Watcher in the Piney Woods

by Elizabeth McDavid Jones
Watcher in the Piney Woods
Author: Elizabeth McDavid Jones
Publisher: Open Road Media
Total Pages: 91
Release: 2014-07-08
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 149764657X
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As the Civil War draws to a close, a young Virginia girl grieving over the death of her brother meets a Confederate deserter As the Civil War rages nearby, Cassie Willis and her family struggle to scrape a living from their small Virginia farm, while Cassie’s father and beloved brother, Jacob, are away fighting with the Confederate army. When a letter arrives with the news that Jacob has been killed, Cassie and her dog, Hector, immediately go to the secret hiding place Cassie and Jacob shared—a thicket deep in the piney woods. But when she finds the remains of a campsite, she realizes that someone has been living in their special place. Suddenly afraid, Cassie tries to flee, but runs smack into a Confederate deserter. With Hector’s help, she escapes. But she can’t forget the man’s crazed eyes—or the way he threatened her. Soon, Cassie begins to have the strange feeling that she’s being watched—and then things start disappearing from the farm. Has the deserter returned to make good on his warnings, or is someone else lurking in the woods, waiting to harm Cassie and her family? This ebook includes a historical afterword.

Mystery on Skull Island

by Elizabeth McDavid Jones
Mystery on Skull Island
Author: Elizabeth McDavid Jones
Publisher: Open Road Media
Total Pages: 110
Release: 2014-07-08
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 1497646561
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In 1724, Rachel Howell leaves New York for South Carolina . . . and plunges into a dangerous world of pirates and hidden treasure that threatens her family’s future When New York–born and –raised Rachel Howell sails for South Carolina to be reunited with her father, the last thing she expects is to be attacked by pirates! She’s lucky to escape with her life, but the attackers take a pearl necklace belonging to her dead mother. Things go from bad to worse when Rachel arrives safely in Charles Town and learns her father is getting married again. The one bright spot is her friendship with Sally Pugh, the daughter of the local tavern owner. Until Papa’s bride-to-be arrives . . . and forbids Rachel from seeing Sally. Determined to remain friends, Rachel and Sally search for a secret place to meet. They discover a hidden island in the Charles Town port, containing a sinkhole filled with quicksand, rocks with mysterious markings, . . . and a human skull. But when the girls are stranded overnight and overhear men in a hidden lagoon, they realize they’ve stumbled onto something big. It could destroy Rachel’s father’s business . . . and Rachel’s life. This ebook includes a historical afterword.

Summer Bridge Activities¨, Grades 3 - 4

by Summer Bridge Activities
Summer Bridge Activities¨, Grades 3 - 4
Author: Summer Bridge Activities
Publisher: Rainbow Bridge Publishing
Total Pages: 180
Release: 2015-01-15
Genre: Juvenile Nonfiction
ISBN: 1483815838
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Give your soon-to-be fourth grader a head start on their upcoming school year with Summer Bridge Activities: Bridging Grades 3-4. With daily, 15-minute exercises kids can review calculating area and using quotation marks and learn new skills like fractions, similes, and metaphors. This workbook series prevents summer learning loss and paves the way to a successful new school year. --And this is no average workbookÑSummer Bridge Activities keeps the fun and the sun in summer break! Designed to prevent a summer learning gap and keep kids mentally and physically active, the hands-on exercises can be done anywhere. These standards-based activities help kids set goals, develop character, practice fitness, and explore the outdoors. With 12 weeks of creative learning, Summer Bridge Activities keeps skills sharp all summer long!

Mystery at Chilkoot Pass

by Barbara Steiner
Mystery at Chilkoot Pass
Author: Barbara Steiner
Publisher: Open Road Media
Total Pages: 104
Release: 2014-07-08
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 1497646553
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Gold fever sweeps the country as a twelve-year-old aspiring writer travels to the Yukon with her family and best friend, fighting natural disasters and a clever thief After traveling from San Francisco by steam ship, Hetty McKinley, her best friend, Alma, and their families prepare for the five-hundred-mile trek north to the gold fields of the Yukon. It’s only September, but the Arctic Circle is already frigid. As the two families, along with hundreds of other prospectors, camp out for the night near the outpost of Dyea, Hetty catches a glimpse of the legendary Chilkoot Pass, the narrow gap through which they’ll cross Alaska into Canada. But the next morning, Alma’s mother discovers that all their money is gone! A few days later, Hetty’s cherished locket, containing a photograph of her dead mother, disappears. More thefts soon follow, but these are the least of their problems. Soon, the group is battling typhoid, blizzards, and a terrifying avalanche. Will Hetty and her family and friends survive their journey to the top of the world? This ebook includes a historical afterword.

Trouble at Fort La Pointe

by Kathleen Ernst
Trouble at Fort La Pointe
Author: Kathleen Ernst
Publisher: Open Road Media
Total Pages: 105
Release: 2014-07-08
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 1497646642
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Nominated for the Edgar Award for Best Young Adult Mystery: In 1732, a twelve-year-old girl of Ojibwe and French heritage must clear her father of a stealing charge—or risk being separated from him forever Suzette Choudoir always looks forward to summer, when her family leaves the Ojibwe people’s winter camp and returns to the summer gathering place on La Pointe Island. This year her papa, a French fur trader, hopes to win a trappers’ competition. If he does, he can remain with his family year-round, instead of paddling away to far-off Montreal in autumn. When someone steals a bale of valuable furs, however, suspicion falls on Papa. Determined to find the real thief, Suzette gathers clues and tries to track down the missing furs. But it will take all of her courage to clear her father’s name. If she can’t, her family will be forced to leave La Pointe Island in disgrace, and Suzette—a black-haired, blue-eyed girl of mixed cultural heritage—may never find a true home. This ebook includes a historical afterword.

