Best Selling Books by Karen Hesse

In a series of poems, fifteen-year-old Billie Jo relates the hardships of living on her family''s wheat farm in Oklahoma during the dust bowl years of the Depression.

A young girl eagerly awaits a coming rainstorm to bring relief from the oppressive summer heat.

Will Codie have her gift ready in time for the new baby?

With lyrical narration and elegant, evocative artwork, Newbery Medalist Karen Hesse and illustrator G. Brian Karas share the nighttime experience of a father and child. When the sun sets, Dad’s job as a school custodian is just beginning. What is it like to work on a Friday night while the rest of the city is asleep? There’s the smell of lilacs in the night air, the dusky highway in the moonlight, and glimpses of shy nighttime animals to make the dark magical. Shooting baskets in the half-lit gym, sweeping the stage with the game on the radio, and reading out loud to his father in the library all help the boy’s time pass quickly. But what makes the night really special is being with Dad. Newbery Medalist Karen Hesse’s quietly powerful story of a boy and his father is tenderly brought to life by G. Brian Karas in this luminous tribute to an enduring, everyday sort of love.

A fictionalized journal relates the experiences of a young stowaway from 1768 to 1771 aboard the Endeavor which sailed around the world under Captain James Cook.

Newbery Medalist Karen Hesse emerses readers in a small Vermont town in 1924 with this haunting and harrowing tale. Leanora Sutter. Esther Hirsh. Merlin Van Tornhout. Johnny Reeves . . .These characters are among the unforgettable cast inhabiting a small Vermont town in 1924. A town that turns against its own when the Ku Klux Klan moves in. No one is safe, especially the two youngest, twelve-year-old Leanora, an African-American girl, and six-year-old Esther, who is Jewish.In this story of a community on the brink of disaster, told through the haunting and impassioned voices of its inhabitants, Newbery Award winner Karen Hesse takes readers into the hearts and minds of those who bear witness.

"This powerful exploration of how we become human and how the soul endures is a song of beauty and sorrow, haunting and unforgettable." — School Library Journal (starred review) A Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year A School Library Journal Best Book of the Year An ALA Best Book for Young Adults A Book Links Best Book of the Year A New York Public Library Children''s Title for Reading and Sharing Mila becomes famous around the world when she is rescued from an unpopulated island off the coast of Florida. Years ago, Mila went missing from a boat crash, and she has been raised by dolphins from the age of four. Researchers teach Mila language and music. But she also learns about rules and expectations, about locked doors and broken promises, disappointment and betrayal. The more Mila finds out about what it means to be human, the more she longs for her home in the ocean . . . "As moving as a sonnet, as eloquently structured as a bell curve, this book poignantly explores the most profound of themes—what it means to be human . . . All together, a frequently dazzling novel." — Publishers Weekly (starred review) "Her mind and spirit shaped by the dolphins who raised her, a feral child views herself and her human captors from a decidedly unusual angle in this poignant story . . . A probing look at what makes us human, with an unforgettable protagonist." — Kirkus Reviews "Mila''s rich inner voice makes her a lovely, lyrical character." — VOYA Magazine

An accident at a nuclear power plant ignites a story of loss, love, and courage.

Can Tate convince her parents that the stray dog should stay?

As World War I rages in Europe, an influenza epidemic devastates Boston, forcing fourteen-year-old Hannah to leave home. Dangerously ill, she finds herself in Vermont, where a German man takes her in and nurses her back to health. Relying on her vision of an angel to help her find her way home, Hannah is eventually reunited with her family. A mysterious element, daunting situations, and tenacious characters make this novel a rich and compelling read.

Even though she''s outgrown other babyish things, a young girl finds she still needs to suck her thumb.

In June 1942, seven months after attacking Pearl Harbor, the Japanese navy invaded Alaska''s Aleutian Islands. For nine thousand years the Aleut people had lived and thrived on these treeless, windswept lands. Within days of the first attack, the entire native population living west of Unimak Island was gathered up and evacuated to relocation centers in the dense forests of Alaska''s Southeast. With resilience, compassion, and humor, the Aleuts responded to the sorrows of upheaval and dislocation. This is the story of Vera, a young Aleut caught up in the turmoil of war. It chronicles her struggles to survive and to keep community and heritage intact despite harsh conditions in an alien environment.

Realizing that her father''s lack of work has endangered her family, nine-year-old Juice decides that she must return to school and learn to read in order to help their chances of surviving and keeping their house.

Radley''s parents had warned her that all hell would break loose if the American People''s Party took power. And now, with the president assassinated and the government cracking down on citizens, the news is filled with images of vigilante groups, frenzied looting, and police raids. It seems as if all hell has broken loose. Coming back from volunteering abroad, Radley just wants to get home to Vermont, and the comfort and safety of her parents. Travel restrictions and delays are worse than ever, and by the time Radley''s plane lands in New Hampshire, she''s been traveling for over twenty-four hours. Exhausted, she heads outside to find her parents—who always come, day or night, no matter when or where she lands—aren''t there. Her cell phone is dead, her credit cards are worthless, and she doesn''t have the proper travel papers to cross state lines. Out of money and options, Radley starts walking. . . . Illustrated with 50 of her own haunting and beautiful photographs, this is a vision of a future America that only Karen Hesse could write: real, gripping, and deeply personal.

Mags has a lot to wish for, but can a stuffed unicorn really make her wishes come true?

In 1861, Amelia Martin''s father is stripped of his post as a ship''s captain when he is caught harboring the leader of a slave rebellion. Now he is an assistant lighthouse keeper on Fenwick Island, off the coast of Delaware-a state wedged between the North and the South, just as Amelia is wedged between her constantly arguing parents. Amelia''s mother blames her abolitionist husband for their living conditions, which she claims are taking a toll on her health. As the Civil War rages on, Amelia slowly learns that she cannot stop the fighting, but by keeping watch in the lighthouse each day, lighting the lamps, cleaning the glass, and rescuing victims of Atlantic storms, she can make a difference.