Showing results by narrator "Ramon de Ocampo" in All Categories

Zack and his younger sister, Zara, have had to fight for every scrap of food and luck that has ever come their way. All of that changes when Zack awakens as a Traveler. Zack holds the key to changing his small family’s fractured fate, and for his sister, he’ll risk everything. The dangers that await him in the mystic realm of the portals, where ancient powers still linger, aren’t the only thing he needs to be wary of. Nobles, both good and bad, have learned of them as well.

The second volume in the Guys Read Library of Great Reading is chock-full of mystery, intrigue, and nefarious activity. Featuring some of the best writers around, and compiled by certified guy Jon Scieszka, Guys Read: Thriller is a pulse-pounding collection of brand-new short stories, each one guaranteed to keep you riveted until the final page.

In Dare to Matter, VisionSpring founder Jordan Kassalow shares his own inspiring story and a nuts-and-bolts plan to help listeners who what to make a difference right now, no matter what their job, no matter what their circumstances, on their own terms, in their own time, in concert with their commitments and responsibilities.

From award-winning author Paul Yoon comes a “spellbinding” (The Washington Post) novel about three kids orphaned in 1960s Laos - and how their destinies are entwined across decades.

Discover more than 300 quick tips and exercises to help you optimize your mental performance and improve brain health. Everyone wants to be at their best mentally, and Brain Hacks provides you with more than 300 actionable tips and exercises you can use right away to help you achieve and maintain peak mental performance. With straightforward, simple advice, Brain Hacks will teach you how to keep your brain sharp and functioning at optimal levels.

The author of The Celebration Chronicles - an exposé of Disney’s small town community development - returns to the outskirts of the Magic Kingdom with Sunbelt Blues, an eye-opening investigation of America’s rural and suburban homelessness crisis, told through a searing portrait of precarious living in Disney World’s backyard.

Avery Dennis is a high school senior and one of the most popular girls in her class. But a majorly public breakup with the guy she's been dating causes some disastrous waves. It is right before prom and Avery no longer has the perfect date. She runs the prom committee; how could she not show up with somebody? Post-breakup, Avery gets to thinking about all of the guys that she has ever dated. How come none of those relationships ever worked out? Could it be her fault? Avery decides to investigate.

Griffin Birch isn’t known for being brave, but there’s something about the new black slide on the elementary school playground that’s made him curious. Against his better judgment, he just has to follow his best friend, Laila, down. But the Black Slide is no ordinary piece of playground equipment. What Griffin and Laila find at the other end of this strange portal is a cruel world, populated by bloodthirsty creatures on a quest to become immortal.

When Matt Westin opens his eyes, he’s back on Earth—and seven years younger than when he went to sleep. For the last seven years, Matt and his sister, Jen, along with friends Carl and Blake, have been in the fantasy world of Cyraveil, revolutionaries fighting to overthrow a dictatorial empire. Now, they’ve suddenly returned to their quiet Oregon suburb, where they’re expected to go to high school and act like normal American teenagers. But after all this time, and with the memory of war so fresh in their minds, how can they pretend to be kids again?

Oddonis and his misfit friends don’t exactly love competition and they aren’t exactly athletes. So they’re definitely not excited when their middle school gets challenged to a sports competition by the Roman middle school on the other side of Mount Olympus. It’s bad enough that the Greek Odds have to compete against their Roman twins, but when Zeus and his Roman counterpart, Jupiter, get a little too involved, the Greek and Roman kids end up in a competition over who gets to run the whole mountain.

Magical miseducation and global adventure await in this fast-paced, humorous, and imaginative fantasy. Henry Leach the Eighth and his sister, Brianna, have survived a faulty spell, defeated a wicked spellcaster, and saved the world...but their greatest accomplishment might be convincing Grand Wand Master Coralis to take them on as official apprentices. For the first time in centuries, the reclusive Wand Master has opened the doors to his castle and invited a new generation of Wandmakers to learn the secrets of the craft.

Felix Powell can talk to animals. Just ask his dog, Mary Puppins! They talk all the time. When a mysterious, magical spell turns Felix into a dog, Mary Puppins is amazed. But not as much as Felix! Will his tail ever stop wagging? Will he ever see in full color again? How will he deal with Gumbo, the snobby neighborhood cat? Most importantly, will he ever return to being a regular boy?

One week in late 1999, more than 50,000 people converged on Seattle. Their goal: to shut down the World Trade Organization conference and send a message that working-class people would not quietly accept the runaway economic globalization that threatened their livelihoods. Though their mission succeeded, it was not without blowback. In the oral history One Week to Change the World, award-winning journalist DW Gibson pieces together a complex and compelling account of what really went down in Seattle.

For as long as he can remember, Curtis Pith has been obsessed with becoming a chef like Lucas Taylor, host of Super Chef. And Curtis has a secret: Taylor is actually his long-absent father. So when Taylor announces a kids-only season of Super Chef, Curtis finally sees his chance to meet his dad. But after Curtis wins a spot in the competition and arrives in New York to film the show, nothing goes as smoothly as he expected.

Manila provides the ideal, torrid setting for an Akashic Noir series volume. It's where the rich rub shoulders with the poor, where five-star hotels coexist with informal settlements, where religious zeal coexists with superstition, and where politics is often synonymous with celebrity and corruption.

Eighteen-year-olds Ruben Montez and Zach Knight are two members of the boy-band Saturday, one of the biggest acts in America. Along with their bandmates, Angel Phan and Jon Braxton, the four are teen heartbreakers in front of the cameras and best friends backstage. But privately, cracks are starting to form: their once-easy rapport is straining under the pressures of fame, and Ruben confides in Zach that he's feeling smothered by management's pressure to stay in the closet.

At their renowned writing school, every student is simultaneously terrified of and attracted to the charismatic poet and professor Miranda Sturgis, whose high standards for art are both intimidating and inspiring. As two students, Roman and Bernard, strive to win her admiration, the lines between mentorship, friendship, and love are blurred. Roman’s first book wins a prestigious prize. Meanwhile, Bernard labors for years over a single poem. Secrets of the past begin to surface, and friendships are broken....

A whole army of evil Librarians! And Alcatraz Smedry has only his friend, Bastille; a few pairs of glasses; and an unlimited supply of exploding teddy bears to help him defend the island of Mokia. Even Alcatraz's extraordinary talent for breaking things may not be enough to defeat the evil Librarians' giant robots. Can Alcatraz find a way to save the Free Kingdoms?

Every evening for eight years, at his request, President Obama was given 10 handpicked letters written by ordinary American citizens - the unfiltered voice of a nation - from his Office of Presidential Correspondence. He was the first president to interact daily with constituent mail and to archive it in its entirety. In To Obama, Jeanne Marie Laskas interviews President Obama, the letter writers themselves, and the White House staff who sifted through the powerful, moving, and incredibly intimate narrative of America during the Obama years:

In 2488, Battle Quest, an arrow shooting, sword fighting, magic slinging live action RPG, is the most popular sport in the universe. Tal works in a trash dump by day and fights in a street samurai pit by night. He dreams of becoming a Battle Quest pro to pull his sisters and grandmother from the slums. Problem is he’s too short, too broke, and his highlight vid-reel has more fails than an ogre’s got warts.