Whistler in the Dark

by Kathleen Ernst
Whistler in the Dark
Author: Kathleen Ernst
Publisher: Open Road Media
Total Pages: 106
Release: 2014-07-08
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 1497646650
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An Agatha Award nominee for Best Children’s/Young Adult Mystery and a WILLA Award finalist for Best Children’s/Young Adult Book: In 1867, a twelve-year-old girl faces danger and disaster when she moves to the Colorado Territory with her widowed mother, who is hoping to start a newspaper Emma Henderson’s mother has changed since her father died fighting in the Civil War. First, she starts wearing an embarrassing bloomer costume—trousers under a short skirt. Then, she forces Emma to move to the far-off Colorado Territory so she can be editor of a newspaper! When Emma hears someone whistling her father’s favorite tune as they prepare to leave Chicago, she knows it’s a bad omen. The hardscrabble mining town of Twin Pines is very different from Emma’s former home in the city. Instead of having a house of their own, she and her mother must live in a boarding house. Worst of all, it’s clear from the moment they step off the stagecoach that someone doesn’t want them there. A troublemaker tries hard to sabotage the newspaper, and Emma continues to hear eerie whistling in the night. Is it the ghost of her father? With the help of her new friend Jeremy, Emma sets out to solve two baffling mysteries. This ebook includes a historical afterword.

Riddle of the Prairie Bride

by Kathryn Reiss
Riddle of the Prairie Bride
Author: Kathryn Reiss
Publisher: Open Road Media
Total Pages: 101
Release: 2014-07-08
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 1497646510
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The Kansas prairie in 1878 is the setting for this mystery about a girl who gets a new stepmother—a woman who may not be what she appears Ida Kate Deming lives on the Kansas prairie with her father. Once a lonely outpost, Hays City is now a bustling town where the twelve-year-old impatiently awaits the arrival of papa’s mail-order bride. Ida Kate lost her beloved mother when she was ten. Now someone new will share their lives, along with the seemingly endless chores. And the best part is, Ida Kate will have a new mother and a new little brother, as well. But when Caroline Fairchild steps off the train, she doesn’t look at all the way she described herself in her letters. Instead of being tall and thin, she’s short. And her hair is the wrong color. And she definitely isn’t allergic to cats. As Ida Kate races to uncover the truth before her father marries Caroline, a blizzard endangers her new family, and Ida Kate has to figure out where her true loyalties lie. This ebook includes a historical afterword.

The Minstrel's Melody

by Eleanora E. Tate
The Minstrel's Melody
Author: Eleanora E. Tate
Publisher: Open Road Media
Total Pages: 101
Release: 2014-07-08
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 1497646618
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A twelve-year-old aspiring performer follows her dream in a novel that culminates at the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair Orphelia Bruce lives in rural Missouri, the corner where Illinois, Iowa, and her home state come together. She can sing and play the piano better than anyone in Lewis County. So when Orphelia’s mother forbids her from taking part in a traveling minstrel show looking for new talent and starring her idol, Madame Meritta, she runs away to join their troupe. But life on the road isn’t what she expected. She misses her family, even her annoying older sister, Pearl—Momma’s favorite. And it’s not nearly as glamorous as Orphelia imagined. The group performs in a different town every night, which means long hours of travel. Despite her fame, Madame Meritta still has to work hard to keep her band fed and clothed. But performing at the St. Louis World’s Fair could be Orphelia’s big chance. When a long-buried secret changes everything she thought she knew about her family, will she still get to live her dream? This ebook includes a historical afterword.

Voices at Whisper Bend

by Katherine Ayres
Voices at Whisper Bend
Author: Katherine Ayres
Publisher: Open Road Media
Total Pages: 108
Release: 2014-07-08
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 1497646626
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At the outbreak of World War II, a twelve-year-old girl comes up with an idea to help the war effort America has just entered World War II, and everyone in Charlotte Campbell’s family is doing his or her part, either abroad or in the Pennsylvania factory town where the Campbells live. Charlotte’s brother Jim has enlisted in the navy, and her mother works in Braddock’s local war plant. Her dad guides tugboats filled with supplies up the Monongahela River. Eager to contribute to the war effort—besides saving to buy defense stamps—Charlotte organizes a scrap metal drive like the ones all over the country. She and her sixth-grade classmates start collecting old junk and soon have so much that they have to store it in the school basement . . . until someone steals all the metal. Charlotte is determined to find the thief and get back the precious scraps. Her younger brother Robbie supplies a list of potential suspects, from the school janitor to a fellow fourth grader. Some of the kids think it might be Charlotte’s German friend Betsy. But when they set a trap for the culprit, Charlotte has to face the fear that’s been giving her nightmares since childhood. This ebook includes a historical afterword.