A song and dance man leaves showbiz to run an inn that is open only on holidays. His former partner is also his rival in love. The two talented pals find themselves competing for the affections of the same lovely lady.

The adventures of Gustave H, a legendary concierge at a famous European hotel between the wars, and Zero Moustafa, the lobby boy who becomes his most trusted friend. The story involves the theft and recovery of a priceless Renaissance painting and the battle for an enormous family fortune.

Recent immigrants from China and desperate for work and money, ten-year-old Mia Tang's parents take a job managing a rundown motel in Southern California, even though the owner, Mr. Yao is a nasty skinflint who exploits them; while her mother (who was an engineer in China) does the cleaning, Mia works the front desk and tries to cope with demanding customers and other recent immigrants--not to mention being only one of two Chinese in her fifth grade...

"Twelve-year-old Milo is stuck spending the winter holidays in a house full of strange guests who are not what they seem--again! He will have to work with friends old and new to uncover clues in search of a mysterious map and a famous smuggler's lost haul"--

Foster children Andi and Bruce have been placed with a flaky couple who care more for their aspiring rock careers than their charges. Their mischievous tendencies repeatedly get them into trouble. After a close call with the local pound, the kids end up searching for Friday, their secretly adopted dog, in an abandoned old hotel where they find several other stray dogs seeking shelter. They, along with three other local kids, begin caring for the strays....

"The once-grand house is now home to two very different families. Despite delusions of grandeur, Lord and Lady Kenefick and their adult children live a life of decayed opulence as the money needed to keep such a large house and grounds ever dwindles. Meanwhile, the Murphy family, Dermot, Isabella and their three almost grown up girls, live and work on the estate and do their best to keep everything running smoothly. Social structure is vital. Everyone...

"After years of hard work, Mia Tang finally gets to go on vacation with her family--to China! A total dream come true. Mia can't wait to see all her cousins and grandparents again, especially her cousin Shen. As she roams around Beijing, witnessing some of the big changes China's going through, Mia thinks about the changes in her own life, like . . . 1. Lupe's taking classes at the high school! And Mia's own plans to be a big writer are . . . stuck....

The author tells of her grandfather's experiences as a boy living in a lodge deep in the woods in Ontario, Canada. It relates how people and animals joined together to survive a forest fire and how it affected his life.

The crumbling country pile of Button House is home to numerous restless spirits who have died there over the centuries, each ghost very much a product of their time, resigned to squabbling with each other for eternity over the most inane of daily gripes. But their lives, or, rather, afterlives, are thrown into turmoil when a young couple, Alison and Mike, surprisingly inherit the peaceful derelict house and make plans to turn it into a bustling family...

The basic concept of fractions is introduced in a rhyming tale in which Miss Bloom, the owner of Strawberry Inn, and her five hilarious guests divide up the inn's rooms and a single cake.