A young python does not want to grow slow and boring like the older snakes he sees in the tropical jungle where he lives.

"In 1956, toward the end of Reverend John Ames's life, he begins a letter to his young son, an account of himself and his forebears. Ames is the son of an Iowa preacher and the grandson of a minister who, as a young man in Maine, saw a vision of Christ bound in chains and came west to Kansas to fight for abolition: He "preached men into the Civil War," then, at age fifty, became a chaplain in the Union Army, losing his right eye in battle. Reverend...

As Old Man Fookwire's birds prepare to migrate south for the winter, those darn squirrels decide to follow.

Newbery Honor Book: 2003. A troublesome twelve-year-old orphan, staying with an elderly artist who needs her, remembers the only other time she was happy in a foster home, with a family that truly seemed to care about her.

"A plucky West Highland Terrier named Harvey is determined to protect his yard from an intruding animal. Meanwhile, Harvey's owner Maggie struggles to fit in at school, his friend Austin works to prevent his grandfather from losing his job at a retirement home, and new retirement home resident Josephine Fradette clings to her fierce individuality in the face of conformity"--

A young black girl's love of music leads her to a job in the home of an older white woman who not only teaches her to play the piano but also about caring for others.

After an explosion, a new crime by an old murderer, and the sad passing of the founder of Norvelt, Pennsylvania, twelve-year-old Jack accompanies his slightly mental elderly mentor, Miss Volker, on a cross-country run as she pursues the oddest of outlaws.

Despite the disapproval of their parents, the young rabbits flock to hear old Grampa-Lop tell his magical tales every afternoon.