When a ghost shows up at the threshold to Ferris's grandmother Charisse's room, Ferris worries that she's there to take Charisse to the Great Beyond. But Charisse says that the ghost has something else in mind--something unpredictable, a task that's impractical and illuminating. But how can Ferris focus on completing an assignment for a ghost when her little sister is terrorizing the town, her uncle keeps sending her to spy on her aunt, and the house...

Herc Beal knows who he's named after--a mythical hero--but he's no superhero. He's the smallest kid in his class. So when his homeroom teacher at his new middle school gives him the assignment of duplicating the mythical Hercules's amazing feats in real life, he's skeptical. After all, there are no Nemean Lions on Cape Cod--and not a single Hydra in sight. Missing his parents terribly and wishing his older brother wasn't working all the time, Herc...