Penrod tells of a boy growing up in Indianapolis at the turn of the twentieth century. His friends and his dog accompany him on his many jaunts, from the stage as the Child Sir Lancelot, to the playground, to school. They make names for themselves as bad boys who always have the most fun.

Another collection of tales about Penrod Schofield and his playmate Sam. Together, the two of them get into more trouble than Dennis the Menace and the Little Rascals combined.

A series of stories about Cress Delehanty and how she grew her teen years--a sort of feminine Penrod. A sensitive romantic child, she goes through episodes that add to her understanding of herself and others and with her, we share them all. Cressy is a funny, intelligent, alive child.

Montgomery "Monty" Brewster counts his blessings when he inherits a million dollars from his late, rich grandfather. However, when his equally-wealthy uncle also dies, Brewster immediately inherits another seven million dollars. But there's a catch: Brewster will only receive his uncle's money if he spends all of his grandfather's money within one year.

A young man grows up in Raintree County, Indiana and becomes a teacher and an outspoken abolitionist. He marries a southern belle just after the outbreak of the Civil War. Battling mental illness she flees to her Southern home ; he joins the Union Army so that he can push into Georgia and find his wife.

Cassie Claiborne has problems beyond her control: her pool-shooting father has another wife; her stoic, long-suffering mother is incapable of moving herself mentally away from the kitchen window; and her sister Belle is a tempest of fragility and brilliance.

This is the story of a middle-class family living in the industrialized "midland country" at the turn of the 20th century. It is against this dingy backdrop that Alice Adams seeks to distinguish herself. She goes to a dance in a used dress, which her mother attempts to renew by changing the lining and adding some lace. She adorns herself not with orchids sent by the florist but with a bouquet of violets she has picked herself. Because her family cannot...

"The story of a young woman from Wisconsin who goes to Chicago, becomes an actress, marries and moves to New York, and when her husband loses his job, returns to the stage." ***"A powerful account of a young working girl's rise to the 'tinsel and shine' of worldly success, and of the slow decline of her lover and protector Hurstwood." Oxford Companion to Engl Lit. ***"Plain, unaffected, and unconventional story of the actual life of the lower middle-classes...

One month before graduating from his Central Florida high school, Quentin "Q" Jacobsen basks in the predictable boringness of his life until the beautiful and exciting Margo Roth Spiegelman, Q's neighbor and classmate, takes him on a midnight adventure and then mysteriously disappears.