Most Popular Books by DOROTHEA N. BUCKINGHAM

My Name is Loa is the story of a fifteen-year-old Hawaiian boy who always thought he would grow up to become a doctor and live in a fine house. That was before he was diagnosed as having leprosy and banished to Kalaupapa on the island of Moloka’i. It is 1898, the year the Hawaiian islands were annexed to the United States. Life in Kalaupapa is not unlike life in any plantation town in Hawai’i, except for the fact that it is a leprosy settlement. Every patient sent there knows there is no return. When Loa arrives at the settlement he is frightened by the hundreds of diseased patients. But soon his life falls into a routine. He befriends Paka, a troublesome boy from Maui; he works as an editor for Brother Dutton. And he is cherished like a son by Sam, who had saved him from drowning on the voyage to Kalaupapa. Loa falls in love with Kamalani, a patient who works at the clinic. And eight-year-old Hiapo, who shares moments with him in a treehouse, eating peanuts and bombarding mynahs with their shells, teaches him to face death. My Name is Loa is a story you will never forget.

When Rell DeMello went back to Kailua High after being treated for cancer, some kids called her brave; some said she was a hero. But, Rell didn''t want to be a hero, she wanted to be normal, Rell "before cancer." Besides, she knew she wasn''t brave. When Dr. Baden told her she had cancer, she cried. And after all the surgeries, the chemotherapy and radiation, Dr. Braden didn''t say "You don''t have cancer anymore." He said, "I find no evidence of cancer." Rell cried again. "No evidence" - like weeds in a garden, creeping under the surface, until one day a pale green shoot pops through the ground and chokes all the budding flowers. Rell hated cancer. She hated the word. When kids asked her if she was cured she''d say, It''s not like that. It wasn''t the answer they wanted to hear. They wanted a storybook ending with a handsome prince and a gallant white horse - not Nate Lee and his rust-bucket truck. They wanted a perfect life movie of a blonde cheerleader who got cancer, almost died, was cured and, when she went back to school, was crowned Homecoming Queen. It was just like Rell''s life except for the part about being blonde, a cheerleader, Homecoming Queen and... cured.

Honolulu, Hawai''i, February 1905 Mrs. Jane Lathrop Stanford, the Mother of Stanford University, was murdered in her hotel room by a lethal dose of strychnine. Or was she? Was the claim of death by natural causes by the university president- Mrs. Stanford''s biggest adversary- a cover-up? Did the matron''s longtime secretary murder her mistress to steal her jewels? Did her brother mastermind the crime from across the Pacific Ocean to collect on his inheritance? Poisoned Palms weaves the startling true facts of this famous mystery into a gripping tale of fiction, with turn-of-the-century Hawai''i as its backdrop. Bringing to life the people who knew the wealthy and influential Mrs. Stanford best. It will keep you guessing till the end.

Noah couldn''t recall ever looking into the face of a Night Marcher, nor did he know the act was punishable by death. After all, he was only four years old when it happened. He also couldn''t believe the family legend about his grandfather making a pact with a Night Marcher to save Noah''s life. If Noah swore an oath to protect the life of the Night Marcher''s descendant, the Night Marcher would let Noah live. Years later, during a sixth-grade service project at an abandoned cemetery, Noah found himself transported to Hilo in 1834, where he must prove the innocence of both himself and the Night Marcher''s descendant, who stands accused of murder. Desperate to return to his own time, Noah tricks his guide into sending him back to the present, vowing never to return. But when Noah confides in his cousin, Blaise, he is branded a coward and accused of abandoning their grandfather. If the oath is not fulfilled, Noah will die the same day the descendant will hang, and his grandfather''s spirit will never find peace. With time running out and the boundaries between the past and present blurring, will Noah risk everything to keep his promise?

Includes cross-referenced and defined Japanese and English terms.

Poisoned palms brings the true facts of this turn of the century murder mystery into a tale of fiction.