Zimmer, Tracie Vaughn

Linked free-verse poems and illustrations depict the challenges a young girl faces as she grows up and tries to determine who she really wants to be and how she can remain true to herself.

Josie, who lives with her mother and grandmother and has cerebral palsy, befriends a boy who moves into one of the rich houses behind her old farmhouse.

In 1850s Pittsburgh, thirteen-year-old Owen leaves his younger brother and sneaks aboard a circus housed in a riverboat, where he befriends a freed slave, learns to work with elephants, and finally comes to terms with the choices he has made in his difficult life.

In this novel written in verse, Josie, who has cerebral palsy, befriends a boy who moves into a house behind her old farmhouse.

As her 13th birthday nears, JoEllen decides to unite her two separate lives--one as Joey, who enjoys weekends with her father, and another as Ellen, who lives with her mother in Cincinnati near school and friends.

Narrator Ann Marie paints pictures of family life from grief to hope after her father abandons his "four girls"--Ann Marie and her mother and twin and baby sisters.

An illustrated collection of poems that showcases the appearance and behavior of elephants.

An illustrated collection of free-verse poems that celebrate work and workers.