Bunnicula is missing! Chester is convinced all the world's vegetables are in danger of being drained of their life juices and turned into zombies. Soon he has Harold and Howie running around sticking toothpicks through hearts of lettuce and any other veggie in sight. Of course, Chester has been known to be wrong before...but you can never be too careful when there's a vampire bunny at large!...

Rex is a terrible speller, and she's afraid she's going to embarrass herself in front of the whole class at today's spelling bee. Pinky, on the other hand, is a great speller, and he's sure he's going to be champion of the second grade again.

But Pinky isn't counting on the new kid in class, who's a great speller, too. And he's certainly not counting on embarrassing himself in a way so terrible that winning or losing doesn't even matter. It's a good thing he can count on Rex to make him feel better on the worst day of his life....

Pinky and Rex are going to camp for the first time. Rex keeps telling Pinky how much fun they're going to have, but Pinky just wants to stay home where he belongs. Can the "Dear Arnie" column in the newspaper help Pinky figure out what to do?

Arnie give Pinky some good advice, and so does Pinky's mother. But it's his best friend Rex who tells Pinky what he really needs to know....

A creepy-crawly surprise!

Harold the dog, Chester the cat, and Howie the dachshund puppy areexcited for Toby's birthday. Because birthdays mean parties, and partiesmean presents. And best of all -- cake.

But when the pets find seven suitcases in the room with all of thegifts, they start to worry. What could be inside? Why are there holes inthem? And are they...moving?

This is one birthday presentthat Bunnicula fans will be eager to open!...

Chateau Bow-Wow, observed Chester, soon after they arrived, could more properly be called Howliday Inn. Though what was howling, neither of them knew. Chester had his suspicions however; only a werewolf could make that chilling sound....

Pinky's neighbor, Mrs. Morgan, is going to move. Sure, she used to be a mean old witch, but now she's a special friend to Pinky and Rex. They know they'll visit Mrs. Morgan often at her new apartment, but who will be Rex's new neighbors? And what will they be like?...

What was it with my friends?

From the creator of The Misfits, the book that inspired NATIONAL NO NAME-CALLING WEEK, comes the story of Joe Bunch.......

Kids who get called the worst names oftentimes find each other. That's how it was with us. Skeezie Tookis and Addie Carle and Joe Bunch and me. We call ourselves the Gang of Five, but there are only four of us. We do it to keep people on their toes. Make 'em wonder. Or maybe we do it because we figure that there's one more kid out there who's going to need a gang to be a part of. A misfit, like us.

Skeezie, Addie, Joe, and Bobby -- they've been friends forever. They laugh together, have lunch together, and get together once a week at the Candy Kitchen to eat ice cream and talk about important issues. Life isn't always fair, but at least they have each other -- and all they really want to do is survive the seventh grade.

That turns out to be more of a challenge than any of them had anticipated. Starting with Addie's refusal to say the Pledge of Allegiance and her insistence on creating a new political party to run for student council, the Gang of Five is in for the ride of their lives. Along the way they will learn about politics and popularity, love and loss, and what it means to be a misfit. After years of getting by, they are given the chance to stand up and be seen -- not as the one-word jokes their classmates have tried to reduce them to, but as the full, complicated human beings they are just beginning to discover they truly are....

From the earliest stages of sounding out words to the excitement of reading a whole book without help, Ready-to-Read books open up a world of possibilities to children at three different levels:

...

Howie...

Are Harold, Howie, and Chester simply lost in the woods with Dawg, theirstrange new friend? Or have they been lured away from their campsiteintentionally, leaving the Monroes at the mercy of evil spirits withmayhem on their minds? Lulling Dawg to sleep with a bedtime story may betheir only hope of escaping -- but is the hare-raising tale of the originsof Bunnicula, the vampire bunny, really a bedtime story?...

Dear possible reader of this book,

I want to be a writer, just like my uncle Harold, who wrote a bunch of books about our friend Bunnicula. So I wrote this story. And boy! Did I ever get into trouble! My friend Delilah stopped speaking to me because I put her in my book. Uncle Harold stopped speaking to me because I didn't put him in my book. A writer's life isn't easy!

But back to my story: It's about how a talented and lovable (not to mention smart) wirehaired dachshund puppy named Howie saves the world from a disgusting, evil menace named...oops, that would give away the story. But trust me, this menace is disgusting and evil, all right!!!

Your friend, Howie...

The Monroes have gone on vacation, leaving Harold and Chester at Chateau Bow-Wow -- not exactly a four-star hotel. On the animals' very first night there, the silence is pierced by a peculiar wake-up call -- an unearthly howl that makes Chester observe that the place should be called Howliday Inn.

