Doan, Lisa

"Mr. Pennypacker is cheap. But Mrs. Pennypacker has wrestled money for a vacation from his tightfisted grip, and the family is on their way to a Disney cruise. So Charlie thinks. The vacation is actually a Wisney cruise, which means a dilapidated fishing boat, fake Disney characters, no water slide, eggs for every meal, and his enemy Gunter Hwang, who has been brought along for thirty dollars a day. On top of that, the captain is on the run from sinister men in dark suits. It's a Caribbean game of cat and mouse involving wits, interrogations, a hidden room, races against time, and clever deceptions"--Provided by publisher.

Twelve-year-old Henry Hewitt, having been sent to the manor of aristocrat scientist Sir Richard Blackstone to work as his assistant, uncovers a mystery about his own identity after Blackstone accidentally transforms a tarantula into a giant beast and a man goes missing, leading to Blackstone being accused of witchcraft.

Wanting to get in touch with their spiritual sides, Jack's parents decide to move to Nepal and start a new religion, but on their way to Shangrilala they are separated so Jack sets out with their first disciple to find them, winds up at an isolated monastery, and learns some lessons about acceptance.

"Jack's parents have decided to guide safaris in Africa, much to Jack's chagrin and none of their previous schemes have worked"--.

Upon the death of his Aunt Julia, twelve-year-old Jack is whisked by his scheming and dreaming parents from Pennsylvania to a small Caribbean island, Compano, and soon finds himself alone on a deserted island.