An instant success, Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Gold-Bug” was published in 1843. Poe submitted the short story to a writing competition that was sponsored by the Philadelphia Dollar Newspaper. “The Gold-Bug” was awarded first place and subsequently published in three installments. The story was Poe’s most widely read work during his lifetime. Other works by Poe include “The Oval Portrait”, “The Tell-Tale Heart”, and “The Black Cat”. This guide refers to the 2021 Amazon Kindle... Read The Gold Bug Summary

Philip Pullman’s The Golden Compass, originally titled Northern Lights in the UK, is a young adult fantasy novel that follows 11-year-old Lyra Belacqua with her dæmon, Pantalaimon (Pan), a spiritual animal counterpart. They travel north from an alternate version of Oxford to find her friend, Roger, with the help of the gyptians, witches, and Iorek, the armored bear. Along the way, Lyra confronts unimaginable horrors, like children being severed from their dæmons by Mrs. Coultier’s... Read The Golden Compass Summary

Hannah Tinti's 2008 debut novel, The Good Thief, is the story of Ren, a one-handed orphan, and his life after being adopted by a pair of thieves in late-19th-century New England. The novel deals with themes of loss and redemption and explores the world of 19th-century medicine. The narrative moves quickly from a Catholic orphanage named after the patron saint of lost things, Saint Anthony, to an impoverished mining town, with stops at moonlit cemeteries... Read The Good Thief Summary

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The Great Greene Heist is a middle grade novel by Varian Johnson that follows Jackson Greene, a middle school boy and nearly reformed prankster, who tries to win his crush through hijinks. The novel was named Publisher’s Best Summer Book of 2014, ALA ALSC Notable Children’s Book in 2015, and received a Kirkus Star Review. Johnson published the sequel To Catch a Cheat in 2016. Johnson is also the author of The Parker Inheritance, which... Read The Great Greene Heist Summary

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The Great Train Robbery (1975) by Michael Crichton is a fictionalized account of the Great Gold Robbery of 1855. It details the actions of criminal mastermind Edward Pierce and his co-conspirators as they plan and execute the heist of £12,000 of gold from a train in London. This historical thriller analyzes Victorian beliefs about crime in the context of a rapidly changing society overwhelmed by industrialization. Historically, Pierce’s successful heist shocked a nation that believed... Read The Great Train Robbery Summary

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Written by Robin McKinley, The Hero and the Crown is a 1984 fantasy novel that acts as a prequel to McKinley’s 1982 novel, The Blue Sword. The Hero and the Crown focuses on the life and exploits of Aerin Dragon-Killer, the legendary wielder of the titular blue sword Gonturan, which first appeared in the previous novel. The Hero and the Crown focuses on Aerin’s personal development into a hero and a queen, emphasizing the physical... Read The Hero and the Crown Summary

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The Hidden Oracle (2016) is the first installment in Rick Riordan’s The Trials of Apollo, a five-book fantasy series for young readers. Inspired by Greek and Roman mythology and history, the books follow the fallen god Apollo on a quest to rescue the five Oracles from a group of foes. The Trials of Apollo series takes place in the same universe as Riordan’s popular Percy Jackson oeuvre. Praised for its humor, The Hidden Oracle earned... Read The Hidden Oracle Summary

Douglas Adams’s The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy first appeared in book form in 1979, after Adams originally conceived it as a radio play. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy explores and satirizes many facets of modern life, such as the legitimacy of authority, the absurdity of bureaucracy, and the search for the ultimate answer to the question of life, the universe, and everything. The book follows the galactic exploits of Arthur Dent, the last... Read The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Summary

J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit is a classic high fantasy adventure novel first published in 1937. Tolkien (1892-1973) was an English writer, philologist, and professor of Anglo-Saxon at Oxford University, as well as a close friend of fellow writer C. S. Lewis. The Hobbit is the first published work recounting tales from Middle Earth, Tolkien’s fantasy world with fictional races of hobbits, elves, dwarves, and more. After fighting in World War I, Tolkien worked... Read The Hobbit Summary

The Honest Truth is a middle-grade coming-of-age novel by Dan Gemeinhart, a former elementary school teacher and librarian who won the Parents’ Choice Award Gold Medal for another one of his five novels. The book was published on January 23, 2015. The novel incorporates drama and a bit of poetry to narrate the story of twelve-year-old protagonist Mark who has spent most of his life in hospitals receiving cancer treatments. Now, Mark takes his fate... Read The Honest Truth Summary

The Horse and His Boy, published in 1954, is the fifth of the seven books that comprise C. S. Lewis’s young readers series The Chronicles of Narnia. The first of the books, The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, was published in 1950. Lewis published an additional book in the series each year through 1956. The Horse and His Boy was published in 1954. Lewis later requested the reading order of the books be changed... Read The Horse And His Boy Summary

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The House of Hades is the fourth of five books in the Heroes of Olympus series, which follows seven Greek and Roman demigods on a quest to prevent the rise of the earth goddess Gaea, who is bent on destroying the world.The House of Hades was written by Rick Riordan, a New York Times bestselling author who explores Roman and Greek Mythology in these two series. Riordan is the publisher of an imprint with Disney... Read The House of Hades Summary

Published in 2002, Nancy Farmer’s The House of the Scorpion is a young adult science fiction novel that earned a US National Book Award for Young People’s Literature. It is set in the futuristic country of Opium, which is situated along the border of the United States and what was once Mexico. The protagonist, a clone of Opium’s dictator and drug lord, struggles with his identity. His experience articulates a complex argument about the potential... Read The House of the Scorpion Summary