Cynthia C DeFelice

After stealing a dead man's boots, a poor wandering bagpiper uses them to play a trick on an unfriendly farmer but then finds the trick turned back on him.

In the mid-1800s, twelve-year-old Nathan journeys from his farm on the Ohio frontier to Western Pennsylvania to rescue a friend held captive by the owners of a freak show.

When twelve-year-old Eric's parents are deployed to Iraq, he goes to live with grandparents he hardly knows in small-town North Dakota, but his grandfather's hostility and the threat of losing the dog he has rescued are too much and Eric runs away.

Maggie's visit to Grampa's house in the country allows her to see everyday magic like newly hatched mayflies, baby birds, and ice falling from the summer sky.

When she investigates the mysterious light up on Hogback Hill, eleven-year-old Hadley finds and befriends a hunchbacked old woman with a tragic past.

A search for identity and a dose of reality come in a pleasing package. Dulcie lives on a farm in Hollyhock, Iowa, but she knows there's been a terrible mistake. As she mucks out the chicken coop, she knows her real mother is a queen who would let her eat chocolates all day, and would never wear bunny slippers. Her real dad wouldn't smell of manure or wake her up early to help with the milking. And surely her real brother wouldn't steal her underpants...