And best of all was the remarkable grandmother who made magic of all she touched, bringing the past alive as only a born storyteller could.Here are those marvelous tales—faithfully recalled for the delight of young and old alike, a touchstone to another day when life was simpler, perhaps richer; when the treasures of family life and love were passed from generation to generation by a child's questions...and the legends that followed enlarged our faith.Gifted storyteller Arleta Richardson grew up an only child in Chicago, living in a hotel on the shores of Lake Michigan. Under the care of her maternal grandmother, she listened for hours as her grandmother told stories from her own childhood. With unusual recall, Arleta began to write these stories for an audience that now numbers over 2 million. "My grandmother would be amazed to know her stories have gone around the world," Arleta says.

    Distraught over her parents' separation, Abigail follows a strange child called Beatie Bow and time slips back a hundred years where she becomes involved with an Australian shopkeeper's family.

    What's more, he enjoys having a bad attitude about everything--especially about church. Garth Plimpton is a fanatic. He's spent so much time studying the scriptures and thick books on archaeology that that he can't carry on a normal conversation with other kids. That's why they consider him a nerd. Through an unusual chain of events, these two opposites become fast friends. It all began when Garth told Jim a simple truth: "They really existed once, you know." "Who?" Jim asked. "Nephites," Garth replied. "Every character in the Book of Mormon ate, slept, died, was buried . . ." That statement, taken for granted before, would soon echo deeply in the two boys' minds--because they were on the trail of a chilling secret.

    Meg Wright is nine when she hides under a table and hears her sister Inge kill the King of Scotland by witchcraft, setting in motion a treacherous power struggle.

    When she returns in 1945, she finds a country and a family she neither understands nor likes, and vice versa.

    She knows about the young girl who burned at the stake--and the bloody feud between two families that caused the unspeakable horror that has lasted 300 years!She knows, and she wants to tell.Are you sure you want to hear it?

    On the night of the prom, they do what so many couples in love do. Soon, July finds out that she is pregnant with Bo Jo's baby and suddenly the life they once knew is over. Now Mr. and Mrs. Bo Jo Jones must come to grips with the very adult decision that they must make. It's a situation that holds more possibilities and challenges than they ever bargained for. It could bring them closer-or drive them apart. And as the baby grows and changes, so will they.

    The second daughter in a family with no sons, she' s been allowed freedoms forbidden to most Muslim girls. But when a tragic encounter with a wealthy and powerful landowner ruins the marriage plans of her older sister, Shabanu is called upon to sacrifice everything she' s dreamed of. Should she do what is necessary to uphold her family' s honor-- or listen to the stirrings of her own heart?

    His fearsome master has just one demand: steal Shakespeare's play "Hamlet"--or else. Widge has no choice but to follow orders, so he works his way into the heart of the Globe Theatre, where Shakespeare's players perform. As full of twists and turns as a London alleyway, this entertaining novel is rich in period details, colorful characters, villainy, and drama."A fast-moving historical novel that introduces an important era with casual familiarity." --School Library Journal, starred review

    "So, you're falsifying papers?" said Janna. "You belong to the Dutch Resistance." She looked at him curiously. The boy shrugged his shoulders. "You could call it that. I'm just helping the van Arkels rescue innocent people from certain death. They need these identification papers and food cards to keep alive. If you betray me, all these people will either starve or be forced to give themselves up to be sent to the gas chambers of a concentration camp." "Gas chambers?" Janna looked at the boy with horror. "You mean ... they are killed?" The book looked sternly at her. "Do you think," he said, "that Germany is sending Jews to a nice vacation spa, or to pretty villages with geraniums in the windows? That's what they told us at first, though in Holland we never believed it."

    In the journal she receives for her twelfth birthday in 1835, Lucinda Lawrence describes the hardships her family and other residents of the "Texas colonies" endure when they decide to face the Mexicans in a fight for their freedom.

    Bound to her father's second wife and daughter after Xing Xing's father has passed away. Bound to a life of servitude as a young girl in ancient China, where the life of a woman is valued less than that of livestock. Bound to be alone and unmarried, with no parents to arrange for a suitable husband. Dubbed "Lazy One" by her stepmother, Xing Xing spends her days taking care of her half sister, Wei Ping, who cannot walk because of her foot bindings, the painful but compulsory tradition for girls who are fit to be married. Even so, Xing Xing is content, for now, to practice her gift for poetry and calligraphy, to tend to the mysterious but beautiful carp in her garden, and to dream of a life unbound by the laws of family and society.But all of this is about to change as the time for the village's annual festival draws near, and Stepmother, who has spent nearly all of the family's money, grows desperate to find a husband for Wei Ping. Xing Xing soon realizes that this greed and desperation may threaten not only her memories of the past, but also her dreams for the future.In this searing story, Donna Jo Napoli, acclaimed author of "Beast and Breath, " delves into the roots of the Cinderella myth and unearths a tale as powerful as it is familiar.

    She disguises herself as a boy Rowan, befriends half-wolf Tykell, overgrown enchanting minstrel Lionel, and runaway princess Ettarde. Vicious Guy of Gisborne wears a black horse-head hide. But Robin says his camp is no place for a girl.

    The sequel to Johanna Spyri's "Heidi", this is a Classic story for children and teens beautifully illustrated in Color & B/W by June Goldsborough.

    It's 1788, and six year old Martha lives in a little stone house in Glencraid, Scotland. Martha's father is Laird Glencaraid, and the life of the Laird's daughter is not always easy for a lively girl like Martha. She would rather be running barefoot through the fields of heather and listening to magical tales of fairies and other Wee Folk than learning to sew like a proper young lady. But between her dreaded sewing lessons, Martha still finds time to play on the rolling Scottish hills.