Böcker av Martha Deeringer

Desperate to escape her squalid life on the streets of New York City, sixteen year-old Fiona Finn seeks help at the magnificent Church of the Ascension where Charles Loring Brace, a social reformer horrified by the plight of New York City's street children, arranges for her to go west aboard an Orphan Train. Fiona's homeless, alcoholic father has other plans, however. He wants Fiona to "work" the streets to support his drinking and pursues her across the midwest until she is forced to abandon the train in Houston to avoid a sheriff bent on returning her to her father. Alone in the dark on the Texas prairie, Fiona's terrifying experience with a circus elephant, Bolivar, sets the stage for a future she could never have imagined.

When twelve-year-old Charity Bullock's parents die in Galveston's yellow fever epidemic in 1853, she and her fifteen year-old sister, Hope, must travel across the Texas frontier by ox wagon to live with their great-uncle, Richard Bullock, whom they have never met. Their only living relative, Great-Uncle Bullock owns a large hotel in Austin, the new capitol of the Republic of Texas, where his incessant swigging from a jug of corn liquor threatens his business and the Bullock sisters' tenuous security.

Justin MacArthur hopes to impress his ninth grade classmates with his outdoor skills on a long-anticipated school field trip to the famous YO Ranch in south Texas. Reserved and self-conscious at school, Justin's expert horsemanship and knowledge of the outdoors-skills he learned from his father, a Texas Parks and Wildlife game warden-provide an opportunity to improve his status as a fringe member of the cool group. But a secretive Korean boy with a chip on his shoulder and a terrifying thunderstorm during a trail ride undermine Justin's well-laid plans and change his life in ways he never imagined.

When Emma Dean's parents buy a plain sorrel mare with slightly crooked knees at a prestigious horse sale, Emma isn't sure whether to be elated or disappointed. Cranky and irascible, the mare refuses to warm up to people or other horses. After she dumps Emma in the dirt on her first ride, Emma's dad loads the mare in a trailer and takes her to a trainer to protect his daughter from the bumps, bruises and broken bones that can result from riding a cantankerous 2 year-old. At first the mare seems like an outlaw, but beneath her plain red coat and independent attitude, the trainer slowly uncovers a surprising streak of hidden talent and an unexpected natural balance and athletic ability. When a well-known cutting horse trainer approaches Emma's parents about training the mare for the NCHA Futurity, the family must make a difficult decision. Should they stretch their already strained budget to pay for training and futurity nomination fees? Could such a hardheaded little mare become a champion cutting horse?