Candice F Ransom

After eleven-year-old Jane-Ery loses her father in a sawmill accident, Grandpap comes down from Salter's Mountain to live with her and her mother. To Jane-Ery's surprise, Grandpap's funny ways and strange stories bring her a comfort she never expected. He tells her about Day's Bottom, a place of light and wonderment" that has anything a body could ever want." Jane-Ery wonders: Could she find Daddy there? So begins her search for a new kind of understanding...

Ten-year-old Orry Jenkins is sick and tired of the dust. The year is 1935 and Kansas hasn't gotten enough rain in years. Instead of rainstorms, they get dust storms. One day, Orry and his little stepsister go outside to play. They're far from home when a huge dust storm comes up. Stranded alone on the plains, the children must find a way to survive the terrible black blizzard.

"A family spends a day at an apple orchard"--

"Watching birds soar through the sky makes Uni want to fly!"--

A brother and sister are super excited for their school's field day.

"A girl spends a very special day with her grandparents, going to the museum and the park, and ending up helping her grandfather paint a new birdhouse."--

After her father leaves the family farm on Lost Mountain to be General Lee's guide, Addie finds ways to remember him--even when he does not return at the end of the war.

"The story of President Thomas Jefferson's quest to locate and assemble the first full mastodon skeleton in American history."--

The teacher replaces Kobie, the class artist, with John, the nerdy new kid, to draw the mural for the school contest, but when the class loses, it blames Kobie.

Uni is eager to learn how to use her horn to fix things, but her teacher, Mr. Wise, says she must practice her magic and also use her heart.