National Readathon Day

NationalReadathonDayHave you ever wished you could just curl up for a day with a good book? Well, you’re in luck: Penguin Random House has teamed up with the National Book Foundation to hold a marathon reading session!

Join us along with GoodReads and Mashable for an afternoon of reading on Saturday, January 24 from noon to 4 pm (in our respective time zones).

Did you know that millions of people struggle with basic literacy skills? Consider starting your own FirstGiving Fundraising page or directly donating to this worthy cause to support the countless people across the world who read below the basic reading proficiency or are completely illiterate.

For more information, please visit the following links:
PRH National Readathon Day
National Book Foundation

You can also raise awareness and join the online conversation with the hashtag #timetoread!

We’re also giving away five Bob’s Hungry Ghost reading kits – a poster and a doorknob hanger to ensure that you get the privacy you need to read!
bob's hungry ghost
Be one of the first five people to comment below and we’ll send you a reading kit. And don’t forget to make #timetoread!

2014 Holiday Gift Guide: The Heebie-Jeebies

Listed by age range:

Bob's Hungry GhostBob’s Hungry Ghost
Written by Geneviève Côté
Hardcover | 32 Pages | Ages 3-7
ISBN: 978-1-77049-713-9
Bob wants a dog for his birthday, but instead he gets a ghost … and its name is Fluffy. Unfortunately, Fluffy doesn’t fetch, sit or go for walks. But he does eat everything, and soon all of Bob’s things and even Bob himself end up in Fluffy’s belly. Will Bob find a way to tame his unruly and very hungry ghost? Will Fluffy realize that eating Bob wasn’t a very nice thing to do?

The FlyThe Fly
Written by Elise Gravel
Hardcover | 32 Pages | Ages 6-9
ISBN: 978-1-77049-636-1
The first in a series of humorous books about disgusting creatures, The Fly is a look at the common housefly. It covers such topics as the hair on the fly’s body (requires a lot of shaving), its ability to walk on the ceiling (it’s pretty cool, but it’s hard to play soccer up there), and its really disgusting food tastes (garbage juice soup followed by dirty diaper with rotten tomato sauce, for example). Although silly and off-the-wall, The Fly contains real information that will tie in with curriculum.

The WormThe Worm
Written by Elise Gravel
Hardcover | 32 Pages | Ages 6-9
ISBN: 978-1-77049-633-0
The second in a series of humorous books about disgusting creatures, The Worm is a look at the earthworm. It covers such topics as the worm’s habitats (sometimes they live inside other animals), its anatomy (its muscle tube is slimy and gross), and its illustrious history (worms have been on earth for 120 million years).

The SlugThe Slug
Written by Elise Gravel
Hardcover | 32 Pages | Ages 6-9
ISBN: 978-1-77049-655-2
The Slug is a look at the land slug. It covers such topics as the slug’s two pairs of tentacles, one pair for seeing, one pair for smelling (it can see you’re a kid and smell like broccoli), its breathing hole (on the side of its head!), and its pretty gross mucous covering (in order to find a partner, the slug can follow another slug’s mucous trail. True love!).

The RatThe Rat
Written by Elise Gravel
Hardcover | 32 Pages | Ages 6-9
ISBN: 978-1-77049-658-3
The Rat is a look at the black rat. It covers such topics as the rat’s long, agile tail (it’s good for balancing and picking noses), long teeth (they can chew through anything, including books) and disgusting taste in food (delicious electrical wires in tomato sauce, anyone?).

The SwallowThe Swallow: A Ghost Story
Written by Charis Cotter
Hardcover | 320 Pages | Ages 9-12
ISBN: 978-1-77049-591-3
eBook: 978-1-77049-593-7
In 1960s Toronto, two girls retreat to their attics to escape the loneliness and isolation of their lives. Polly lives in a house bursting at the seams with people, while Rose is often left alone by her busy parents. Polly is a down-to-earth dreamer with a wild imagination and an obsession with ghosts; Rose is a quiet, ethereal waif with a sharp tongue. Despite their differences, both girls spend their days feeling invisible and seek solace in books and the cozy confines of their respective attics. But soon they discover they aren’t alone–they’re actually neighbors, sharing a wall. They develop an unlikely friendship, and Polly is ecstatic to learn that Rose can actually see and talk to ghosts. Maybe she will finally see one too! But is there more to Rose than it seems? Why does no one ever talk to her? And why does she look so … ghostly? When the girls find a tombstone with Rose’s name on it in the cemetery and encounter an angry spirit in her house who seems intent on hurting Polly, they have to unravel the mystery of Rose and her strange family … before it’s too late.

