Rosemary Wells

When the Depression hits in Cairo, Illinois, and Oscar Ogilvie's father must sell their home and vast model train set-up to look for work in California, eleven-year-old Oscar is left with his dour aunt, where he befriends a mysterious drifter, witnesses a stunning bank robbery, and is suddenly catapulted onto a train that takes him to a different time and place.

As the Civil War breaks out, India, a young Southern girl, summons her sharp intelligence and the courage she didn't know she had to survive the war that threatens to destroy her family, her Virginia home, and the only life she has ever known.

Max learns a more sophisticated word than the ones his sister tries to teach him.

Jennie is as close to her grandfather as a mouse can be, and when he suddenly dies she keeps thinking she sees him turning a corner, sitting on a bench, heading for the pier, or walking along their beloved beach, seeking the elusive Queen's teacup seashell.

Sold in financial desperation to a wealthy duke living in the far north of Scotland, a collie undertakes a 1000-mile journey in order to be reunited with her former master in Yorkshire.