Patricia MacLachlan

When a drought tests the commitment of a mail-order bride from Maine to her new home on the prairie, her stepchildren hope they will be able to remain a family.

Dedclan O'Brien always had a gentle word to share, odd phrases he liked to repeat, and songs to sing while he played basketball. His favorite song was Dona Nobis Pacem, "Grant Us Peace." His family loved him deeply and always knew they were loved in return. but a terrible accident one day changes their lives forever, and Fiona and Finn O'Brien are left without a father. Their mother is at a loss. What words are there to guide them through such overwhelming...

While spending Christmas at their grandparents' farm, Lily becomes convinced that her younger brother Liam is right about White Cow being lonely and helps him seek a companion for her, leaving little time for Christmas preparations or reading.

In the year before they become the orphans known as the Boxcar children, Henry, Jessie, Violet, and Benny Alden live with their parents at Fair Meadow Farm, where, although times are hard, they take in a family who has been stranded in their car during a blizzard.

As her family gathers for the wedding of her sister Anna, fourth-grader Cassie Whiting sees the many changes brought about by everyday life and finds comfort in the love of those around her, especially her grandfather.

If you were a boy named Henri Matisse who lived in a dreary town in northern France, what would your life be like? Would it be full of color and art? Full of lines and dancing figures? Find out in this beautiful, unusual picture book about one of the world's most famous and influential artists by acclaimed author and Newbery Medal-winning Patricia MacLachlan and innovative illustrator Hadley Hooper. A Neal Porter Book

Illustrations and rhyming text follow an assortment of creatures as they make their way to a nest, the shore, or a porch while the day comes to an end and the moon begins to rise.

Nigel the cat and Julia the dog think they will have no use for the new baby in their house, but after awhile they realize that they have come to love her.

Excited puppies relate such new discoveries as the mailman comes every day and food tastes better eaten off a human's plate.