Amanda Freebold doesn't know what to do. Her father left three years ago for the new colony of Jamestown, in America, thousands of miles away. All Amanda has to remember him by is a little brass lion's head he gave his family to guard them while he is gone. Now her mother has just died, leaving Amanda to take care of her younger brother and sister.As head of the family, Amanda finally decides to t ...

Sudan. A country where growing up is risky and challenging. Salva's story begins with a harrowing flee into the woods from his schoolhouse. With danger never far away, Salva makes his way to Ethiopia only to be driven from there at gunpoint. As his story unfolds in 1985 and the years after, readers are introduced to Nya, a young girl who walks all day to deliver dirty water to her family. Water pl ...

A National Book Award Nominee for 2013, A Tangle of Knots is a beautiful story about Cady, an orphan who has a special talent for seeing people and knowing the perfect cake for them. Told from many different perspectives and with many different characters, it takes a little while for the "knot" to be tied but, with a touch of magic, a little mystery, a lot of warmth and humor, and even some great ...

In the tradition of Frances Hodgson Burnett's "The Little Princess come Noel Streatfeild's tales of triumph. In this story, three orphan girls vow to make a name for themselves and find their own special talents. With hard work, fame just may be in the stars! Originally published in 1937.

Two young girls, Lulu and Serena, find themselves alone parked in Dad’s SUV at a campground in Montana. Their mother has recently died of cancer, and their dad is now missing. Lulu is twelve with a strong sense of “stepping up” to problems, but the problem to care for herself and her sister is enormous. Money is limited to $67 and winter is coming. Being new to the area, they don’t have an ...

Two young girls, Lulu and Serena, find themselves alone parked in Dad’s SUV at a campground in Montana. Their mother has recently died of cancer, and their dad is now missing. Lulu is twelve with a strong sense of “stepping up” to problems, but the problem to care for herself and her sister is enormous. Money is limited to $67 and winter is coming. Being new to the area, they don’t have an ...

By the winner of the Scott O'Dell Award for historical fiction, this middle-grade novel is the perfect curriculum tie-in for classroom discussions about disasters and 19th century America. Eleven-year-old Hallelujah is intrigued by the fires that are starting up all over Chicago in 1877--but what she doesn't realize is that it is the Great Fire and her life will be irrevocably changed.

This edition of the classic tale of an orphan who is taken under the wing of a mysterious benefactor features a new Introduction by the author of "Journey to the River Sea."

From the author of the classic Ballet Shoes comes this story of three young girls struggling to get a toehold in the competitive world of professional dance. When Rachel and Hilary go to live with Aunt Cora at her dancing school in London, they compete with Cousin Dulcie for the limelight.

A story of growth toward selflessness disguised as a mystery/adventure. A worthy addition (a prequel!) to the rip-roaring Benedict Society series, but also a great read on its own.

Nielsen’s writing unfolds like a movie, using intrigue, suspense, drama, and emotion like brilliant-colored, textured paints that enliven a blank canvas. Readers feel the pain of impossible decisions, the darkness of misguided means for well-intended ends, and the victory of wisdom and perseverance. A masterful, breathtaking first in a trilogy. Content is best for middle-grade readers.

An absolutely unique reading experience where the number of pictures equals the number of text pages—each revealing significant details of this riveting mystery.

Once Jacob Gutgeld lived with his family in a beautiful house in Warsaw, Poland. He went to school and played hide-and-seek in the woods with his friends. But everything changed the day the Nazi soldiers invaded in 1939. Suddenly it wasn't safe to be Jewish anymore.

Thirteen-year-old Rachel Sheridan is left an orphan after influenza takes the lives of her missionary parents in British East Africa in 1919. National Book Award-winning author Whelan crafts a wickedly delicious story of treachery and triumph, in which one young woman must claim her true identity in order to forge her own future and transform herself from victim to heroine.

"DiCamillo makes every word count, lyrically weaving a tale of woe-turned-wonder that leaves readers feeling as if Louisiana's plight had been their own. The emotional highs and lows that demand difficult choices lead Louisiana toward would-be helpers; some are humble and kind while others are self-serving and hard-hearted. When a crushing revelation and an unforgivable act threatens to derail her ...

This memorable story full of moral struggles is fast-paced and has a sensational ending.

In this picture book companion to the beloved bestseller A Long Walk to Water, a young South Sudanese girl goes on a journey that requires determination, persistence, and compassion.Young Nya takes little sister Akeer along on the two-hour walk to fetch water for the family. But Akeer becomes too ill to walk, and Nya faces the impossible: her sister and the full water vessel together are too heavy ...

One day, on a class trip to Ellis Island, Dominic Cantori faces his worst fantsty--a tour guide asks the children about their families. Filled with shame, Dominic flees from his class and hides until the museum is dark and deserted. Now, his only solace is the recorded voices on the display telephones of the immigrants who came to Ellis Island so long ago. But to Dominic's surprise, the voice of t ...

Emily is looking forward to living at Sugar Hill Hall. She has very fond memories of her aunt and uncle's grand old mansion. But when Emily arrives, everything has changed. The once beautiful home is now dark and eerie--and dead with the silence of the people who live there. Emily knows something awful is happening at Sugar Hill Hall, but what?

In this Newbery Honor Book, a troublesome 12-year-old orphan, staying with an elderly artist who needs her, remembers the only other time she was happy in a foster home, with a family that truly seemed to care about her.