White, Ruth

In 1954, when mine closings bring an economic crisis to Way Down Deep, West Virginia, foundling Ruby Jolene Hurley makes a thirteenth-birthday wish to find the treasure rumored to have been buried by one of the town's founders.

Although Meggie Blue seems to be an average sixth-grader she is abnormally frightened when residents of her small, North Carolina town become fixated on aliens, and soon she and her family are forced to flee, making it clear that all is not as it seems.

Despite all the problems she faces at home, Tiny Lambert's experiences at Black Gap High School help her begin to feel good about herself--until the day that she is raped by her stepfather.

Recounts six years of Ginny's life, from 1948 to 1954, in a small town in Appalachia.

In rural Kentucky in 1955, Serilda Collins, single mother of four lively girls, discovers that her orphaned nephew is being subjected to brutality.

Recounts six years of Ginny's life, from 1948 to 1954, in a small town in Appalachia.

In 1955, thirteen-year-old Lyric finds her whole life changing when her family moves from the hills of Virginia to a town in Michigan and her older sister Summer begins descending into mental illness.

In 1955, Woodrow and his cousin Gypsy befriend a new girl in their seventh grade class in rural Virginia, and the three of them set off to find Woodrow's missing mother, encountering unlikely and intriguing coincidences along the way.

Despite all the problems she faces at home, Tiny Lambert's experiences at Black Gap High School help her begin to feel good about herself --until the day that she is raped by her stepfather.

When Piper's parents divorce and gradually begin to make new lives for themselves she finds all the changes difficult, but in time she starts to find her own way.