Zombie ElementaryZombie Elementary
The Real Story

Written by Howard Whitehouse
Hardcover | 256 Pages | Ages 9-12
ISBN: 978-1-77049-608-8
eBook: 978-1-77049-610-1
Larry Mullet is your typical fourth grader. He’s not the biggest kid or the smartest kid or the best looking kid. He rides his bike, plays baseball, takes the school bus, avoids cafeteria food, and–oh yeah, he’s a zombie hunting expert. Larry was just doing his usual thing when Alex Bates from Ms Hoag’s class tried to eat him. Sadly, that was only the beginning. Something odd was going on at Brooks Elementary… and it was up to Larry and his friends to take charge (for some reason). Hilariously told interview-style as a record of the REAL story, and peppered with zombie tips and facts, zombie cheerleaders and plenty of gore, this book will be a surefire hit for anyone interested in a ghoulishly good life-or-death comedy.

The Voice Inside My HeadThe Voice inside My Head
Written by S.J. Laidlaw
Hardcover | 256 Pages | Ages 14 and up
ISBN: 978-1-77049-565-4
eBook: 978-1-77049-566-1
Seventeen-year-old Luke’s older sister, Pat, has always been his moral compass, like a voice inside his head, every time he has a decision to make. So when Pat disappears on a tiny island off the coast of Honduras and the authorities claim she’s drowned – despite the fact that they can’t produce a body – Luke heads to Honduras to find her because he knows something the authorities don’t. From the moment of her disappearance, Pat’s voice has become real, guiding him to Utila, where she had accepted a summer internship to study whale sharks. Once there, he meets several characters who describe his sister as a very different girl from the one knows. Does someone have a motive for wanting her dead? Determined to get to the bottom of Pat’s disappearance, Luke risks everything, including his own life, to find the answer.

Bob Reading

2014 Holiday Gift Guide: The Dreamers

Listed by age range:

If You Happen to Have a DinosaurIf You Happen to Have a Dinosaur
Written by Linda Bailey
Illustrated by Colin Jack
Hardcover | 40 Pages
For Ages: 3-7 years
ISBN: 978-1-77049-568-5
If you happen to have a dinosaur, lying around your living room, and you don’t know what to do with it … why don’t you use it as a can opener? It will make a terrific nutcracker too! There are oodles of uses for a dinosaur — from a fine umbrella to an excellent kite and a dandy pillow, not to mention a reliable burglar alarm and the perfect excuse to forget your homework. This delightfully absurd exploration of the domestic uses of dinosaurs — and the things dinos just aren’t good for at all — is guaranteed to tickle funny bones and spark imaginations.

Ella May and the Wishing StoneElla May and the Wishing Stone
Written by Cary Fagan
Illustrated by Geneviève Côté
Trade Paperback | 32 Pages
For Ages: 4-6
ISBN: 978-1-77049-410-7
When Ella May finds a smooth stone with a line going all-all-all the way around it, she is convinced it has magical powers. Surely such a stone will grant wishes, she thinks. But when her friends want to join in the fun, Ella May says that the stone is too special. Slowly she comes to realize that keeping the stone all to herself is a sure way to lose friends. By using her imagination, Ella May finds a way to make everyone’s wishes come true-including her own.

audreyAudrey (cow)
Written by Dan Bar-el
Illustrated by Tatjana Mai-Wyss
Hardcover | 240 Pages
For Ages: 7-10 years
ISBN: 978-1-77049-602-6
Audrey is a cow with poetry in her blood, who yearns for the greener pastures beyond Bittersweet Farms. If you have no problem with stories about brave cows escaping their dark destiny and dodging hunters and vicious predators, then this book is for you. Over two dozen animals and humans tell the tale of Audrey’s great escape. Full of heart and humor, Audrey (cow) is ultimately a very human story about life and death, friendship, and holding on to one’s dreams – based more or less on a true story.

