The assertion that 'football isn't a matter of life or death, it's much more important than that' has been verified repeatedly throughout modern history. It has bolstered tyrants and helped depose them;...

A hair-cutting machine, a used gum receptacle, jumping shoes, and more of the strangest inventions ever! A hat that can tip itself. A suitcase that turns into a bathtub. A pair of protective eyeglasses...

A talking watch. An overcoat for two. A pair of pants for poodles. In his companion to Weird & Wacky Inventions, Jim Murphy shows kids some additional baffling and utterly silly inventions in the...

"Murphy’s dramatic nonfiction narrative recounting of one of the first open heart surgeries ever performed is not to be missed." —School Library Journal (starred review)In 1944, a groundbreaking operation...

“If you ever went to Catholic school, or never went to Catholic school, you need to read this funny, smart, kid-true book. It explains everything.” —Jon Scieszka, author of Time Warp Trio and The Stinky...

A paleontologist from the distant future travels to 21st century New York to discover what caused the extinction of Homo sapiens, but finds himself having to choose between saving the human race or his...

The ocean is one of the last remaining wildernesses on our planet. It is also a wilderness where anyone can go. In this wilderness, we find animals that did not evolve along with humankind, and therefore...

Jon Scieszka's Guys Read anthology series for tweens turns to nonfiction in its fifth volume, True Stories. The fifth installment in the Guys Read Library of Great Reading features ten stories that are...