Central Kansas Library System

The adventures of a mischievous young boy and his friends growing up in a Mississippi River town in the nineteenth century. Who could forget the pranks, the adventures, the sheer fun of Tom Sawyer? It's something every child should experience and every child will love. From Tom's sly trickery with the whitewashed fence, when he cleverly manipulates everyone so they happily do his work for him, to his and Becky Thatcher's calamities in Bat Cave, the...

The Alden children travel on a Mississippi paddle-wheel steamer to visit an old family friend in his cabin near Hannibal, Missouri, and try to discover who is responsible for the mysterious activities near the house.

Left alone by her Indian tribe when they decide to sail to the east, Karana, a young Indian girl, lives on a beautiful but isolated island off the coast of California, where she spends eighteen years, surviving through her enormous courage and self-reliance. Year after year she waits for the ship to return but it never does. Finally she realizes she must make a fateful choice: follow her people on her own or remain alone fo rthe rest of her life....

"Olive Kentworth has spent her life hiding her interest in architecture, even though she pores over architectural books and sketches buildings. When she accepts a job on a home expansion, it's only because her cousin Amos agrees to pose as the builder. To further hide her involvement, Olive takes a position as a nanny--not knowing that she'll be working for her idol, Joplin's leading architect, widower Maxfield Scott. Maxfield is intrigued by his...

In Missouri in 1926, fifteen-year-old Iris Baldwin discovers what family truly means when her father hires her out for the summer as a companion to a country doctor's invalid mother.

In 1954, when desegregation comes to Kirkland, Missouri, ten-year-old Rosemary faces many changes and challenges at school and at home as her parents separate.

Thirteen-year-old Buddy Rae and her best friend Jiniwin do everything together--taking care of Buddy's slow younger sister, "parenting" egg babies, talking about boys, and dealing with Buddy's family move to a farm outside Turnback, Missouri.

In St. Louis, Missouri, in 1911, orphaned eleven-year-old Julia Delaney rails against countless disappointments and the nun's strict rules at the House of Mercy, especially after her sister Mary turns fourteen and must leave, but she, her family, and best friend get tangled up with a gangster and a decade-old mystery.

"The love being Francine Toutant, daughter of wealthy St. Louis businessman Pierre Toutant. The money (because to acquire Francine's hand in marriage requires much) is one Bill Riley--notorious Dakota Territory outlaw. And thus we find bounty hunter T.J. Ragland riding across the bleak Dakota Territory carrying the head of Bill Riley in a gunny sack, bound for Fort Leavenworth. The three thousand dollar reward will satisfy Pierre Toutant, and Ragland...