Katherine Paterson

The life of a ten-year-old boy in rural Virginia expands when he becomes friends with a newcomer who subsequently meets an untimely death trying to reach their hideaway, Terabithia, during a storm.

An eleven-year-old foster child tries to cope with her longings and fears as she schemes against everyone who tries to be friendly.

Angel Morgan needs help. Daddy is in jail, and Mama has abandoned her and her little brother, leaving them with their great-grandmother. Grandma is aged and poor, and doesn't make any attempt to care for the children-that's left up to Angel, even though she is not yet twelve. The only bright spot in Angel's existence is the Star Man, a mysterious stranger who appears on clear nights and teaches her all about the stars and planets and constellations....

The beloved author of Bridge to Terabithia and other classics of children's literature reveals the fascinating personal stories that have shaped her creative life. For nearly fifty years, Katherine Paterson's stories have captured readers young and old. From Bridge to Terabithia's Leslie Burke to the unforgettable Gilly Hopkins to countless others, her characters are woven into the memories of several generations. Paterson's writing has always explored...

Rosa's mother is singing again, for the first time since Papa died in an accident in the mills. But instead of filling their cramped tenement apartment with Italian lullabies, Mamma is out on the streets singing union songs, and Rosa is terrified that her mother and older sister, Anna, are endangering their lives by marching against the corrupt mill owners. After all, didn't Miss Finch tell the class that the strikers are nothing but rabble-rousers-an...

A Stubborn Sweetness and Other Stories for the Christmas Season is a collection of modern-day short stories by Katherine Paterson, award-winning author of Bridge to Terabithia and The Great Gilly Hopkinsboth loved by children and adults for over twenty years. This compilation includes stories of real-life people such as a shopping mall's night watchman, a lonely widower, a pregnant teenage runaway, a political prisoner in China, a grieving mother,...

In James Johnson's family, everybody strums and sings. With their music, his mamma, daddy, and uncle get crowds stomping at county fairs. Eleven-year-old James loves to sing harmony with his grandma on their favorite old mountain ballads. One day, the Johnson family hires a manager to book their appearances. But when the manager hears James sing, he quickly gives the boy a stage name and puts him on national TV. As his popularity grows, James will...

Nine-year-old Vinnie Matthews is a little girl with a big problem. She needs a lifesaver-not the candy kind, but a real one that will take her back to her home in Washington and make her daddy live again. Life without Daddy means moving to Grandma's rickety old house in Virginia and going to a new school where the other girls only make fun of Vinnie. Most of the time, Vinnie spends recess sitting alone on the school steps. But one day on the playground,...

Lyddie Worthen is only 13 when her family is split up and she is forced to hire herself out at Cutler's tavern. Far from home, she despairs of ever seeing her loved ones again. Desperate, Lyddie makes her way to Concord, Massachusetts where she becomes a factory girl, working as a weaver in a textile mill. Six days a week Lyddie struggles at the back-breaking looms. In spite of the deafening noise of the machines, the sweltering heat, and the choking...

Eleven-year-old Parkington Waddell Broughton knows he is the fifth person to bear this family name, but he doesn't know much more about his relatives. His father died in the Vietnam War when Park was an infant, and his mother refuses to talk about his father's life or his family. Finally, Park convinces his mother to let him visit his grandfather's farm in Virginia. The boy hopes he will find answers to his questions there. But his grandfather is...