The little elephant becomes so angry at his brother and sister that he decides to run away. When he decides to return home, he realizes that he is lost!.
Failing to get sympathy from her strict fundamentalist father when a rape leaves her pregnant, Lucy flees her home on Maryland's Eastern Shore and attempts to find self-reliance in nearby Ocean City.
Small Fur has trouble standing up to his gruff uncle and relating to his friend Curly Fur, until an incident in the swamp convinces him of his self-reliance.
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 Phyllis, the grandmother who has always taken care of her while her parents were at work, moves to Florida, eleven-year-old Libby finds it difficult to adjust to the changes in her daily life.
The Little Angel of Independence helps a girl named Elena develop independence and self-reliance when she loses her beloved toy giraffe during a visit to the park.
After graduating from high school and leaving her small town for Boston, seventeen-year-old Deirdre discovers that it is not necessary to reject her family and her past in order to forge a life of her own.
