After months of intensive training, Billy is finally ready to go on his first solo creatch op for AFMEC (Allied Forces for the Management of Extraterritorial Creatches). Godzilla-like monsters are menacing the Chinese mountain village of Hua Qing. Billy is more than fired up to fend them off--until he discovers that bossy Ana García will be tagging along. Though Ana is no older than Billy, she's a full-fledged AFMEC agent--and doesn't hesitate to remind him of that fact. Whenever possible.At first, the mission is pretty straightforward. Billy and Ana help Hua Qing fight off the monsters, and life for the villagers goes back to normal. But Billy can't shake the feeling that things in Hua Qing are not what they seem. Is Billy being paranoid? Or is something really bad about to go down? If Billy is right, then he, Ana, and the villagers of Hua Qing are in a whole lot of trouble.From the Hardcover edition.

When this fourth-grader comes home from school one day, she finds an envelope waiting for her with no stamp and no return address. The message inside reads Dear Akiko: We are coming to get you. Meet us outside your bedroom window tonight at 8:00. Don't forget your toothbrush. How could anyone meet her outside her window? She lives on the 17th floor, for goodness sake. But that evening, as Akiko is preparing to study for tomorrow's geography test, she finds a small spacecraft hovering outside her window with two odd little men inside. They have been sent to whisk Akiko off to the Planet Smoo where she will lead a team enlisted to find the King of Smoo's kidnapped son, Prince Froptoppit. Akiko, the leader of a rescue mission? She's too timid to be on the school's safety patrol! So begins Akiko's adventure across the land of Smoo to find a prince and become a leader.