The life of the Austin family is changed by the arrival of self-centered young Maggy Hamilton, orphaned by the sudden death of her pilot father.

"In the little town of Blackbird Tree live two orphan girls: one Naomi Deane, brimming with curiosity, and her best friend, Lizzie Scatterding, who could talk the ears off a cornfield. Naomi has a knack for being around when trouble happens. For she knows all the peculiar people in town--like Crazy Cora and Witch Wiggins and Mr. Farley. But then, one day, a boy drops out of a tree. The strangely charming Finn boy. Then the Dingle Dangle man appears,...

Rook Barkwater, one of the apprentices chosen to make a dangerous journey to study in the Deepwoods, joins the sky pirate Captain Twig in opposing the Guardians of the Night and learns more about his own past.

An orphaned giant named Berg is in search of just one person he can call friend. When he was very young, Berg's mother hid him in a cave and led an angry mob of villagers away, sacrificing her own life to protect her son. In all the years since, Berg has lived alone, the only reminders of his family are his mother's satchel and his recurring dreams of a white bear who shares a magical sand from a fallen star. When the white bear touches Berg with...

Traveling from California to Chicago after her mother dies of a drug overdose and her grandmother of lung cancer, thirteen-year-old Rydr meets other passengers on the train and attempts to accept her own situation.

In futuristic Satellite City, fourteen-year-old Cosmo Hill escapes from his abusive orphanage and teams up with three other people who share his unusual ability to see supernatural creatures, and together they determine the nature and purpose of the swarming blue Parasites that are invisible to most humans.

Three robbers terrify the countryside until they are subdued by the charm of a little orphan girl named Tiffany.

Simon, the foundling from the earlier book, The wolves of Willoughy Chase, arrives in London to meet an old friend and pursue the study of painting, but he finds himself in the middle of a wicked crew's plan to overthrow good King James and the Duke and Duchess of Battersea.

Four orphans are shocked when their beloved friend, sculptor Siegfried Eckleberger, is murdered. As they investigate, they find clues that his death may be tied to the murder of a rich New York heiress as well as to their own past.

Twelve-year-old orphan Roo Fanshaw is sent to live with an uncle she never knew in a largely uninhabited mansion on Cough Rock Island and discovers a wild river boy, an invalid cousin, and the mysteries of a hidden garden.