Katherine Paterson

Jess Aarons has been practicing all summer so he can be the fastest runner in the fifth grade. And he almost is, until the new girl in school, Leslie Burke, outpaces him. The two become fast friends and spend most days in the woods behind Leslie's house, where they invent a land called Terabithia.

Birdie has questions for God. For starters, why couldn’t God roll history back to September 10, 2001, and fix things - so the next day was an ordinary sunny day and not the devastating lead-in to two wars? Daddy has already been to Iraq twice....

Mary's baby has arrived, and she can't contain her joy! As Joseph sleeps, she examines her newborn's tiny mouth, his wild hair, his little hands. Yet what's most wondrous is that this child is not just Mary's own, but a gift that God has shared with everyone....

The Johnsons are becoming country music stars. They're on TV and the radio - and it's all because of James. Most kids would love it. Not James....

They tell Jip he tumbled off the back of a wagon when he was small, and no one ever came back for him. He never had a reason to question this tale - but then a stranger shows up and begins asking about him around town....

When Lyddie and her younger brother are hired out as servants to help pay off their family farm's debts, Lyddie is determined to find a way to reunite her family once again....

The Lleshis are Albanians living in Kosovo, a country trying to fight off Serbian oppressors, and suddenly they are homeless refugees. Then, unexpectedly, they are brought to America by a church group....

Jess Aarons has been practicing all summer so he can be the fastest runner in the fifth grade. And he almost is, until the new girl in school, Leslie Burke, outpaces him....

At age 11, Gilly is nobody's real kid. If only she could find her beautiful mother, Courtney, and live with her instead of in the ugly foster home where she has just been placed....

"Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated." With her grandmother's taunt, Louise knew that she, like the biblical Esau, was the despised elder twin....

Katherine Paterson, author of Newbery Medal winners Bridge to Terabithia and Jacob Have I Loved, again displays her storytelling talent in this powerful novel....

Willful and high-spirited, exerting his independence at every turn, 10-year-old Robert "Robbie" Burns Hewitt plans to live life to the fullest....

Rosa's mother is singing again, for the first time since Papa died in an accident in the mills. But instead of filling their cramped tenement apartment with Italian lullabies....