Katherine Paterson

The life of a ten-year-old boy in rural Virginia expands when he becomes friends with a newcomer who subsequently meets an untimely death trying to reach their hideaway, Terabithia, during a storm. All summer, Jess pushed himself to be the fastest boy in the fifth grade, and when the year's first school-yard race was run, he was going to win. But his victory was stolen by a newcomer, by a girl, one who didn't even know enough to stay on the girls'...

Eleven-year-old Park makes some startling discoveries when he travels to his grandfather's farm in Virginia to learn about his father who died in the Vietnam War.

A thirteen-year-old boy describes the poverty and discontent of eighteenth century Osaka and the world of puppeteers in which he lives.

A teen-ager comes to know himself through contacts with social ills and political unrest while searching for his father in Japan's capital, centuries ago.

Jesse Aarons is in the 5th grade and has trained all summer to become the fastest runner in school. He becomes upset when new classmate Leslie Burke outruns him and everyone else. Despite this and some other striking differences, the two become fast friends. Together, they create Terabithia where they rule as king and queen and is a land filled with monsters, trolls, ogres, and giants. This friendship helps Jesse cope with a tragedy that makes him...