Books
Novels for Middle Grade Readers :
Set in the late 1800s, Ning, a Chinese American girl struggles to find her place in the world when she is forced to leave Shanghai to go to America with a father she barely knows. Can she build a new life? Based on the author’s family history .
The childhood of Beryl Markham, the first person to fly solo from England to North America, is portrayed in this action-packed novel. Set against the backdrop of colonial British East Africa, Beryl’s daring adventures with lions and planes will thrill.
When 12 yr old orphan Rory Fitzpatrick discovers that her sister Violet’s being sent to the Arizona Territory to be adopted, she is determined to stay with her sister. Even if it means stowing away on a train heading west. What could go wrong?
Casita, a ten-year-old Lipan Apache girl, lives in Mexico with her family. The peace is shattered when the U.S. Cavalry invades and brutally attacks. Casita and her younger brother survive, but are taken captive and sent to the Carlisle Indian School. Casita grieves for her lost family as she struggles to find a way to maintain her identity as a Lipan Apache and survive at the school.
Eliza Scott isn't quite a slave, but she's not free either. Not a prisoner, but her family lives in a jail. Eliza attends a secret floating school on the Mississippi River but it's illegal for her to read. When a cholera epidemic strikes the city, Eliza discovers she will have to be clever and resourceful to escape contagion, a vicious slave catcher and the worst fire in St. Louis' history.
Novels for Young Adults :
At seventeen, Liza has lost her family, her home and her future. In desperation, she takes a maid’s position at Kensington Palace working for the sixteen year old Princess Victoria. But the princess is practically a prisoner. A mother schemes against her daughter. Sir John Conroy, a man with no power or connections, is playing for the ultimate prize. And the servants – they know everything of course!
15 yr old Emily Dickinson meets a mysterious, handsome young man. When Mr. "Nobody" turns up dead in her family's pond, unidentified, Emily is stricken with guilt. She has to discover who this enigmatic stranger was before he's condemned to be buried in an anonymous grave. Her investigation takes her deep into town secrets and deadly danger. Will Mr. Nobody’s death end in a poem?
Emily and Charlotte Brontë are about as opposite as two sisters can be. Charlotte is practical and cautious; Emily is headstrong and imaginative. Even the moors can’t contain these two. Can they work as a team to find the connection between a string of local burglaries, a neighbor's death that may not have been accidental and the arrival of a handsome stranger — all before someone else gets killed.
How is Louisa to find the time to write her stories if she’s caring for her father and sister as well as a long list of chores? Before long she is juggling her stubborn father, a fugitive slave who is seeking safety along the Underground Railroad, and possibly even love where she least expects it. Add the mysterious murder of a slave catcher to the mix, and Louisa has her hands full.
Jane Austen's family is eager to secure her future by marrying her off. But Jane is more interested in writing; every suitor is lacking—until the mysterious Mr. Lefroy arrives. Could he be the one? But the gentelman has secrets. Jane must solve a grisly murder, clear her family's name, and face a decision that might cost Jane a chance at true love.