Twelve-year-old David and his family search for their kidnapped mother in the many different time period portals of their home, but when a stranger appears and tries to force them to sell the house, their desperation reaches new heights.

Through a series of letters, Sophie Brown, age twelve, tells of her family's move to her Great Uncle Jim's farm, where she begins taking care of some unusual chickens with help from neighbors and friends.

When Shelley leaves Oregon to spend the winter in California, she feels she is the happiest girl in the world, for in her new high school, she meets Philip--the "only boy." A sixteen-year-old girl gains perspective into herself and her family when whe leaves her comfortable Oregon home and spends a year visiting with friends in California... She learns, in the midst of the friendly Michie family, that there are many ways to be oneself, and many different...

Esperanza and her mother are forced to leave their life of wealth and privilege in Mexico to go work in the labor camps of Southern California, where they must adapt to the harsh circumstances facing Mexican farm workers on the eve of the Great Depression.

On her family's California horse ranch in the 1960s, eighth-grader Abby Lovitt faces the possibility of giving up her beloved colt, Jack, when it comes to light that his dam might have been stolen.

In 1960s California, eighth-grader Abby Lovitt has trouble with True Blue, the newest horse on her family's ranch. He's a beautiful dappled gray who is so often spooked, Abby wonders if he is haunted by the ghost of his deceased former owner.

Sixth-grader Annabelle spends autumn coping with competing groups of friends at school, her mother's pre-wedding stress, learning to get along with a cute stepbrother-to-be, and such momentous events as wearing her first bra and learning to shave her legs.

"Abby Lovitt is put in charge of training the expensive and haughty horse Pie in the Sky when his owner refuses. While trying to get a hold on him, she must deal with the new challenges, both good and bad, that come with being a freshman in high school in 1970's Northern California"--

A collection of eleven short stories focusing on the everyday adventures of Hispanic young people growing up in Fresno, California.

California seventh-graders Sarah and Marjorie made a promise in kindergarten to always be friends, but Marjorie is weird and Sarah, wanting to be at least somewhat popular, makes friends with a fellow choir member.