David de Vries

When well-mannered Elliot reluctantly visits the aquarium with his distractible father, he politely asks whether he can have a penguin - then removes one from the penguin pool into his backpack. The fun of caring for a penguin in a New England Victorian house is followed by a surprise revelation by Elliot's father.

"After ISIS terrorists attack the United States Capitol Building during the president's State of the Union address, the entire world waits to see how the most powerful nation on earth will respond. But the Taylor administration is more committed to political correctness than to justice, and it falls to other nations to lead the way in hunting down Abu Khalif, the criminal and religious mastermind who leads the Islamic State. When New York Times journalist...

Scaredy Squirrel never leaves his nut tree. It's way too dangerous out there! Day after day he watches and waits, and waits and watches, until one day... his worst nightmare comes true! Scaredy Squirrel suddenly finds himself out of his tree. As he leaps into the unknown, he discovers something really uplifting and surprising about himself.

On the Manhattan bank of the Hudson River, a small lighthouse--made of steel and painted bright red--proudly protects boats with his faithful beam. One day a great expanse of gray steel, which also shines a bright light into the fog and darkness, is built over it. The little red lighthouse feels insignificant and useless in comparison but soon learns that . . . small can be mighty!

Lost in the Black Forest, Otto meets three mysterious sisters and finds himself entwined in a prophecy, a promise, and a harmonica--and decades later three children, Friedrich in Germany, Mike in Pennsylvania, and Ivy in California find themselves caught up in the same thread of destiny in the darkest days of the twentieth century, struggling to keep their families intact, and tied together by the music of the same harmonica.