In 1861, while living with his foster parents at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, twelve-year-old Mike Kelly and his best friend Todd Blakely join the Union army as drummer boys but their dreams of glory end when they experience the full horrors of war at the Battle of Wilson's Creek in Missouri.

Young Jethro Creighton grows from a boy to a man when he is left to take care of the family farm in Illinois during the difficult years of the Civil War. A young boy's experiences during the Civil War in the backwoods of southern Illinois. One brother joins the Union forces, the other the Confederacy, and the family is divided. Annotation. The unforgettable story of young Jethro Creighton who comes of age during the turbulent years of the Civil War....

Garnet's friends are a lively assortment of country personalities and many of her adventures stem from the natural happenings of a farm summer; barnraising and threshing and harvest.

In an effort to fulfill their dying father's last request, nine-year-old Ben and his brother and sister construct a barn on their land in the Oregon Territory.

A fourteen-year-old boy who has been neglected by irresponsible parents spends a wonderful summer on a farm where his grandmother cooks for two elderly brothers.

Afraid of dogs since he was attacked by a mad one as a young child, Ricky resists taking in a homeless pup that shows up at the farm.

In an upstate New York farming community, high school reporter Hildy Biddle investigates a series of strange occurrences at a house rumored to be haunted.

For years Joey was a war horse, pulling ambulance carts and artillery through the battlefields of World War I. Finally he returned to Albert and the farm. Now, decades later, Albert's son loves to tell his own grandson stories about the remarkable horse, including its feats in the war and of the time the family risked everything betting that Joey could win a daring race.

Eleven-year-old aspiring writer Louisa considers traveling the world with her globetrotting parents, but friendship with George helps her to see her grandparents' farm on Deer Island in a new light.

Henry and his friend Gretchen spend a wonderful summer filled with details of farm life, visits to the eccentric elderly couple down the road, and struggles with obnoxious older siblings.