Gordy couldn't be more unhappy about moving back to his hometown of College Hill, where everybody knows his family's troubled history. In North Carolina, Gordy's life had finally seemed to be on the right track. But in College Hill, Gordy and his sister, June, move into a cramped apartment with their brother Stu and his new family. The principal at Gordy's school immediately has it in for him, his old pals encourage him to cause trouble, and his one-time nemesis, Elizabeth, hates him more than ever. It seems to Gordy as though the whole world is against him. Will he slip back into his old trouble-making ways for good, or will he be able to keep growing into the successful person he was striving to become?
The sequel to the award-winning Stepping on the Cracks. “Sometimes heart-rending, sometimes funny, Gordy Smith will prove memorable to all who meet him.”—Booklist (starred review) In Following My Own Footsteps, sixth-grader Gordy Smith comes to grips with the fear that he’ll turn out no better than his abusive father . . . With his father now in jail and one brother hospitalized, Gordy’s mother has no choice but to take the family to their wealthy grandmother’s house in North Carolina. There Gordy meets William, a boy who had polio and is now wheelchair bound. Though they become friends, Gordy’s plans to help William fail spectacularly. Matters only get worse when Gordy’s father is released from prison and his mother is poised to give him a second chance. Gordy must decide where he belongs—with his dysfunctional parents or with the grandma who is more than his match in toughness, in courage, and in love. “A cast of unforgettable characters inhabit this work, seasoned with WW II setting but utterly contemporary in its concerns. Hahn is in top form, proving through Gordy’s first-person narration that real love can triumph over all kinds of adversity, and often does.”—Kirkus Reviews “The complex characterizations, period setting and Gordy’s brave attempts to break a cycle of violence will hold readers’ interest.”—Publishers Weekly “It’s a timeless social issue really, in any era, of having a dysfunctional abusive parent . . . A very good story showcasing complex friendships, familial relationships, and inner conflict, all set in WW2 America.”—Cats and Fiction
In a small Southern town in 1944, two girls secretly help a seriously ill army deserter, a decision that changes their perceptions of right and wrong. Issues of moral ambiguity and accepting consequences for actions are thoughtfully considered in this deftly crafted story.
Gordy wasn't happy to move back to his old hometown of College Hill, Maryland where everyone knew his troubled family history. Things were much better in North Carolina. Can Gordy make it or will he slip back to his old ways.
A “ripsnorting western . . . With plenty of twists and turns—and a cameo appearance by Doc Holliday—it’s a real cowgirl triumph” (Kirkus Reviews). In 1887, twelve-year-old Eliza Yates—disguised as a boy—sets out with her faithful dog Caesar to search for her missing father. Along the way, she falls in with gentleman outlaw Calvin Featherbone. “Together, they make their way to Tinville, Colorado, where, coincidentally, Calvin’s father was killed by a certain Sheriff Yates. Calvin plans to avenge the murder, but he gets himself and Eliza in so much trouble with his amateurish schemes that the pair arrives in town ready to be hanged as horse thieves. Hahn’s writing crackles like gunshot in the Ol’ West, and Eliza and Calvin make a lovable team. The plotting is . . . tight and fast paced, and Hahn does a fine job of recreating the atmosphere of the days of cowboys and miners” (Booklist). “Hahn has obviously done her research, and succeeds in bringing the ambiance of the Old West to her novel. The result is a fast, funny, and entertaining adventure that’s just the thing for fans of Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman.”—School Library Journal “An amusing comedy of errors that derives much of its humor from Calvin’s speech and manners and Eliza’s wry asides alluding to her true identity as a girl.”—Kirkus Reviews
“Out of sight, out of mind.” That’s what Tallahassee Higgins’s mother, Liz, always says about her ex-boyfriends. But now that Tallahassee has been sent to live with her aunt and uncle in Maryland so Liz can start a movie career in California, the words are taking on new meaning. Aunt Thelma says that Liz is gone for good, but Talley is sure her mother will come for her. So who cares if mean Aunt Thelma hates her, if she’s failing sixth grade, or if the kids at school think she’s a liar? It’s not like she’s staying in Maryland forever. Unless Aunt Thelma is right and Liz isn’t coming back.
When he and his younger sister move in with their older brother after their grandmother dies, thirteen-year-old Gordy finds himself caught between the boy he was when he lived with his abusive father and the boy his grandmother was helping him become.
"A modern-day classic."—Ron Charles, Washington Post “A spectacular invention.”—The New York Times "Compulsively readable."—NPR Things do not bode well for Father Julius. . . A street preacher decked out in denim robes and running shoes, Julius is a source of inspiration for a community that knows nothing of his scandalous origins. But when a nearby mental hospital releases its patients to run amok in his neighborhood, his trusted if bedraggled flock turns expectantly to Julius to find out what’s going on. Amid the descending chaos, Julius encounters a hospital escapee who babbles prophecies of doom, and the growing palpable sense of impending danger intensifies . . . as does the feeling that everyone may be relying on a street preacher just a little too much. Still, Julius decides he must confront the forces that threaten his congregation—including the peculiar followers of a religious cult, the mysterious men and women dressed all in red seen fleetingly amid the bedlam, and an enigmatic smoking figure who seems to know what’s going to happen just before it does. The Revisionaries is a wildly imaginative, masterfully rendered, and suspenseful tale that conjures the bold outlandish stylishness of Thomas Pynchon, Margaret Atwood, and Alan Moore—while being unlike anything that’s come before.
Forced to accompany their parents on their honeymoon in Spain, new stepsisters Amy and Felix find the animosity between them escalating, especially when Felix's boasting about family wealth to Grace, the mysterious world traveler, results in the kidnapping of the girls and their younger brother.
When Clint, a handsome, mysterious stranger, rents a room in Madigan's grandmother's house, Madigan becomes convinced that he is the father she's never met.
