As further evidence of his family's bad fortune--which they attribute to a curse on a distant relative--Stanley Yelnats is sent to a hellish correctional camp in the Texas desert where he finds his first real friend, a treasure, and a new sense of himself.

"Thor's hammer is missing again. The thunder god has a disturbing habit of misplacing his weapon--the mightiest force in the Nine Worlds. But this time the hammer isn't just lost, it has fallen into enemy hands. If Magnus Chase and his friends can't retrieve the hammer quickly, the mortal worlds will be defenseless against an onslaught of giants. Ragnarok will begin. The Nine Worlds will burn. Unfortunately, the only person who can broker a deal for...

"Kabir has been in jail since the day he was born because his mom is serving time for a crime she didn't commit. Their cellmates are his only friends, and he's never even met his dad. The one place he feels a little bit free is the prison classroom, where his teacher delights him with stories of the outside world's wonders. When the new warden announces that Kabir is too old to stay, he's suddenly released--without his mom--to fend for himself on...