Whelan, Gloria

In 1934, thirteen-year-old Marya and her younger brother, Georgi, set out alone on a long and arduous journey into Siberia to find their mother after she and their father are exiled for opposing Stalin.

After their mother dies of typhoid, Verna and her younger sister Carlie move with their father, a psychiatrist, and stern Aunt Maude to an asylum for the mentally ill in early-twentieth-century Michigan, where new ideas in the treatment of mental illness are being proposed, but old prejudices still hold sway.

The community of Starvation Lake helps fourth-grader Dawn Zonder clean and repair an old house, hoping that her family will find the money to be able to move in.

Nine-year-old Hannah is destined for a sheltered, unhappy life until Miss Lydia Robbin, the school teacher, comes along and convinces Hannah's parents that the girl's blindness should not keep her from going to school and having a life.

In 1841 thirteen-year-old Libby and her family begin a new life on the shores of Lake Michigan where her father works as a surveyor for the Ottawa Indians and Libby is reunited with her Indian friend Fawn.

Ten-year-old Megan Brady tells of her family's lifestyle, spending summers traveling in a caravan through the Irish countryside getting work where they can, and winters in Dublin so the children can attend school.

Introduces children to the culture, history, traditions, beliefs, and practices of Japan and its people, with topic poems and expository text covering one item for each letter of the alphabet.

Fictional diary entries recount the true-life efforts of Louisa May Alcott's family to establish a utopian community known as Fruitlands in Massachusetts in 1843.

When a tire fire causes a punk rock band to take a detour to Starvation Lake, the fourth-grade students talk them into playing at the school fund raiser.

Even though he is the runt of the litter from her father's prize sled-racing dog, ten-year-old Rachel plans to train her puppy to become a champion racer and determines to track him down when he mysteriously disappears.