Most Popular Books by Karen Hesse

"Dust piles up like snow across the prairie. . . ." A terrible accident has transformed Billie Jo's life, scarring her inside and out. Her mother is gone. Her father can't talk about it. And the one thing that might make her feel better -- playing the piano -- is impossible with her wounded hands. To make matters worse, dust storms are devastating the family farm and all the farms nearby. While others flee from the dust bowl, Billie Jo is left to find peace in the bleak landscape of Oklahoma -- and in the surprising landscape of her own heart. This Newbery Award winning book relates the hardships of the Depression in a series of poems.

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

A girl raised by dolphins must choose between two worlds in this critically acclaimed novel about what it means to be a human being.

A series of poems express the views of various people in a small Vermont town, including a young black girl and a young Jewish girl, during the early 1920s when the Ku Klux Klan is trying to infiltrate the town.

A reprinting of the 1843 first edition, complete with the original illustrations, is supplemented by over eighty related sketches and annotations on and analyses of the text and historical notes on the writing of "The Christmas Carol."

When Codie''s favorite aunt is having a baby, Codie has lots of worries: will the baby and her aunt be all right, will Codie''s baby quilt be done on time, and will her aunt still have time for her?

Thirteen-year-old Nyle learns about relationships and death when fifteen-year-old Ezra, who was exposed to radiation leaked from a nearby nuclear plant, comes to stay at her grandmother''s Vermont farmhouse.

On her first summer visit to her grandmother since her grandfather''s death, Leah is saddened by his absence, but Gramm helps her learn how to remember Poppy with joy.

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.

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.

Great elementary grades reading.

Now I didn''t believe a broken-down old unicorn could make wishes come true . . . not for a minute. But what if it could? Mags has a lot to wish for—a nice house with a mama who isn''t tired out from work; a normal little sister; a brother who doesn''t mooch for food; and, once in a while, she''d like some new clothes for school. When her sister Hannie finds a stuffed unicorn, Mags''s wishes start to come true. She knows the unicorn can''t really be magic, but she won''t let anything ruin her newfound luck—even if it means telling her own sister to believe something that can''t possibly be true.

The story of Hanukkah is the story of triumph of light over darkness, of the small miracles that give hope to an entire people. In a series of eight powerful and evocative free-verse poems, award-winning author Karen Hesse captures the resilient spirit of the Jewish people through the voices of eight children at Hanukkah. The children-from Tamara in 12th-century England and Jeremie in 13th-century France to Havva in 17th-century Turkey and Ori in 20th-century Israel-have all experienced loss and hardship. But they are united by love, family, and their cherished stone lamp. The stone lamp provides each with comfort and hope, for every time its wicks are lit, the endurance of the Jewish people is re-illumined.

A loving grandmother and her grandchild enjoy an adventure by the sea and stop to have tea.

The year is 1768 and Nicholas Young''s mind is made up. He''s had enough! Enough of the cruel butcher to whom he is apprenticed and enough of his indifferent father lurking somewhere in the background of his existence. He''s had enough of the squalor of his life in London. He is going to run away. But when he''s stowed away on board a small ship he has no idea how famous this journey will be, one of the most famous journeys of discovery in maritime history. Three years it will take before he''ll come back to London, three long years of adventure and hardship: an 11-year-old boy among 80 tough-minded seafaring men and under constant scrutiny from the gentlemen on board. There''s midshipman Bootie who makes every day a living hell for Nick and John Ravenhill, the drunken sail maker. But Dr. Monkhouse, the surgeon, and Mr. Banks, the botanist, stand up for their keen and gifted assistant and one by one Nick befriends the crew. So the journey progresses and the ship''s company see places, people, sights, sounds and customs that no man has set eyes on ever before. There''s fever, famine and drought; exotic plants, stunning wildlife, blistering heat and tremendous cold. The crew in turn marvel and shudder at what comes their way and not everyone makes the return journey home.

The cats in Krasinski Square once belonged to someone… and so did a young girl, whose family has been destroyed by war. Even as she and her sister struggle to survive amid the war''s chaos, they risk their lives for a plan to help those still trapped behind Warsaw''s infamous Ghetto walls. Newbery Medallist Karen Hesse has written a beautiful story about the courage of brave young women and men who, at great risk, fought not with weapons, but with their hearts and souls. Wendy Watson''s luminous paintings inspire a visual journey to a time and place that should never be forgotten.

In a tale set against the backdrop of a near-future America where an oppressive political party has assumed control over the government in the wake of the president''s assassination, young Radley struggles through difficult travel restrictions to retu