But the mysterious cries in the night (Chester is convinced there are werewolves afoot) are just the beginning of the frightening goings-on. Soon animals start disappearing, and there are whispers of murder. Is checkout time at Chateau Bow-Wow going to come earlier than Harold and Chester anticipated?...

The Monroes have gone on vacation, once again leaving Harold, Chester, and Howie at Chateau Bow-Wow, which Chester aptly dubbed "Howliday Inn" during their last stay there. The motley crew of boarders may have changed, but the creepy goings-on at Howliday Inn have not. A ghostly voice, buried bones, and a collar with the name "Rosebud" on it suggest that murder may have been added to the services offered at the kennel.

A pair of yuppie puppies from posh Upper Centerville, two cat burglars(sisters-in-crime) named Felony and Miss Demeanor, a melancholy Great Dane named Hamlet, and a weasel named, well, The Weasel, join the Monroe pets in getting to the bottom of the mysterious happenings. But will they be able to escape the fate that may have befallen Rosebud?...

But Joe discovers there's more to the assignment -- and his life -- than meets the eye. Especially when he gets to the letter C, which stands for Colin Briggs, the coolest guy in the seventh grade (seriously) -- and Joe's secret boyfriend.

By the time Joe gets to the letter Z, he's pretty much bared his soul about everything. And Joe's okay with that because he likes who he is. He's Totally Joe, and that's the best thing for him to be.

Here is an exuberant, funny, totally original story of one boy's coming out -- and coming-of-age....

Something is under Simon's bed. He can hear it breathing. Is it a monster? Simon has to find out. He shines a flashlight under the bed, to discover that something is hiding there -- but what?

This warm and humorous story will delight any child who has ever envisioned monsters lurking in the bedtime darkness....

Pinky and Rex are looking forward to a camping adventure with their dads. They'll hike in the woods and roast marshmallows over a campfire. But a thunderstorm has come along to ruin all their plans. How can the best friends save their double-dad weekend?...

A magician is coming to town and Toby can't wait. Maybe he'll get to be his assistant! But Harold the dog, Howie the dachshund puppy, and Chester the cat aren't as excited. They know how powerful the Amazing Karlovsky really is. With one wave of his wand he can make things disappear. And even worse -- he can pull a rabbit out of a hat.

What is the rabbit is a vampire just like Bunnicula? And what if -- as Chester fears -- he pulls out another and anothe and another? If someone doesn't stop the amazing Karlovsky soon, there could be hundreds of vampire bunnies on the loose!...

Sticks and stones
may break our bones,
but names
will break our spirit....

It all begins when the Monroes go to see the movie Dracula. At the theater, Toby finds something on his seat -- a baby rabbit, which the family takes home and names Bunnicula. It proves to be an apt name, at least as far as Chester the cat is concerned. Well-read and observant, Chester soon decides that there is something odd about the newcomer. For one thing, he seems to have fangs. And the odd markings on his back look a bit like a cape. Furthermore, Bunnicula sleeps from sunup to sundown and is only awake at night. And then there are the vegetables...the white vegetables.

Is Bunnicula really a vampire? Only Bunnicula knows for sure. But the story of Chester's suspicions and their consequences -- as told by his canine pal, Harold -- makes uproarious reading.

...

Dear Reader,

The guy who usually writes these letters asked me to do it instead. Maybe he was having a bad writing day. Maybe he wanted me to play the sap for him. Or maybe he ran into Trouble with a capital T.

Well, Trouble's my business. I'm a dog. I'm a detective. The name's Bud Barkin. And this book is about a case I had involving a dame named Delilah Gorbish, whom I would call Trouble with a capital T except I've used that metaphor already, and a clown named Crusty Carmady whose calling card is a teakettle that he heaves through windows. Nice pair of birds. The mystery deepens with another character called the Big Fish, who isn't really a fish and who's addicted to the Home Shopping Network.

Hey, I don't write 'em -- I just solve 'em. If you're interested you might want to come along for the ride, which is wilder than a bunch of English teachers at a grammar fair. Just remember: I do all the similes.

Yours truly, Bud Barkin, P.E....

"Let's just say the matter is under control," Chester slyly tells his pals Harold and Howie. But what on earth does he mean?

It seems that Bunnicula, the vampire rabbit, is back to his old ways -- or so Chester thinks, having found pale vegetables drained of their juices scattered about the Monroe family kitchen. And now, once and for all, Chester is determined to save the world from this threat.

But why has Bunnicula -- so frisky just a short time ago -- been so listless and tired of late? Is this part of Chester's scheme? Can Harold let Chester get away with hurting an innocent bunny, no matter what his harebrained suspicions are?

