orphans

When her father dies leaving her penniless, Sara Crewe, a once privileged pupil at Miss Minchin's London boarding school, endures many hardships and cruel treatment until she is helped by a mysterious benefactor.

"W. Somerset Maugham's semiautobiographical [work] unfolds in London and Paris at the end of the 19th century. The protagonist, Philip Carey, is a sensitive orphan who's burdened with a club foot and shunned by his schoolmates. Philip's artistic aspirations fade with his realization of his own mediocrity, and his hopeless infatuation with Mildred, a vulgar waitress, threatens to destroy what's left of his idealism"--Provided by publisher.

After a fire kills her parents, eleven-year-old Martine must leave England to live with her grandmother on a wildlife game reserve in South Africa, where she befriends a mythical white giraffe.

Heart hopes to unlock the secrets of her dreams by interpreting mysterious symbols on papers found in Lord Dunraven's castle.

When Sam, who can barely read, discovers an old newspaper clipping just before his eleventh birthday, it brings forth memories from his past, and, with the help of a new friend at school and the castle they are building for a school project, his questions are eventually answered.

Ten-year-old Mary comes to live in a lonely house on the Yorkshire moors and discovers an invalid cousin and the mysteries of a locked garden.

Ten-year-old Mary comes to live in a lonely house on the Yorkshire moors and discovers an invalid cousin and the mysteries of a locked garden.

"A rumor that Blackbeard's buried treasure is somewhere near Tupelo Landing causes pirate fever to sweep through town just as clues about Mo's Upstream Mother surface and the Desperado Detectives--aka Mo LoBeau and her best friends Dale and Harm--take on the most important case of Mo's life"--Provided by publisher.

A . . . book in which a boy meets an orphaned mermaid and invites her to join his circus family.

"Pushed to the brink of despair after his father attempted to have him killed, Prince Canute has experienced an awakening, transforming him from a timid, gentle boy into a clear-eyed man with the heart of a king. But a king needs a crown, and Canute now knows that nothing will be given to him. If he wants to rule, he will have to prove his ruthlessness with a plot that will change the fate of the kingdom and spatter the throne with blood! Meanwhile, Thorfinn watches events unfold that could steal away the vengeance he has waited so long to achieve..."--Back cover.