Abra K. Manchester

In this wacky, renegade teacher handbook, the delightful Ms. Danner offers advice on how to tell which colleagues are deadbeats, how to join a committee and never attend, how to get the ultimate revenge on a student, how to survive a fieldtrip gone south, and why you should go ahead and teach Lolita. More than an irreverent, sassy read, this book has brains and a heart: Ms. Danner explains why you can't fall in love with a class, and how to let go when you inevitably do. A must-read for anyone who has ever taught, gone to school, or loved a teacher.

Unnhappy with her dull village life, Isidora decides to steal a motorbike and head for Paris. But the discovery of a dark family secret and a boy in trouble instead catapults her into a search for the doorway to a lost magical world. Now the children are drawn into a terrible struggle in which this beautiful world and all the creatures in it will disappear forever if they can't open the door in time. As they charge into danger, Isidora must confront the shocking truth about herself: that she alone holds the key.