Most Popular Books by Monica Hughes

Unemployed after high school in the highly robotic society of 2154, Lisse and seven friends resign themselves to a boring existence in their "Designated Area" until the government invites them to play The Game.

Jan wants a puppy so badly that she would do just about anything to get one. But her mother and her gramma won''t allow one in the house. So when Jan and her friend Sarah meet a puppy at the pet store, they know they have to find a creative way to make him Jan''s.

Forced into the barrio by her grandmother''s death, Concepcion takes with her a legacy of chili, corn, and bean seeds and finds that they hold the key to her survival.

A high school basketball star finds his future life shattered when the results come back from some hospital tests.

Illustrations and simple text describe how one family celebrates Christmas.

The community of the planet of Isis, misled by power-hungry space captain Michael Joseph Flynn, moves down the path of destruction until Moira, the captain''s daughter, exposes his self-serving designs.

Describes how animals as different as monarch butterflies and gray whales travel in a similar pattern.

When twelve-year-old Valerie and her brother and sister fall through a space trap and are transmitted to an alien planet, they seek ways to return to the thirty-second century.

Olwen Pendennis is the Keeper of the Isis Light. She and her companion, Guardian, have lived alone on the planet Isis since the death of her parents. But then a group of colonists arrives on Isis from Earth, settling in the valleys – the only places where they can breathe and not be harmed by the planet’s harsh sun. Olwen fears these new inhabitants may ruin her world forever, and at first, it appears she is right.

Children love getting a close-up look at fascinating creatures in the world around them. This series allows them to get up close and personal with some of these creepy creatures that they can find in parks, gardens and even their own home. Each book identifies the main physical features of each bug including what they eat, how they change, and how they reproduce.

This book explains the water cycle, defining "evaporates," "water vapor," "condenses," and other terms.

In 2154, sixteen-year-old Alison, eight-year-old Gordie, and their dissident parents are arrested and taken to a sterile dome in a hostile environment, but Gordie escapes and Alison follows him to the place he calls Xanadu.

"Joan and Whizkid discover that their computer game is becoming too real - and dangerous. They must confront the faces of their own fears ..." Cf. Our choice, 1998-1999

Color photographs and brief text introduce young readers to the physical characteristics, eating habits, lifecycles, and reproduction of ladybugs.

Why do we have weather patterns? Where does it rain every afternoon? What is a monsoon? Weather follows patterns. Most parts of the world have a yearly weather pattern. In some places there is also a daily weather pattern. Read this book to find out why these patterns happen.

Illustrations and simple text describe how one family celebrates Rosh Hashanah.

Illustrations and simple text describe how one family celebrates Hanukkah.

Tells what it is like to take a vacation to another country, from getting ready to going home again.

Children love getting a close-up look at fascinating creatures in the world around them. This series allows them to get up close and personal with some of these creepy creatures that they can find in parks, gardens and even their own home. Each book identifies the main physical features of each bug including what they eat, how they change, and how they reproduce.

A young girl lives in a place where imagination is outlawed.

Text and photographs introduce young readers to forests and their plants and animals.

For Paula Herman, 11 going on 12, life is pretty straightforward - until the summer her mother decides to move to Edmonton. There Paula begins to unravel the mystery of her past and things begin to get complicated. Why does her mother refuse to talk about it? What has happened to the handsome man in the photograph - the man she knows must be her father? Why is his name Popowich when hers is Herman? The deeper Paula goes into solving the mystery, the more tangled her life becomes - until running away seems the only solution. Or is it?

After feeling as though her life were falling apart, Barb stumbles upon a hidden paradise in the middle of Westwood Industrial Park.

Traveling to the desert island of Roshan to meet the young man that her aunt wants her to marry, Princess Antia becomes involved in a deadly power struggle when she uncovers secrets surrounding the ancient mystery of Roshan and the identity of the Sandwriter.

Readers will explore what the sky looks like in the day, at night, and in many different weather conditions. This book also explores things that fall from the sky, like rain and snowflakes; how big the sky is; and how people, animals, and plants use the sky.

A promise made by her parents before she was born sends ten-year-old Princess Rania to the desert continent of Roshan to learn mastery of the wind and rain from the old woman known as the Sandwriter. Sequel to Sandwriter.

This newly designed paperback edition brings together the stories of an acclaimed trilogy, first published between 1980 and 1982, by an internationally renowned author of fantasy and science fiction. The Keeper of the Isis Light is the first book in Monica Hughes'' acclaimed trilogy, and it is the story of Olwen Pendennis, the Keeper of the Isis Light. She and her companion, Guardian, have lived alone on the remote planet Isis since the death of her parents. Now, colonists from an overcrowded and polluted Earth have landed and are settling in the valleys. Olwen fears these new inhabitants may ruin her world forever, and it seems she may be right. Years later, in Hughes'' sequel, The Guardian of Isis, the planet remains pristine and remote, even after the arrival of settlers from Earth. Over time, the settlers have abandoned the technological knowledge of their ancestors and replaced it with myth. But one young man seeks the truth, and he soon gets the chance to find it. The final chapter in the Trilogy, The Isis Pedlar, brings the devious Michael Joseph Flynn and his daughter, Moira, to Isis. Michael''s magic firestone, his strangely delicious ambrosia and his mysterious Forever Machine are beguiling to the humble members of the Isis community. Only Moira can expose this smooth-talking pedlar for the charlatan that he is. But will she be able to do it in time to save the simple agricultural community? This trilogy is a testament to Hughes'' enormous talent for writing thought-provoking speculative fiction.

Readers will explore the forest during different seasons, finding out what it looks like, feels like, and sounds like, as well as what animals live in the forest and how people use forests.

Readers will learn what an ocean looks, feels and sounds like, as well as how deep and wide it is, what the edge of an ocean is, who lives in an ocean, and how people use oceans.

Introduces the physical characteristics and diet of eudimorphodon and similar winged dinosaurs.

Readers will learn where rivers are found, what they look like, and how rivers change the land. In addition to exploring the depth, length and width of rivers, this book includes a discussion of who lives in a river and how people use rivers.

Illustrations and simple text describe how one family celebrates Divali.

Brief text and illustrations introduce dinosaurs and discuss such physical characteristics as horns, spikes, and plates.

No matter what religious festivals a young reader may take part in, they''re sure to love reading about all of the festivals in this series. Each title celebrates diversity by detailing the preparations that go into each festival, what people wear, where it takes place, the food that is eaten, when it happens, who celebrates it, and why it''s celebrated.

When the slaves rebel against the rigid social order imposed on the colony by the all-controlling computer, Tomi, the son of the colony Overlord manages to escape beyond the computer''s reach and discovers what it is like to be free.

In a future world whose people are clustered in domed cities, fifteen-year-old Ruth, who possesses great extrasensory powers and who has received troubling messages in her dreams from another center of civilization, accompanies a group to search for the source of the messages.