This gripping story, written in sparse first-person, free-verse poems, is the compelling tale of Billie Jo's struggle to survive during the dust bowl years of the Depression. With stoic courage, she learns to cope with the loss of her mother and her grieving father's slow deterioration. There is hope at the end when Billie Jo's badly burned hands are healed, and she is able to play her beloved piano again. The 1998 Newbery Medal winner.

Newbery Medal winner Karen Hesse's Civil War diary, A LIGHT IN THE STORM, is now back in print with a beautiful new cover! In 1861, Amelia Martin's father is stripped of his post as a ship's captain when he is caught harboring the leader of a slave rebellion. Now he is an assistant lighthouse keeper on Fenwick Island, off the coast of Delaware -- a state wedged between the North and the South, just as Amelia is wedged between her warring parents. Amelia's mother blames her abolitionist hus...

From the Newbery Award winning author of Out of the Dust.Mila becomes famous around the world when she is rescued from an unpopulated island off the coast of Florida. Years ago, Mila went missing from a boat crash, and she has been raised by dolphins from the age of four.Researchers teach Mila language and music. But she also learns about rules and expectations, about locked doors and broken promises, disappointment and betrayal.The more Mila finds out about what it means ...

From Newbery media winner Karen Hesse comes an unforgettable story of an immigrant family's journey to America."America," the girl repeated. "What will you do there?"I was silent for a little time."I will do everything there," I answered.Rifka knows nothing about America when she flees from Russia with her family in 1919. But she dreams that in the new country she will at last be safe from the Russian soldiers and th...

From Newbery media winner Karen Hesse comes an unforgettable story of an immigrant family's journey to America."America," the girl repeated. "What will you do there?"I was silent for a little time."I will do everything there," I answered.Rifka knows nothing about America when she flees from Russia with her family in 1919. But she dreams that in the new country she will at last be safe from the Russian soldiers and th...

"This powerful exploration of how we become human and how the soul endures is a song of beauty and sorrow, haunting and unforgettable." — School Library Journal (starred review)A Publishers Weekly Best Book of the YearA School Library Journal Best Book of the YearAn ALA Best Book for Young AdultsA Book Links Best Book of the Year

Captures the emotions of a young Union girl who struggles to make sense of her shattered world as she lives in a state of harsh division during the first year of the Civil War. 120,000 first printing.

Radley's parents had warned her that all hell would break loose if the American People's Party took power. And now, with the president assassinated and the government cracking down on citizens, the news is filled with images of vigilante groups, frenzied looting, and police raids. It seems as if all hell has broken loose.Coming back from volunteering abroad, Radley just wants to get home to Vermont, and the comfort and safety of her parents. Travel restrictions and delays a...

Leanora Sutter. Esther Hirsh. Merlin Van Tornhout. Johnny Reeves . . . These characters are among the unforgettable cast inhabiting a small Vermont town in 1924. A town that turns against its own when the Ku Klux Klan moves in. No one is safe, especially the two youngest, twelve-year-old Leanora, an African-American girl, and six-year-old Esther, who is Jewish. In this story of a community on the brink of disaster, told through the haunting and impassioned voices of its inhabitants, Newber...

These critically acclaimed, bestselling Newbery Winner and Honor books that highlight inner strength and perseverance are now available in this convenient eBook collection!The young protagonists in each of these stories are confronted by varying conflicts, which can only be overcome by their inner will and tenacity. These are stories of family, friendship, and hope.In RULES, all Catherine wants is a "normal" life, and having a brother with autism makes that seem nearly impossible.S...

With lyrical narration and elegant, evocative artwork, Newbery Medalist Karen Hesse and illustrator G. Brian Karas share the nighttime experience of a father and child.When the sun sets, Dad’s job as a school custodian is just beginning. What is it like to work on a Friday night while the rest of the city is asleep? There’s the smell of lilacs in the night air, the dusky highway in the moonlight, and glimpses of shy nighttime anima...

Billie Jo has a great deal to forgive: her father for causing the accident that killed her mother; her mother for leaving when Billie Jo needed her most; and herself for being the cause of her own sorrow. Daddy's too wrung out to help her, and there's no one else to care. So at fourteen, Billie Jo must heal herself - even if it means tearing up her roots and leaving behind everything she's ever known.