Fourteen-year-old Luli and her family face tragedy after failing to tell their slaves that President Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation made them free.

When Hank the Cowdog hears reports that coyotes are planning to go after the chickens, he manages to resist the temptation to join them and instead thwarts their attack, earning Sally May's forgiveness, and persuading Loper to stop feeding him Cheapo brand dog food.

Eleven-year-old Sam Abernathy, extremely overprotected and a reluctant celebrity since he was trapped in a well at age four, dreams of becoming a chef and starts by entering a local cook-off.

Bullied and shamed her whole life for being fat, twelve-year-old Ellie finally gains the confidence to stand up for herself, with the help of some wonderful new allies.

When Dr. Montrose visits their Texas ranch in the summer of 1927, fourteen-year-old Riley and his twelve-year-old brother Coy are drawn into an archaeological adventure.

Lonely for companionship in her new home in Texas, Polly disobeys her father by befriending people who do not share her Amish faith.

After the death of her mother, Texas sixth-grader Lina's grades and mood drop as she watches her father lose himself more and more in books, while her best friend uses Lina as an excuse to secretly meet her boyfriend.

Kylie Jean Carter is hoping to become Blueberry Queen at the annual Blueberry Festival.

Parker twins Finn and Molly help new friend Carlos follow a treasure map left to him by his grandfather--

"Twelve-year-old Mysti Murphy of Texas wishes she were a character in a book. If her life were fiction, she'd know how to solve her problems at school; take care of her family when her dad has to spend time in the hospital; and deal with her family's secret: that her mother is agoraphobic and never leaves the house"--