MillhouseMillhouse
Written by Natale Ghent
Hardcover | 192 Pages
For Ages: 7-10 years
ISBN: 978-1-77049-639-2
Millhouse is a faint-hearted, hairless guinea pig. A great lover of all things theatrical, most especially the work of William Shakespeare, Milly longs for the limelight and someone to love. However, after the death of his beloved owner, the great actor Sir Roderick Lord Kingswagger, Millhouse is abandoned to a neglected and dusty pet shop filled with other rodents — some rude, some odd, some cute and some downright frightening. Finding himself a reviled outcast and a target of the nasty Pepper Brown ferret, Millhouse sets about trying to find a way back to the theater and a happy home, and in doing so experiences more drama than he could ever have imagined.

The Green Man_paperbackThe Green Man
Written by Michael Bedard
Trade Paperback | 320 Pages
For Ages: 10 and up
ISBN: 978-1-77049-511-1
When Ophelia’s father heads off to Italy for the summer to finish work on his book on the poet Ezra Pound, O – as she prefers to be called – is sent by train to stay with her Aunt Emily, who runs a secondhand bookshop back east called The Green Man. Part mystery, part fantasy, this compelling and beautifully written novel slips between the real world, and that of the creative imagination. Cloaked in the simple story of a young woman taking over a bookstore from her aged aunt, The Green Man is an eerie story about finding voice and courage, and about suspending disbelief!

DinosaursReading

Put some BOO in your BOOkshelves

Happy Halloween! If you like to read while munching on all your treats, here are some great companions for your flashlight-under-the-blanket reads.

Bob's Hungry GhostBob’s Hungry Ghost
Written by Geneviève Côté
Hardcover| Ages 3-7 | 32 pages
ISBN: 978-1-77049-713-9
eBook: 978-1-77049-714-6
“All ends well in a sweetly silly book about appreciating what you have. And everyone will want a ghost for their birthday after reading this book.” – Sharon the Librarian

Every BreathEvery Breath
Written by Ellie Marney
Hardcover | 352 Pages | Ages 14+
ISBN: 978-1-77049-772-6
eBook: 978-1-77049-774-0
“If you’re a fan of Sherlock Holmes and contemporary YA, read Every Breath. It’s smart, it’s clever – and Mycroft and Watts have stolen my heart.” – There were books involved . . .

The Green Man_paperbackThe Green Man
Written by Michael Bedard
Trade Paperback | Ages 10+ | 320 pages
ISBN: 978-1-77049-511-1
eBook: 978-1-77049-293-6
“…Bedard takes full advantage of the genre’s atmospheric creepiness and sepia-toned timelessness…. For more plot-hungry Goosebumps graduates, there are dark strangers, abandoned mansions, ghostly glowing, chilling coincidences, and otherworldly portals galore.” – Starred Review, Quill & Quire

The SwallowThe Swallow: A Ghost Story
Written by Charis Cotter
Hardcover | Ages 9-12 | 320 pages
ISBN: 978-1-77049-591-3
eBook: 978-1-77049-593-7
“Spooky tension, friendship and compassion permeate this exquisitely plotted middle-grade ghost story…. The protagonists are both spooky and delightfully down-to-earth, and readers will seesaw between chills and snorts of laughter. When Cotter delivers the final twist, it is a denouement that becomes a springboard for greater revelations that lead to even greater reader satisfaction. Middle-grade storytelling at its very best-extraordinary.” – Starred Review, Kirkus Reviews

Zombie ElementaryZombie Elementary: The Real Story
Written by Howard Whitehouse
Hardcover | Ages 9-12 | 256 Pages
ISBN: 978-1-77049-608-8
eBook: 978-1-77049-610-1
Zombie Elementary: The Real Story is a great, action-packed read for kids and adults alike…. The text is broken up by cute ‘Zombie Tips’ and interjections by the person interviewing Larry.” – Mediatron

If you’re brave enough, visit our Pinterest board for more Halloween ideas!

Tuesdays with Tundra 42

Tuesdays with Tundra is a monthly post on our new releases. The following books are available today in stores and online!

Bob's Hungry GhostBob’s Hungry Ghost
Written by Geneviève Côté
Hardcover| Ages 3-7 | 32 pages
ISBN: 978-1-77049-713-9
“Pets get bored when they have nothing to do. Dogs chew furniture and shoes, cat kill carpets and steal things, and apparently ghosts start consuming everything in sight. Children are going to enjoy seeing how Bob deals with his ghost problem, and they will appreciate why the ghost becomes a problem in the first place. There is a moral to this story: don’t neglect your pet, no matter what kind of creature it is.” – Through the Looking Glass Children’s Book Reviews

