It's June of 1863 and Sarah McCoombs feels isolated and uncomfortable when her mother pulls her from school and allows a doctor to treat her scoliosis with a cumbersome body cast. She thinks life can't get much worse, but she's wrong. Physically and socially awkward, 15-year-old Sarah thinks her life is crumbling. She worries about her brother Micah and neighbor Martin, both serving in the Union Army. She frets over rumors that rebel forces are approaching the nearby town of Gettysburg. When the McCoombs farm becomes a battle field and then a hospital, Sarah must reach deep inside herself to...

Nathaniel Marshal is a bully with a short temper and an empty place in his heart left by the mother who disappeared when he was a baby. The spoiled boy can't wait to leave boring Staywell and begin training so he can become a knight like his father, the cold and distant Sir Amren. But when he arrives at Farleigh, he finds himself in a place of death and danger. Set in the period of Richard the Lionheart, this is a coming of age story about a boy who must confront issues that many modern boys will recognize: the need to control one's temper and destiny, the quest for acceptance, the desire for...

Valentine's Day is growing near and Hector ("Hec") Anderson feels like a sci-fi visitor abandoned on an alien world. His sister Chloe abandons her black Goth style for pretty pinks after getting roses from an anonymous admirer. Dad's long work hours makes Mom trade in her no- nonsense pony tail and sweatpants for capris and curlers. Calvin's hand puppet Mr. Buttons falls in love. Only Stevie, who loves Valentine's Day because of the sweet tarts and lollypops he gets at preschool, seems sane. Life outside the Anderson household is no more stable. Hec's best friend shamelessly capitalizes on a...