Once there was a little slip of a boy who roamed the streets of London, hungry for life (and maybe a bit of bread). His dad long gone and his actress mother ailing, five-year-old Charlie found himself onstage one day taking his mum's place, singing and drawing laughs amid a shower of coins. There were times in the poorhouse and times spent sitting in the window at home with Mum, making up funny stories about passersby. And when Charlie described a...

"It's 1914, and twelve-year old Darleen Darling has the most exciting job in the world--she gets to dangle from cliffs and stop moving trains and soar through the sky in runaway balloons! Yes, that's right: Darleen is a hero and a star--in the make-believe world of the movies ... But Darleen's fictional adventures collide with reality when a fake kidnapping intended as a publicity stunt becomes all too real. Now she is in the hands of the dastardly...