Colorado Parks and Wildlife Research Library

"Marilla Cuthbert and her brother, Matthew, wanted to adopt a boy. Matthew needed someone to help him with the chores on their farm, and they sent word to town to have the orphanage send them a boy. What they got instead was a skinny, freckled-faced, eleven-year-old girl with a head full of dreams."--BOOK JACKET.

Four adventurous siblings-Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy Pevensie-step through a wardrobe door and into the land of Narnia, a land frozen in eternal winter and enslaved by the power of the White Witch. But when almost all hope is lost, the return of the Great Lion, Aslan, signals a great change . . . and a great sacrifice.

One warm night four children stood in front of a bakery. No one knew them. No one knew where they had come from. Henry, Jessie, Violet and Benny are orphans.They discover an old red boxcar that provides them shelter from the storm.

"Two families, generations apart, are forever changed by a heartbreaking injustice in this poignant novel, inspired by a true story, for readers of Orphan Train and The Nightingale. Memphis, 1939. Twelve-year-old Rill Foss and her four younger siblings live a magical life aboard their family's Mississippi River shantyboat. But when their father must rush their mother to the hospital one stormy night, Rill is left in charge--until strangers arrive...

"At the end of the Second World War, Cyril Conroy combines luck and a single canny investment to begin an enormous real estate empire, propelling his family from poverty to enormous wealth. His first order of business is to buy the Dutch House, a lavish estate in the suburbs outside of Philadelphia. Meant as a surprise for his wife, the house sets in motion the undoing of everyone he loves. The story is told by Cyril's son Danny, as he and his older...

"Fraternal twin brothers Peter and Michael McDowell have spent a lifetime competing for success and affection before that competition turned into an all-out war and made the brothers mortal enemies. While both Peter and Michael have grown into successful adults, they never managed to leave behind the animosity that took root in their childhood. With the collapse of his career and his marriage, Peter sees no other option than to move into the lake...

A tree house that travels through time? Not possible, says Jack. But he has to admit--when he and his younger sister, Annie, start running into dinosaurs--that they're not in Frog Creek, Pennsylvania, anymore. Eight-year-old Jack and his younger sister Annie find a magic treehouse, which whisks them back to an ancient time zone where they see live dinosaurs.

Thirteen-year-old fraternal twins Dallas and Florida have grown up in a terrible orphanage but their lives change forever when an eccentric but sweet older couple invites them each on an adventure, beginning in an almost magical place called Ruby Holler.

"Meet the marvelous Pyes: There is Mrs. Pye, the youngest mother in town; Mr. Pye, a famous bird man, who handles all the nation's important bird problems; Rachel Pye, who is so reasonable she can make unreasonable ideas sound like good ones; Jerry Pye, who knows about rocks of all sorts and plans to grow up to be a rock man; and Uncle Bennie, who is only three years old. Last is Ginger Pye, the "intellectual dog." The most famous pup in all of Cranbury,...

"In this moving debut novel, two estranged siblings must set aside their differences to deal with their mother's death and her hidden past--a journey of discovery that takes them from the Caribbean to London to California and ends with her famous black cake. In present-day California, Eleanor Bennett's death leaves behind a puzzling inheritance for her two children, Byron and Benny: a traditional Caribbean black cake, made from a family recipe with...