It is not long before the Monroes notice Bunnicula's condition and rush him to the vet, and then the chase is on, ending up with a dramatic confrontation in a most unusual (and dangerous!) location....

A creepy-crawly surprise!

Harold the dog, Chester the cat, and Howie the dachshund puppy areexcited for Toby's birthday. Because birthdays mean parties, and partiesmean presents. And best of all -- cake.

But when the pets find seven suitcases in the room with all of thegifts, they start to worry. What could be inside? Why are there holes inthem? And are they...moving?

This is one birthday presentthat Bunnicula fans will be eager to open!...

Dear possible reader of this book,

I wasn't sure I'd be able to write a book ever again after Canine Quarterly reviewed my series, Tales from the House of Bunnicula. They said I would never win the Newbony Award. Was I depressed! And I didn't even know what a Newbony was! Luckily Delilah's read a lot of Newbony books, so she helped me write this one. It's about a poor (but very cute) orphan dachshund puppy named Howie Monroe, who lives on the prairie and yearns for a chicken bone. (I know. Trust me.) Things really get exciting when Howie and his best friend, the smart and well-read Delilah, find a time machine and travel back to ancient Egypt where they uncover...the mystery of the Pharaoh's tomb!!!

Uncle Harold (who wrote a bunch of books about our friend Bunnicula) says he thinks Delilah and I learned a lot about working together. I'm just glad we're still speaking to each other, and I hope you like the story.

Your friend,
Howie...

The Monroes' kitchen is littered with the remains of vegetables drained of all color. To Chester it's obvious that Bunnicula, the vampire rabbit, is up to his old tricks.

But Harold is more frightened for Bunnicula than of him. The poor bunny doesn't look too good. Is he sick? Or just unhappy? Or has Chester finally gone too far in his attempt to make the world safe for veggies?

One thing's for sure: Harold isn't going to let anything bad happen to his long-eared pal -- even if it means leaving the comfort of his home, losing his best friend, and risking his own life. And if he fails -- could this be the end of Bunnicula?...

Rex's parents are adopting a baby, and Rex doesn't like the idea at all. Suppose her parents are so busy with the new baby they forget about her?

So she comes up with a plan. If she can be the perfect big sister, her parents will have to pay attention to her. The trouble is, being the perfect big sister is a lot of work, and it doesn't leave time for much else -- like her best friend, Pinky....

Dear Reader,
The guy who usually writes these letters asked me to do it instead. Maybe he was having a bad writing day. Maybe he wanted me to play the sap for him. Or maybe he ran into Trouble with a capital T.

Well, Trouble's in my business. I'm a dog. I'm a detective. The name's Bud Barkin. And this book is about the case I had involving a dame named Delilah Gorbish, whom I would call Trouble with a capital T except I've used that metaphor already, and the clown named Crusty Carmady whose calling card is a teakettle that he heaves through windows. Nice pair of birds. The mystery deepens with another character called the Big Fish, who isn't really a fish and who's addicted to the Home Shopping Network.

Hey, I don't write 'em -- I just solve 'em.

Yours truly,
Bud Barkin, P.E....

...

Fortunately, Dolores is one resourceful little mouse. And she comes up with a solution to her problems that is far from cheesy!...

Pinky really wants to be an actor and is sure he'll get the lead in the school play. Rex, on the other hand, wants nothing to do with being on stage. She's afraid she'll forget her lines -- or worse. Everything changes when Pinky convinces Rex to go with him to the tryouts. Will Pinky and Rex still be best friends when the show is over?...

Dear possible reader of this book,

I want to be a writer, just like my uncle Harold, who wrote a bunch of books about our friend Bunnicula. So I wrote this story. And boy! Did I ever get into trouble! My friend Delilah stopped speaking to me because I put her in my book. Uncle Harold stopped speaking to me because I didn't put him in my book. A writer's life isn't easy!

But back to my story: It's about how a talented and lovable (not to mention smart) wirehaired dachshund puppy named Howie saves the world from a disgusting, evil menace named...oops, that would give away the story. But trust me, this menace is disgusting and evil, all right!!!

Uncle Harold, who is speaking to me again, says it's an exciting book, even though it has too many adjectives.

I have no idea what he's talking about. I just hope you like the story.

Your friend,
Howie...

Pinky's favorite color is pink, and his best friend, Rex, is a girl. Kevin, the third-grade bully, says that makes Pinky a sissy. Deep down, Pinky thinks Kevin is wrong, but he's still worried. Does Pinky have to give up his favorite things, and worse, does he have to give up his best friend?...