Cia Vale is now seventeen and has everything she ever dreamed of: a boy she loves, a place at the University and a future as one of the leaders of the United Commonwealth. The Testing should be nothing more than a blank space in her mind; an achievement to be celebrated, and then forgotten. But Cia remembers. As further evidence of the government's murderous programmes comes to light, Cia must choose whether to stay silent and protect herself and...

It’s graduation day for sixteen-year-old Malencia Vale, and the entire Five Lakes Colony (the former Great Lakes) is celebrating. All Cia can think about—hope for—is whether she’ll be chosen for The Testing, a United Commonwealth program that selects the best and brightest new graduates to become possible leaders of the slowly revitalizing post-war civilization. When Cia is chosen, her father finally tells her about his own nightmarish half-memories...

In the spring of 1994, Mauro Prosperi took part in a grueling six-day race called the Marathon of the Sands. Mauro, along with 133 other runners, set out to race 151 miles (234 km) across the hot and sandy Sahara Desert. On the fourth day of the race, a sandstorm struck! Millions of grains of sand whirled in the air, pounding and stinging Mauro's skin. For six hours, the fierce sandstorm made it almost impossible to see. After the storm ended, Mauro...

In May 2011, Brian Dickinson climbed to the top of Mt. Everest, the tallest mountain on Earth. "Enjoy this moment," he said to himself. Brian's joy would not last long, however. The powerful rays of the sun soon burned his eyes. He would have to get down the icy mountain all alone and unable to see. Could he get to the bottom of the summit before his oxygen ran out or a snow avalanche buried him alive? Lost on a Mountain is a heart-stopping collection...

In early 2007, Loic Pillois and Guilhem Nayral went on a 60-mile hike in the Amazon rain forest in French Guiana. Despite having a map and a compass, the two friends became hopelessly lost. They built fires, hoping to attract the attention of planes passing overhead, but their efforts didn't work. For weeks Loic and Guilhem survived by eating frogs, centipedes, turtles, and bird-eating spiders. Would the two men be able to find their way back to civilization...