After inheriting her uncle's homesteading claim in Montana, sixteen-year-old orphan Hattie Brooks travels from Iowa in 1917 to make a home for herself and encounters some unexpected problems related to the war being fought in Europe.
In this expanded version of the Andersen fairy tale, a tiny girl no bigger than a thumb becomes separated from her overprotective mother, has adventures with various animals, and records her feelings in a diary as she gains self-reliance and searches for someone to love.
After a crow is tricked by a lazy weasel, she finds that she can deal with him all by herself even though she is very small. Includes a glossary of Italian words used.
When Christina quits her family so she can do whatever she pleases, ignoring her brother and her parents, she finds total self-reliance can sometimes be lonely.
When he falls from the bedroom window while Max his owner is still asleep, Teddy finds a way to get back home with the help of friends he meets along the way.
Marina and Fern, eager to learn magic just for fun, convince Xochitl to ask her grandmother, a curandera, to teach them, and as her apprentices the three learn about casting spells, healing, and life.
A young boy relates his adventures during the year he spends living alone in the Catskill Mountains including his struggle for survival, his dependence on nature, his animal friends, and his ultimate realization that he needs human companionship.
A young boy relates his adventures during the year he spends living alone in the Catskill Mountains including his struggle for survival, his dependence on nature, his animal friends, and his ultimate realization that he needs human companionship.