In the city of Ember, twelve-year-old Lina trades jobs on Assignment Day to be a Messenger to run to new places in her decaying but beloved city, perhaps even to glimpse Unknown Regions.

When he decides to turn his fifth grade teacher's love of the dictionary around on her, clever Nick Allen invents a new word and begins a chain of events that quickly moves beyond his control.

Meg Murry and her friends become involved with unearthly strangers and a search for Meg's father, who has disappeared while engaged in secret work for the government.

The ordinary interactions and everyday routines of the Watsons, an African American family living in Flint, Michigan, are drastically changed after they go to visit Grandma in Alabama in the summer of 1963.

When a twelve-year-old evil genius tries to restore his family fortune by capturing a fairy and demanding a ransom in gold, the fairies fight back with magic, technology, and a particularly nasty troll.

Living in a "perfect" world without social ills, a boy approaches the time when he will receive a life assignment from the Elders, but his selection leads him to a mysterious man known as the Giver, who reveals the dark secrets behind the utopian facade.

Jack and his younger sister, Annie, use the magic tree house to travel back in time.

Ramona's job is to be nice to fussy Mrs. Kemp, who watches her while her mother works.

A reckless young mouse named Ralph makes friends with a boy in room 215 of the Mountain View Inn and discovers the joys of motorcycling.

The final leg of the Aldens' journey brings them to South America and to the Salt Flats in northern Argentina. But when they hit a dead end, they realize someone has tricked them in order to delay their plans! Returning to Buenos Aires, the Aldens connect with the Silvertons and are able to get back on track. But it is clear their rivals are closer than ever. The Aldens' final artifact is their most delicate yet, a rare orange orchid they must return...