New Releases by Mac Barnett

Overview: Sam and Dave are on a mission. A mission to find something spectacular. So they dig a hole. And they keep digging. And they find nothing. Yet the day turns out to be pretty spectacular after all. Attentive readers will be rewarded with a rare treasure in this witty story of looking for the extraordinary - and finding it in a manner you''d never expect.

Encourage creativity with this wildly entertaining picture book mash-up from the minds of Jon Scieszka and Mac Barnett. Alex has been given a saccharine, sappy, silly-sweet picture book about Birthday Bunny that his grandma found at a garage sale. Alex isn’t interested—until he decides to make the book something he’d actually like to read. So he takes out his pencil, sharpens his creativity, and totally transforms the story! Birthday Bunny becomes Battle Bunny, and the rabbit’s innocent journey through the forest morphs into a supersecret mission to unleash an evil plan—a plan that only Alex can stop. Featuring layered, original artwork that emphasizes Alex’s additions, this dynamic exploration of creative storytelling is sure to engage and inspire.

It’s no mystery why this complete collection of Brixton Brothers books is a must-have for any sleuth! Seventh-grader Steve Brixton is obsessed with the Bailey Brothers, a pair of sibling sleuths who solve crimes in a mystery book series. Steve read all fifty-eight Bailey Brothers mysteries, sent away cereal box tops to get his Bailey Brothers Detective’s License, and studies The Bailey Brothers’ Detective Handbook. And by using the tactics of his fictional heroes (with varying degrees of success), Steve inadvertently becomes America’s top sleuth. This complete collection of Brixton Brothers adventures includes: The Case of the Case of Mistaken Identity, The Ghostwriter Secret, It Happened on a Train, and Danger Goes Berserk.

When a missing surfboard proves to have hidden depths, twelve-year-old super-sleuth Steve Brixton must go undercover—and underwater—to tackle a puzzling tangle of mysteries. Steve Brixton’s finally gotten a hang of this super-sleuth thing. After a few months of busting bad guys he finally has his own office—even if it’s a bit small, and outside, and okay, used to be a doghouse. So when someone asks him to help track down a board stolen by a local surf gang, it’s just a matter of slipping into a neon wetsuit and blending in with the surfers—right? But when the assignment goes all wrong, Steve is going to have to test his wits against pirate smugglers, thick-necked goons, and a sixth-grader who just wants his gym shorts back—all with the help of the tips and tricks he learned from his beloved Bailey Brothers books, of course!

Some kids are too smart for their own good...and maybe for everybody else''s good. The overly ambitious little girl from Oh No! is back for more. But this time, she doesn''t have a humongous problem, she has an EPIC crisis on her hands: a mere A on her history test! There''s only one solution: travel back in time to 33,000 B.C. to make her wrong answer right! /DIV DIVMac Barnett and Dan Santat''s laugh-out-loud sequel to the critically acclaimed Oh No! will be sure to tickle a prehistoric funny bone for fans new and neanderthal alike.

With a supply of yarn that never runs out, Annabelle knits for everyone and everything in town until an evil archduke decides he wants the yarn for himself.

King Duncan is terribly handsome, but a terrible king. His kingdom is in ruins, and when his subjects appeal for help, he only builds more tributes to his handsome face. His subjects are finally ready to stand up for themselves, and they have just the plan to get out of this hairy situation. A mustache....because sometimes good looks alone just aren''t enough.

Steve Brixton is in retirement, and not even grand theft auto can bring him back for one last job. Period, the end, that’s that. Right??? After finding out that his favorite author (and author of the definitive Bailey Brothers Guidebook) was not the man Steve thought he was, the Brixton Brothers detective agency is officially out of business. Steve has a new job now: taking out the trash for five bucks a week. But when he and his best chum Dana take a train trip down the California coast, he’s caught up in a mystery that involves a fleet of stolen automobiles, a vanishing girl, and a phantom train car. For fans who want their Hardy Boys with a sprinkle of laugh-out-loud humor.

Ernest is annoying. Ernest is awkward. Ernest is…Ernest. And Dean wants nothing to do with him, until Ernest wins the most spectacular trip in the history of America – and is allowed to bring one friend. A short story from the acclaimed collection Guys Read: Funny Business, edited by Jon Scieszka.

Steve Brixton, top detective, rescuer of quilts and also America, has opened up his own agency. He has a crime lab that doubles as a bedroom. He has a chum named Dana. And he has lots of business cards. So when the Fairview Diamond goes missing, he knows just what to do. But when a simple track-and-retrieve spirals out of control, Steve finds himself in the middle of his biggest case yet: MacArthur Bart, the author of Steve’s beloved Bailey Brothers books, has been abducted! With the aid of his handy Bailey Brothers Detective Handbook and one very reluctant Dana, Steve will confront goons, bullies, and maybe a bee or two, all to rescue America’s #1 Mystery King.

Some kids are too smart for their own good...and maybe for everybody else''s good. When an overly ambitious little girl builds a humongous robot for her science fair, she fully expects to win first place. What she doesn''t expect is the chaos that follows. Mac Barnett, a new picture book author on the rise, and Dan Santat, illustrator of Rhea Perlman''s Otto Undercover series, combine forces to create a hilarious kid''s eye account of the kind of destruction that comes only from a child’s good intentions. This book is sure to appeal to kids and parents familiar with the ordeal of science fairs.

Twelve emerald-studded numbers have been stolen, so readers are asked to search the detailed illustrations of the 13 floors of Ternky Tower for clues hidden among the puzzles that show who and how.

National treasures, criminal masterminds, and…secret agent librarians? Steve Brixton wants to be a crime-busting detective—just like his favorite crime-busting detectives, the Bailey Brothers. Turns out, though, that real life is nothing like the stories. When Steve borrows the wrong book from the library, he finds himself involved in a treasonous plot that pits him against helicopter-rappelling librarians, has him outwitting a gaggle of police, and sees him standing off against the mysterious Mr. E. And all his Bailey Brothers know-how isn’t helping at all! Worst of all, his social studies report is due Monday, and Ms. Gilfeather will not give him an extension!