Book picks similar to
Martha's Secret Wish by Ella Gibson
dogs
fiction
favourite-books
female-author-or-illustrator
Star in the Storm
Joan Hiatt Harlow - 2000
Unwilling to give up her beloved Newfoundland, Sirius, Maggie defies the law and hides Sirius away.But when a steamer crashes into the rocks during a violent storm and starts to sink with a hundred passengers on board, Maggie faces a difficult choice. She knows Sirius can help rescue the people trapped on the ship, but bringing him out of hiding would put his own life in jeopardy. Is Maggie's brave dog a big enough hero to save the desperate passengers -- and himself?
Jessamy
Barbara Sleigh - 1967
In there she mysteriously finds her own name written on the wall with a date: 1914. Some how Jessamy is transported back to that time and to the people who lived in the house and is involved in the theft of a valuable treasure - a treasure she must find...
"B" Is for Betsy
Carolyn Haywood - 1939
She learns about tadpoles and the true meaning of Thanksgiving, makes new friends, and has more fun than she'd ever imagined.
Spite Fences
Trudy Krisher - 2019
If you are rich, you live on the hill in the north end and get to go boating at the country club in Troy. If you are white you use one bathroom at Byer’s Drugs and if you are "colored" you use another.All that starts to change in the summer of 1960. It is the summer when Maggie’s younger sister, Gardenia, triumphs in the Hayes County Little Miss Contest. It is the summer when Maggie must decide whether or not to tell anyone about the horrible thing she saw. Most of all it’s the summer of Maggie’s first camera, a tool that becomes a way for her to find independence and a different kind of truth.REVIEWS“The courage and vision of the 1960s South…are posted on Spite Fences for all to see. It is a masterful, sobering display.” — Booklist“A book of this caliber comes along only rarely.” — Family Life“Characters emerge as complex individuals, not pawns of a political agenda; Maggie’s final triumph is a tribute to all who have suffered for justice.” — Publishers Weekly"Through Krisher’s stunning narrative and achingly real characters, Maggie’s pain and redemption are brought to vivid life.” — Kirkus Reviews
Fourmile
Watt Key - 2012
Then a mysterious stranger arrives at their Alabama farm, a former Army Ranger in Iraq rambling across the country, and Foster believes he has found an ally against Dax. The stranger proves a fascinating mentor, full of wisdom and secrets. And Dax soon has reason to resent not just him and Foster but also Foster's mother. A spurned Dax will be a dangerous enemy, but Foster is increasingly aware that the stranger is just as dangerous, if not more so.From the author of one of the most highly acclaimed children's survival adventures of the last decade comes this tautly wound new novel reminiscent of classic westerns, about a boy caught in the middle of a clash that may turn out to be his own battle to fight.
The Last Good Chance
Tom Barbash - 2002
His friend, Steven Turner is the Brooklyn-born local reporter who will bear witness to the city's successes and failures. Between them come Jack's beautiful fiancee Anne--an artist with secrets of her own - and his undisciplined brother Harris, hired by Jack to remove the suspicious barrels of waste from Lakeland's broken heart.As the town struggles to find a new identity, these four characters must find their way through their own unexpected transformations and along the way attempt to answer the questions that plague us all: what is the price of loyalty, filialty, goodness and love?
The Silent Boy
Lois Lowry - 2003
She joins him on his rounds and has a keen interest in the people around her. She's especially intrigued by Jacob, a gentle, silent boy who has a special sensitivity toward animals. While Jacob never speaks to or looks at Katy, they develop an unusual friendship and understanding. The townspeople dismiss Jacob as an imbecile. Katy just thinks of him as someone special who has a way of communicating with the animals through his sounds and movements. And only Katy comes to realize what the gentle, silent boy did for his family. He meant to help, not harm. It didn't turn out that way.
Sons of Africa
Jeffrey Whittam - 2011
Settler wagons in their hundreds left the safety of the Cape Colony; generations on, their descendents are still fighting to keep a land they love...... "For that smallest of moments the two men stared at each other. Between them flew a hundred years, a thousand reasons. Ancient prophecies, the creak of wagons over rough ground and a woman's yearning for infinite horizons, the strengthening of one man's belief and the imminent death of another."From Rhodesia's final years, the clock turns back to the windswept, dusty streets of Kimberley’s infamous diamond fields. For Catherine Goddard and her son, Mathew, their decision to cross the Limpopo as part of a settler wagon train is one borne of desperation and a boy's need to be reunited with his father. For three months their ox-drawn trek wagon stands as their only defence against the African wilderness and the bloodlust of Lobengula Khumalo’s warring impis.Throughout the passage of a hundred years, three racially divided families are fatefully drawn together. Dynasties are shaped and smashed by kings, warrior chiefs and the indomitable lust for power and wealth by men like Cecil Rhodes and the perpetrators of Zimbabwe’s chaotic new order.From the latter part of the nineteenth century, Sons of Africa runs inexorably to the demise of Rhodesia’s white minority rule and the emergence of the new Zimbabwe.
The Inquisitor's Tale: Or, the Three Magical Children and Their Holy Dog
Adam Gidwitz - 2016
On a dark night, travelers from across France cross paths at an inn and begin to tell stories of three children. Their adventures take them on a chase through France: they are taken captive by knights, sit alongside a king, and save the land from a farting dragon. On the run to escape prejudice and persecution and save precious and holy texts from being burned, their quest drives them forward to a final showdown at Mont Saint-Michel, where all will come to question if these children can perform the miracles of saints. Join William, an oblate on a mission from his monastery; Jacob, a Jewish boy who has fled his burning village; and Jeanne, a peasant girl who hides her prophetic visions. They are accompanied by Jeanne's loyal greyhound, Gwenforte . . . recently brought back from the dead. Told in multiple voices, in a style reminiscent of The Canterbury Tales, our narrator collects their stories and the saga of these three unlikely allies begins to come together.
The Loner
Ester Wier - 1963
Staying with anyone who'll take him, he gives up all his wages for food and a place to sleep. Then he finds a loving home and realizes he is no longer a loner.
Katie John
Mary Calhoun - 1960
She hadn't wanted to leave her friends, and she wished that fall would come quickly.But in spite of all her gloomy predictions, Katie John had a wonderful summer. With her new friend, Sue Halsey, she explored the old house and found it full of exciting surprises. The girls founded a society to improve people, and "improved" Sue's infuriating older sister with amazing results.The summer flew by and fall arrived all too soon. Playing a more responsible and adult role than ever before, Katie John was instrumental in deciding her family's future. Young readers will be delighted by impulsive, warm-hearted Katie John, for, as the "Virginia Kirkus Service" review says, Mrs. Calhoun "imbues her story with a good feeling of locale, a strong sense of seasonal Change, and above all a vigorous portrayal of an appealing and lively heroine."
The Virgin and the Whale
Carl Nixon - 2013
Elizabeth Whitman is working as a nurse in the local hospital, waiting for her husband to return from war, though he is missing in action, 'presumed dead'. She keeps him alive for their four-year-old son, Jack, by telling the story of a man she calls The Balloonist, who went away in a hot-air balloon and has adventures in exotic countries. When she is asked to nurse a returned soldier whose head injury has reduced him to an animal-like state with no memory, Elizabeth starts telling stories to him. It is through them that she manages to engage his interest and offer him a new life . . . in more ways than one.