Fifteen-year-old Victor Flores journeys north in a desperate attempt to cross the Arizona border and find work in the United States to support his family in central Mexico.
Samantha Parkington is an orphan being raised by her wealthy grandmother at the start of a brand-new century, a time when new ideas and inventions are changing everyone's lives. Samantha's own world is filled with elegance and privilege, but she sees that not everyone's life is changing for the better--especially her friend Nellie, a servant girl who lives next door. Some people consider "mixing with servants" bold and improper. But for Samantha, a person's worth isn't measured by wealth. True friendship is what matters most.
The twelve-year-old Callahan cousins are staying at their grandmother's rambling seaside estate for a whole summer without parents, but when the usually shy Kate tries to become the "cool" girl in town, her antics threaten to pull the cousins apart.
Tammo, a daring young hare hungry for adventure, is sent with Russa Nodrey, the wandering red squirrel, to join the Long Patrol and defend Salamandastron against the Rapscallion horde.
When Jumbeelia, an eight-year-old giant, climbs down a beanstalk and collects some "iggly plops," the little people of children's stories, she treats them like toys, unaware that she is endangering their lives.
Although filled with anger over her parents' disappearance, eleven-year-old Sabrina Grimm--along with her grandmother, sister, and several fairy-tale characters--tries to discover who has killed her teacher.
Two teenaged sisters, separated by death but still connected, work through their feelings of loss over the closeness they shared as children that was later destroyed by one's mental illness, and finally make peace with each other.
