Kirby Larson

After inheriting her uncle's homesteading claim in Montana, sixteen-year-old orphan Hattie Brooks travels from Iowa in 1917 to make a home for herself and encounters some unexpected problems related to the war being fought in Europe. Alone in the world, teen-aged Hattie is driven to prove up on her uncle's homesteading claim. For years, sixteen-year-old Hattie's been shuttled between relatives. Tired of being Hattie Here-and-There, she courageously...

In 1910, Audacity Jones is an eleven-year-old orphan living a monotonous life at Miss Maisie's School for Wayward Girls, and wondering why nothing exciting ever happens--but when the mysterious Commodore Crutchfield whisks her away to Washington D.C., she finds herself involved in a sinister and dangerous plot against the president of the United States.

In September 1944 eleven-year-old Billie lives with her great aunt, Doff, eagerly waiting for her older brother Leo to return from boot camp, and desperate to find the father that left when she was little; but Leo brings a friend with him, a Navajo named Denny, and the injured dog they have rescued and named Bear--and when the two young men go off to war Bear becomes the thread that ties them all together, and helps Billie to find a true friend.

Fish has a knack for inventing. His annoying neighbor, Olympia, has a knack for messing things up. But when his latest invention leads Fish to Liberty, a beautiful stray dog who needs a home, he and Olympia work together to rescue her.

In 1919, seventeen-year-old Hattie leaves the Montana prairie--and her sweetheart Charlie--to become a female reporter in San Francisco.

Wanting to share a tea party with a new next-door neighbor, a little girl and her doll, Bitty Baby, overcome their trepidation about making new friends with someone who is different by remembering the story about Bitty Baby and a hedgehog.

"In this story, a little girl wants to build a snowman with her brother--but he's too busy sledding. So instead, she tells her Bitty Baby doll a story about Bitty Baby and a polar bear and how they learn to play together. By the time her brother shows up, she no longer needs help, and he admires the snow caterpillar she has built!"

Sharp-tongued and lonely Griselda gets a magic kerchief from a mysterious stranger, and when she wears it she can speak only kind words to the people she meets.

Looking forward to swimming lessons before finding out that she will have to put her face underwater, a little girl tells her doll, Bitty Baby, a story about a brave little duckling who teaches his brothers and sisters that practice makes perfect.

"Nine-year-old Nanea Mitchell may be the youngest in her family, but she still wants to 'dip her paddle in' and be useful. She knows she's grown-up enough to help in her grandparents' market. But before she can prove that she's ready for more responsibility, the unthinkable happens: Japan attacks Pearl Harbor, the naval base where her father works, and America is at war! With friends and family missing, and rumors of more attacks to come, Nanea worries...