The Castle Key

Twelve-year-old Moon lives with her father after her mother disappears, leaving her with nothing but a beautiful ring, which also mysteriously vanishes. After her mother’s departure, her father has become unusually depressed and moody. Moon, however, firmly believes that she will see her mother again and develops a strong interest in magic as a way to find her. Her breakthrough comes when she finds a strange key in the office of Ms. Tanglemoth, the intimidating school librarian. When Moon holds the key, she is transported back in time as an invisible observer to the middle ages, where young Nora, who bears a strong resemblance to Moon’s mother, is oppressed both by her father and his enemies. Moon gradually realizes that she and the key are the means to giving Nora’s murdered ghost peace and to restoring her own mother to her. But how exactly is this to be accomplished?

A mysterious key shows Moon images of medieval times and the means of destroying the family curse.

Join HARRY POTTER™ and other first-year students on their inaugural trip across Black Lake to the Hogwarts™ Castle, with this glow-in-the-dark lock and key diary. Turn out the lights and watch the castle windows, torches, moon and more glow! Featuring delightful illustrations from the acclaimed book Harry Potter™: Exploring Hogwarts, illustrated by Studio Muti, this diary includes 192 pages and a lock and two keys to keep your thoughts secure from even the most powerful witches and wizards.

Move Over, Mickey. Deep inside Sleeping Beauty Castle, in rooms secretly built by Walt Disney himself, live the true champions of Disneyland. Not princes, not Imagineers, not Mickey. Cats. Cats of the Castle! Their mission: to preserve the magic of the park from the villains who would destroy it.

4 boys, 3 days, 1 castle. You do the math. It adds up to adventure, trouble and ... fries. In "The Secret of Markree Castle," 4 young boys find themselves in a 1 castle for 3 days and the nanny who was supposed to watch over them ... flaked. "That's OK," their parents said, "They're old enough now and responsible, right?" You can practically hear the boys' voices, "Sure, dad, we're responsible ... !" Then queue the evil background laugh and kids boiling pots of parents deep in the dungeon and ... I have to stop. It doesn't get that bad, I swear. But you see, dear reader, this book was written together with these 4 real life boys. We had Skype calls together (2 of the boys live in Beijing, China), we shared emails and asked lots of questions (for example, "If you could have any magical power, what would it be?"). I think it's fair to say that I learned more about my boys and their 2 friends writing this book together with them than I did hanging out with them all together. The Secret was the first book in the Markree Castle series and got the boys through the first night. This is the second book in the series and in "The Key to Markree Castle," the boys are in deeper than they thought possible, with the future of the castle in their hands. Here is a list of bullet points of takeaways from the book. -- 9-year old references no adult could possibly understand (or want to). -- Soccer, fries, and a castle. What else could a few boys dream of? -- Useless phrases in Dutch and Mandarin you can use at school to impress your friends! -- Written with the help of real 9- and 11-year olds. -- Parenting strategies so questionable your kids will be begging you to adopt them (the strategies, not the kids). -- Rarely before witnessed insight into the minds of young boys on their own with no parents. -- Study guides included on medieval castle architecture. (OK, not really.) -- Fun for the whole family! (Depending on your family, of course.) -- Bonus: learn the names of Donald Duck’s nephews in Dutch and Mandarin!