Polly Horvath

Twelve-year-old Jane, who lives at the beach in a run-down old house with her mother, two brothers, and sister, has an eventful summer accompanying her pastor on bible deliveries, meeting former boyfriends of her mother's, and being coerced into babysitting for a family of ill-mannered children.

Eleven-year-old Primrose living in a small fishing village in British Columbia recounts her experiences and all that she learns about human nature and the unpredictability of life in the months after her parents are lost at sea.

"Ten-year-old Rupert, from a very large, very poor family, accidentally becomes part of an eccentric rich family's life beginning at Christmas, and soon sees that wealth is not everything." --

Twelve-year-old Franny Whitekraft lives quietly with her adopted parents on a farm on Vancouver Island until the spring of 1945 when the three Madden children move in, UFOs and ghosts appear, an important military airplane disappears, and wishes made in Old Tom's forbidden night garden will hopefully get everyone out of trouble.

When her stepfather loses his job in Saskatchewan, Jane and the rest of the family set off on a car trip, ending up in Nevada after improbably being given a bag full of possibly stolen money.

When his parents go to Africa to work as missionaries, twelve-year-old Henry's eccentric aunts, Pigg and Mag, take him on a cross-country car trip, allowing him to gain insight into his family and himself.

When their parents are killed in a train accident, cousins Meline and Jocelyn, who have little in common, are sent to live with their wealthy, eccentric, and isolated Uncle Marten on his island off the coast of British Columbia, where they are soon joined by other oddly disconnected and troubled people.

Although Ivy and her family welcome the Halibuts, and their son Alfred becomes her best friend, not all the townspeople are pleased to have circus people as neighbors, especially as other circus families move in.

"Fiona, Marlin, Natasha, and Charlie McCready have been adopted by their unlikely guardian, Al, and finally settled into their new home on Pine Island in British Columbia. Then they receive a letter from Mrs. Witherspoon who took care of them after their parents died telling them that she is coming to visit for three months--an inordinate amount of time for a houseguest. Accommodating a fifth person in the tiny house is hard enough, but to their horror,...

During the Depression, Gunther Grunt buys a new car with the money his wife has been saving to send their bright twelve-year-old daughter to college, beginning a chain of events that teaches the Grunts the value of their family.