Ann M Martin

"Karen has new roller skates. She is a very good skater. She can even do tricks. But oh, no! Karen falls down and breaks her wrist! She has to go to the hospital and get a cast. Karen wants somebody famous to sign her cast. It isn't going to be easy--but Karen won't give up till she gets the job done!"--

In 1930 Abby Nichols is an eight-year-old girl growing up in Maine, but as the Depression deepens, and her mother dies, the responsibility of taking care of her family falls to her, and she has to put her dreams of going to college and becoming a writer on hold.

Dana is Abby and Zander's daughter, but growing up in New York City in the late nineteen fifties is not always easy, especially when you would like your own room separate from your twin sister--and when your beloved father dies and you are forced to move things just get worse.

Far and near. Lost and found. Four girls. Four generations. Georgia cannot figure out what's going on in her family. Her mother, Francie, is extremely overprotective. Her grandmother, Dana, and her great-grandmother, Abby, don't speak to each other. And Georgia's great-great-grandmother also had some secrets that nobody else knows about. Georgia knows this because she's found her great-great grandmother's diary hidden in a wall in the family's house...

Even though she, her upside-down house, and its animal occupants are under quarantine with the Winter Effluvia, Missy Piggle-Wiggle manages to dispense cures to the misbehaving children of Little Spring Valley.

Annabelle and Tiffany, dolls who are best friends living in the Palmer house, have an adventure when they hide in Kate Palmer's backpack, are carried to school, mistakenly go to another house, and try to stop Princess Mimi, a doll who threatens all dollkind.

Rose Howard has OCD, Asperger's syndrome, and an obsession with homonyms. She gave her dog Rain a name with two homonyms (Reign and Rein). Rose and Rain are practically inseparable. And they are often home alone, as Rose's father spends most evenings at a bar, and doesn't have much patience for his special-needs daughter. Just as a storm hits town, Rain goes missing. Rose's father shouldn't have let Rain out. Now Rose has to find her dog, even if...

"Is Mrs. Porter ...a witch? Karen lives next door to an old lady named Mrs. Porter. Mrs. Porter wears long black robes and has wild gray hair. Her black cat is named Midnight. No wonder Karen thinks Mrs. Porter is a witch! Mrs. Porter is having a meeting at her house. Karen is sure the meeting is for witches. Are the witches going to cast a spell on Karen? Or will she be brave enough to send them away-once and for all?"--

In parallel stories, Bone, an orphaned dog, finds and loses a series of homes, Molly, a family pet, helps Charlie through the grief and other after-effects of his brother's death, and lonely Henry pleads for a dog of his own.