HazeHaze
The Rephaim, Book 2
Written by Paula Weston
Hardcover | Ages 14 and up | 448 pages
ISBN: 978-1-77049-550-0
eBook: 978-1-77049-552-4
“The stunning sequel to the much loved Shadows, is filled with heart-racing action, enthralling plot lines and some very kick-ass characters that certainly kicked me into dazeville.” – YA Midnight Reads

Hope SpringsHope Springs
Written by Eric Walters
Illustrated by Eugenie Fernandes
Hardcover | Ages 6-9 | 32 Pages
ISBN: 978-1-77049-530-2
“It is a sweet story with a very powerful social message and makes a wonderful moral lesson for children. The illustrations too are beautiful…. I would recommend this book to children and adults – so that they can know more about the pressing problem of water shortage that farmers in Kenya face.” – Everyday Gyaan

Shadows_PaperbackShadows
The Rephaim, Book 1
Written by Paula Weston
Trade Paperback | Ages 14 and up | 400 Pages
ISBN: 978-1-77049-769-6
eBook: 978-1-77049-549-4
“Piece by piece, characters offer Gaby truths about her past, and piece by piece, we readers are taken aback by the genuinely surprising twists Weston has set up…. There is a girl, a boy, war, love, angels, demons and blood. What more do you need?” – The Midnight Garden

The SwallowThe Swallow: A Ghost Story
Written by Charis Cotter
Hardcover | Ages 9-12 | 320 pages
ISBN: 978-1-77049-591-3
eBook: 978-1-77049-593-7
The Swallow: A Ghost Story, is such a wonderful, special book that I would pretty much recommend it to anyone…. The Swallow is the best of books, a middle grade novel that will appeal to adults as well as children, and a book that takes its readers into the creative space of imagination, in which anything is possible.” – Read This Book

Who Needs a DesertWho Needs a Desert?
A Desert Ecosystem
Written by Karen Patkau
Hardcover | Ages 7-10 | 32 pages
ISBN: 978-1-77049-386-5
“Another great ecosystem introduction. This can be a difficult ecosystem to understand. The introduction pulls young eyes into the biodiversity of the desert with interesting plants and animals then goes on to explain why the desert is the way it is with weather patterns.” – Stephanie’s Book Reviews

Who Needs a PrairieWho Needs a Prairie?
A Grassland Ecosystem
Written by Karen Patkau
Hardcover | Ages 7-10 | 32 pages
ISBN: 978-1-77049-388-9
“I read this book to a group a kids aged 4-8. Younger kids loved the pictures and finding all of the plants and animals in the pictures that were mentioned in the text. Older kids liked learning about the different animals and how they lived.” – Stephanie’s Book Reviews

Who Needs a ReefWho Needs a Reef?
A Coral Ecosystem
Written by Karen Patkau
Hardcover | Ages 7-10 | 32 pages
ISBN: 978-1-77049-390-2
“This is a great introduction to a coral reef ecosystem. I loved that it revealed why coral reef ecosystems are important as well as the biodiversity of plants and animals that it contains. I liked that there were many tie-ins with curriculum, information on food chains, habitat and why we should preserve this special habitat.” – Stephanie’s Book Reviews

Zombie ElementaryZombie Elementary
The Real Story
Written by Howard Whitehouse
Hardcover | Ages 9-12 | 256 Pages
ISBN: 978-1-77049-608-8
eBook: 978-1-77049-610-1
“The characters were all very realistic and immediately brought me back to my elementary school days. I could immediately remember a person from my past who fit the description of nearly every person in this book with startling clarity. The nostalgic feeling, and the instances of humour that made me laugh out loud really made this a fun read. Then we add in zombies, hilarious zombie tropes, references to almost every amazing zombie movie… and Chuck. Love. Him.” – A Cozy Couch and A Good Book

You know what else releases today? Our newly packaged L.M. Montgomery paperback books!!! With gorgeous cover art from Elly MacKay:
01_Anne of Green Gables 02_Anne of Avonlea 03_Anne of the Island 04_Anne of Windy Poplars 05_Anne's House of Dreams 06_Anne of Ingleside 07_Rainbow Valley 08_Rilla of Ingleside 09_Emily of New Moon 10_Emily Climbs 11_Emily's Quest

Pub Date Giveaway: In the comments below, please tell us which new September release of Tundra’s you would love to read and one lucky reader will receive their requested book! One request per person and please review our rules. This giveaway ends at midnight on Monday, September 15, 2014!

Tundra Book Group