Kirjahaku

Back to school, but not so fast Jem Lockwood's first assignment is to write a composition on what he did during the summer, and he tells the teacher he could write a book. Short Circus is Jem's own story about his remarkable adventures with his Big Brother, Jesse Standish, and a host of neighbors and friends, plus a mysterious enemy who keeps sabotaging the swimming pond. There are bike jumping contests, fistfights, motorbikes, visits to seaside towns for festivals, and swimming in a waterfall. What begins as a glorious summer is very nearly ruined when Jem discovers that his Big Brother's rented house is about to be sold, and Jesse Standish may be forced to move away.

Two weeks before Christmas, Duncan Wagner gets into his car for another attempt at kidnapping the son of his most despised enemy, State Representative Win Booker. When he drives into the wealthy Boston suburb, he is surprised to find the boy hitchhiking. So begins Wagners quest for revenge as he finds himself face to face with a real boy, and without a clue about how to run a kidnapping. Wagner, a self-styled charity Santa Claus, comes to realize that eleven year old Gabriel Booker is truly a runaway, much more curious than scared. Gabriel has no idea who Duncan Wagner is or could be. In an old apartment in downtown Boston, the odd pair makes an unforgettable team, providing each other with what they have been missing in life. Author Stephen V. Masse captures the friendship with a blend of suspense and humor, showing that love is a resource which can bring redemption to the most damaged souls. A JOLLY GOOD FELLOW received the Silver Medal in the 2008 Independent Publishers Book Awards, Best Fiction Northeast Region.

When winter arrives in the Austrian Alps, eleven-year-old Nicole Kinders is given a candy cane by the mysterious shopkeeper, Boznik, who tells her that the candy cane is magic. After her first taste, it seems the whole world becomes more colorful, more delicious, and more dangerous. A quarrel between students on the tram home from school leads Nicole to intervene, beginning a frightening series of events that threaten Nicole. She finds herself losing the joy of holiday preparations, and realizes that the vexing secret she keeps is influencing every part of her life. She finds no help from the magic candy cane, and decides she must return it to the shopkeeper.