Patricia Hermes

Nine-year-old Elizabeth keeps a journal of her experiences in the New World as she encounters Indians, suffers hunger and the death of friends, and helps her father build their first home.

Despite the dangers, Black Cloud enjoys his life as a wild mustang colt in 1951 Nevada but when humans round up and slaughter his herd, he is rescued by a talkative girl named Annie who gives him a safe and comfortable life, lacking nothing but freedom.

Elizabeth Barker continues to write to her "friend, " her diary, as disease and lack of food further plague the suffering settlers at Jamestown.

Late in 1848, nine-year-old Joshua McCullough starts a second journal, this time recording events in Willamette Valley, Oregon Territory, as his family and others they met on the trail begin to get settled.

Kevin and his friend Bailey conspire to prevent Kevin's father from moving himself and Kevin once again.

When eleven-year-old Sam visits her grandfather's ranch for the first time, she finds a new life very different from the one she has known with her vagabond mother and discovers what really matters most to her.