Meet nine amazing talents whose passions shone early.

Every kid is good at something. But imagine being so passionate about it that grown-ups flock to see you in action. Wonder Kids explores the lives of nine young talents whose amazing abilities attracted widespread attention.

Phillis Wheatlely, a black slave in colonial Boston, was 14 when her first poem was published. A young Stevie Wonder was wowing audiences with his harmonica solos at the age of 12. And silent-film star Buster Keaton was hurtling through the air on a vaudeville stage when he was only 3.

Other child prodigies featured are:

• Maria Gaetana Agnesi, an Italian linguist fluent in seven languages by age 13(1718-1799)
• Clara Schumann, a German pianist who made her professional debut when she was 9 years old (1819-1896)
• Fanny Mendelssohn, a German composer whose work as a teen caught the ear of Queen Victoria (1805-1847)
• Dai Vernon, a Canadian child-magician who went on to become the only conjurer to fool Houdini (1894-1992)
• Wang Yani, a Chinese artist who began touring with her paintings of monkeys when she was just 4 years old (1975-present)
• Terence Tao, an Australian mathematician who attended university at age 9(1975-present).

Compelling profiles tell the stories of how these young wonders' abilities were discovered and developed, and of how they used their gifts as they grew up. Complete with captivating photographs and links to their works, Wonder Kids is a true celebration of not-so-tiny talent.

Meet skeleton spirits in Alaska -- the Dancing Ahkiyyini -- and gliding ghosts overseas, like Japan's Legless Yurei. Witness groups of ghosts at Mexico's Day of the Dead and the solitary Ibambo on their own in Africa. Of course, each ghost has its own personality. Some like to stay up all night partying. Others, it is said, emerge from the spilled blood of murdered souls. Others still may tidy up your house at night -- but only if they like you. Where can such spooks be found? A World Full of Ghosts takes you around the world to find out. Each fun and frightening profile captures the enduring allure of the supernatural in cultures far and near. Interspersed throughout are first-person accounts of spectral sightings. Meanwhile, a scariness scale rates each tale for younger readers.

Featuring 25 phantoms, a not-too-scary storytelling style and suitably luminous -- and spooky -- artwork, A World Full of Ghosts is a glimpse into a world of imagination.

What were famous authors like as kids?

Our childhood experiences shape us into the adults we become. Born to Write tells the stories of how six extraordinary children transformed early struggles into spellbinding bedtime reading for kids around the world.

To ease the pain of being ostracized by her classmates, Madeleine L'Engle escaped to an invented world every night in her bedroom. Lucy Maud Montgomery lost her mother as a baby, and her father appeared only sporadically throughout her life. And Philip Pullman, a seasoned traveler by age 10, used his long journeys by ship as inspiration for his remarkable novels.

In Born to Write, Charis Cotter chronicles the early lives of these and other much-loved children's writers, including Christopher Paul Curtis, C.S. Lewis and E.B.White, revealing how each author's achievements, losses, triumphs and tragedies helped shape our most beloved books.

Interspersed throughout are sidebars highlighting other well-known children's authors, such as Hans Christian Andersen and Louisa May Alcott, whose works served as inspiration.

They were queens. They were kings. They were kids.

Lots of kids dream of becoming royalty. But being a child monarch is not all glory and bossing people around. Behold Kids Who Rule and discover the startling realities of five junior rulers from history.

Boy king Tutankhamun was crowned pharaoh of Egypt at age nine. Groomed to lead armies, his homework involved firing arrows from a moving chariot. Mary Queen of Scots became royalty at only six days old. She grew up fleeing bad-tempered King Henry VIII who saw her as a child bride for his son.

Other child monarchs profiled:

• Queen Christina of Sweden (1626 to 1689)
• Puyi, Last Emperor of China (1906 to 1967)
• The current Dalai Lama of Tibet (1935 to present).

Each chapter focuses on a different ruler by offering a dramatic episode from their regal childhood, eye-opening elements of their country's history, and an "End of the Story" section on how their life played out. Complete with photos of art and artifacts from each era and intriguing sidebars, Kids Who Rule is a crowning achievement of non-fiction storytelling.

Meet nine amazing talents whose passions shone early.

Every kid is good at something. But imagine being so passionate about it that grown-ups flock to see you in action. Wonder Kids explores the lives of nine young talents whose amazing abilities attracted widespread attention.

Phillis Wheatlely, a black slave in colonial Boston, was 14 when her first poem was published. A young Stevie Wonder was wowing audiences with his harmonica solos at the age of 12. And silent-film star Buster Keaton was hurtling through the air on a vaudeville stage when he was only 3.

Other child prodigies featured are:

• Maria Gaetana Agnesi, an Italian linguist fluent in seven languages by age 13(1718-1799)
• Clara Schumann, a German pianist who made her professional debut when she was 9 years old (1819-1896)
• Fanny Mendelssohn, a German composer whose work as a teen caught the ear of Queen Victoria (1805-1847)
• Dai Vernon, a Canadian child-magician who went on to become the only conjurer to fool Houdini (1894-1992)
• Wang Yani, a Chinese artist who began touring with her paintings of monkeys when she was just 4 years old (1975-present)
• Terence Tao, an Australian mathematician who attended university at age 9(1975-present).

Compelling profiles tell the stories of how these young wonders' abilities were discovered and developed, and of how they used their gifts as they grew up. Complete with captivating photographs and links to their works, Wonder Kids is a true celebration of not-so-tiny talent.