Franklin, Kristine L

When eleven-year-old Bobbie Lynn's father is reported missing in action in Vietnam, she and her thirteen-year-old brother must learn to cope with their own despair, as well as their mother's breakdown.

Always remembering how the monkeys in her Costa Rican valley disappeared when all the trees were cut down, Marta grows up, plants more trees, and sees the monkeys come back.

In 1925, in a Washington State coal-mining community populated by European immigrants, twelve-year-old Slava Petrovich, nicknamed Cuss, tries to stay in school but finds himself forced to go to work when his brothers are driven out of town by trouble related to bootlegging.

When a large family moves into the house near where he and his father live in the woods, Perry's friendship with the oldest girl helps him come to terms with his sister's death and his parents' divorce.

As a young Navajo boy brings his family's sheep home one evening, he discovers one is missing and sets out to rescue it before nightfall.

Although some in town consider the Fish Woman a witch, a young boy goes fishing with her and not only catches, and gives away, his first salmon, but gets to see a pod of whales close up.

When Trina's father falls into a severe depression after losing his job and her mother becomes pregnant at forty-eight, Trina faces a difficult summer even with the help of her good friend Miranda.

Wiggie Carter gets himself into real trouble because he tries desperately to be a cool kid instead of a nerd with a mom who hosts a TV science show.

When a large family moves into the house near where he and his father live in the woods, Perry's friendship with the oldest girl helps him come to terms with his sister's death and his parents' divorce.