good to be true - and it is. When Maia arrives in Brazil, she finds her relatives to be far from the kind and generous family she had hoped for. But Maia is not without courage, or friends, and the Amazon River is calling her on to adventure... By the author of The Secret of Platform 13, Dial-a-Ghost, The Haunting of Granite Falls, and The Beasts of Clawstone Castle.

It is 1609 and the bustling metropolis of MacOongafoondsen (population: 21) is gripped by winter - and isolation. Emmaline Perth finds herself wishing for something, something significant to come their way. As if in answer, a ship is washed ashore in a storm, with a lone survivor. The ignorant and extremely silly residents decide that he is a Frenchman. What's more they are certain he is responsible for the recent rash of thefts in town. Emmaline and her friend Young Flurp the town fool know better, but will anyone listen? This is a wild and crazy story filled with juicy words. As Young Flurp says, they are "...formidable. Challenging. Abstruse... especially the polysyllabic, sesquipedalian ones." Dive in and enjoy.

Joe and his little sister Annie are not orphans - at least they hope not. Their mother left them in a workhouse, promising to return for them when she was able to take care of them. But years have passed; she has not returned and the two children have been sent to work for a cruel farmer who starves and beats them. Joe and Annie decide they must escape and find their mother. It is a harrowing journey through country and towns peopled with a strange collection of characters, some helpful, some menacing and some indifferent to their plight. Will Joe and Annie ever find their mother and home? Will they be able to hang on to each other? This fast-paced adventure story is chock-full of Dickensian melodrama.

Olivia Kidney is not your average twelve-year-old. But then, New York is filled with odd characters - many of them live in Olivia's building! Residents include a princess in exile, a mad hypnotist, a bloodthirsty ex-pirate, talking lizards, the wildest family she has ever encountered, and at least one ghost. But Olivia is curious, courageous... and in need of a friend or two. Somewhere between the tropical rainforest in 7B, the glass apartment, and the spooky sub-basement, she just might find what she's looking for. Follow more of Olivia's bizarre and slightly supernatural adventures in Olivia Kidney and the Exit Academy and Olivia Kidney and the Secret Beneath the City.

Emily Luccock is desperately unhappy. Her beloved parents have been killed in an accident, and Emily must leave everything she knows. She is comforted by the thought of living with her kindly aunt and uncle, until she arrives to find that Aunt Twice is a frightened prisoner in her own home and Uncle Twice is mysteriously missing. Poor Emily is put to work and forced to live in a dark and miserable cellar. Can she solve the mystery and save her aunt and uncle from the machinations of Mrs. Meeching? The story continues in The Perils of Peppermints.

Solomon Snow is a foundling. He was left on the doorstep of a rather miserable cottage in the village of Boring. "Not Boring-on-the-Green, or Boring-by-the-Bridge, or even Boring-in-the-Mire. Just plain Boring, which summed it up perfectly." Poor Solly lives a rather miserable life with the Scubbinses, existing on an unending diet of pottage ("vegetable slop that tastes like boiled stinging nettles") and helping with the equally unending piles of laundry that make up their washing business. When Prudence Pridy the poacher's daughter makes him suspect the Scubbinses are not his relations, he sets off for town to find the silver spoon that might hold the key to his real family. Prudence is eager to get away from her own sisters and brother (Faith, Hope, Charity, Joy, Delight, Patience and Cleanliness do not live up to their names). Together, they set off for Town - and adventure. Read on with Solomon Snow and the Stolen Jewel.

Emmaline Cayley is going to invent a flying machine and became a daring and famous aviatrix. There is just one tiny problem: Emmaline is terrified of flying, or more accurately, terrified of plummeting to her doom. Fortunately, her friend Robert Burns is not nearly so frightened - or sensible. Just when her plans are coming together, Emmaline is packed off to St Grimelda's, truly the worst boarding school ever. It will take every ounce of her courage and invention to escape this place. Join Emmaline on a madcap journey through Victorian England; travel to a place and time of magic, wonder, weird inventions - and extremely uncomfortable underwear!