by Gary Paulsen
One day during school masked gunmen storm into his classroom. Roman and three other boys are taken hostage. There’s Jeff, captain of the football team; Mitch, president of the student council; and Woody “the Worm,” class brainiac. Each boy has his own ideas about how to escape, but when they can’t agree, their first chance is lost.
The boys are thrown into the back of a truck and hauled to a run-down mountain cabin miles from anywhere. They are bound with rope and given no food. Worst of all, it seems that the ransom the kidnappers have demanded is not going to be paid—making their deadly threats even more real.
Roman knows time is running out. Now he must somehow put his father’s death behind him so that he and the others can launch a last desperate fight for freedom.
Project: A Perfect World
When Jim Stanton’s family moves to a small town in New Mexico, everyone but Jim is happy. His father has a great new job as a research scientist at Folsum Laboratories. His mother has a beautiful new house. Folsum Labs even buys a bunch of brand-new toys for his little sister.
But there’s something strange about the town. The people all dress and act alike. Everyone’s too polite. And they’re all eerily obedient to the bosses at Folsum Labs.
Though he has been warned not to leave town, Jim wanders into the nearby mountains looking for excitement. There he meets Maria, a mountain girl with a shocking secret that involves Folsum Laboratories, a dangerous mind-control experiment, and—most frightening of all—Jim’s family.
Look for these thrill-packed adventures coming soon!
Skydive!
Jesse Rodriguez has a pretty exciting job for a thirteen-year-old, working for his friend Buck at a small flight and skydiving school near Seattle. But he still can’t wait to turn sixteen and finally be old enough to make his first jump. Buck has been like a father to him ever since Jesse’s dad died, and has made sure Jesse picks up all he needs to know about skydiving while he does odd jobs around the airport.
But Jesse and his friend Robin Waterford have also learned something very disturbing. Someone’s been using the airport for an illegal transportation operation, and Jesse’s worried that Buck’s involved. Jesse and Robin are soon in the middle of a dangerous international situation, forced to make their first jumps sooner than they ever expected!
The Seventh Crystal
Each day at exactly three P.M., Chris Masters faces two great challenges. First he races home, trying to avoid the school bullies who have made a career of beating him up. Then, once he’s safely back in his bedroom, he takes on another opponent—a computer game called The Seventh Crystal.
The high-tech game arrived mysteriously in the mail one day, without a return address or a letter from the sender. Chris doesn’t even know who created it, but he does know The Seventh Crystal is the most challenging computer game he has ever faced. Chris becomes obsessed with mastering the game. So obsessed that the game seems real—and then Chris has something much bigger than bullies to worry about.
