Dorothy has always wanted to work in a library like the red brick one of her girlhood, but after moving to rural North Carolina she discovers that the type of library is less important than the books and the people who read them.
With her father and brothers gone to serve in the Civil War and her mother sick, teenage Valor ignores what is proper behavior for a girl and fights to defend her North Carolina mountain farm.
While her Uncle Ted is off fighting in World War II, Lee watches the candy gradually disappear from the shelves of her family's store and realizes that her entire world has changed.
Ruthie and her mother wonder how they will fulfill their obligation of getting the perfect Christmas tree to the town for the holiday celebration, since Papa has left the Appalachian area to go to war.
While hoping to convince his stern father that he will soon be a man, almost-eleven-year-old Littlejim uses his hard-earned savings for his sister's Christmas gift.
Twelve-year-old Littlejim, a bookish boy living in a rural North Carolina community in the early years of the twentieth century, hopes to win a newspaper essay contest and thus gain the respect of his stern father.
While hoping to convince his stern father that he will soon be a man, almost-eleven-year-old Littlejim uses his hard-earned savings for his sister's Christmas gift.
In the years before the Civil War, Bright discovers that her parents are providing a safehouse for the Underground Railroad and helps to save a runaway slave named Marcus.
