"Twelve-year-old Lalani Sarita takes on the impossible task of traveling to the legendary Mount Isa, towering on an island to the north. Generations of men and boys have died on the same quest--how can a timid young girl in a tiny boat survive the epic tests of the archipelago?"--

Ezomo chases after the leopard he believes killed his father, which leads him and his two friends to open the forbidden magical door that protects their village.

Two roads lead into a dark forest. They meet at Greymist Fair, the village hidden in the trees, a place kept alive by the families that never leave. The people of Greymist Fair know the woods are a dangerous and magical place, and to set foot off the road is to invite trouble. When Heike, the village's young tailor, discovers a body on the road, she goes looking for who is responsible. But her quest only leads to more strange happenings around Greymist...

"The mayor of the noisy city of La Paz institutes new laws forbidding all singing, but a brave little rooster decides he must sing, despite the progressively severe punishments he receives for continuing to crow. The silenced populace, invigorated by the rooster's bravery, ousts the tyrannical mayor and returns their city to its free and clamorous state"--

"It should have been a fresh start for the Widdershins, finally free from the misty gloom of Crowstone and beginning a new life. But all is not as it seems in their postcard-pretty village ... The Widdershins sisters have their own secret: a set of enchanted nesting dolls with the power to render their user invisible. The sisters must use their wits--and their magic--if they're to break the dark hold over the village, and save one of their own ......

Disobeying her witch-like grandmother when she becomes desperate to uncover a family secret, thirteen-year-old Simi goes exploring outside her remote Nigerian village where she discovers a strange parallel world after sinking into the red quicksand of a forbidden lake that holds the key to everything.

"Beast has been robbed! And so has the whole village. Without tools the villagers can't put on their legendary Winter Party, so Beast sets off to solve the mystery. Discovering that a stranded Snow Beast is behind the robbery, Beast has to decide whether to help this odd-looking stranger."--Amazon. The villagers cannot put on their legendary Winter Party when they are robbed of their tools, so Beast sets off to find who stole them, then befriends...

When the twelve-year war between the Uplanders and Downlanders is over and Cam returns home to his village, questions dog him, from how he lost an arm to why he was the only one of his fellow soldiers to survive, such that he must leave until his own suspicions are resolved.

"Ming survived the famine that killed his parents during China's "Great Leap Forward", and lives a hard but adequate life, working in the fields. When a group of city boys comes to the village as part of a Communist Party re-education program, Ming and his friends aren't sure what to make of the new arrivals...But despite his reservations, Ming befriends a charming city boy called Li. The two couldn't be more different, but slowly they form a bond...

Alone and listening to the moaning of the Dark City dying around her, Annah wants to find her way back home, to her sister and family and their village in the Forest of Hands and Teeth.