Patricia MacLachlan

When their father invites a mail-order bride to come live with them in their prairie home, Caleb and Anna are captivated by their new mother and hope that she will stay.

When a drought tests the commitment of a mail-order bride from Maine to her new home on the prairie, her stepchildren hope they will be able to remain a family.

Robbie and his dog, Ellie, spend the summer at his grandmother Maddy's house, where Robbie learns many things about his emotionally distant parents and himself.

When Papa goes away for a little while, his family tries to cope with the separation by adopting four dogs and a cat.

When their mother goes off, leaving her two children with their grandparents, they feel as if their past has been erased until Grandfather finds a way to restore it to them.

Teddy is a gifted dog. Raised in a cabin by a poet named Sylvan, he grew up listening to sonnets read aloud and the comforting clicking of a keyboard. Although Teddy understands words, Sylvan always told him there are only two kinds of people in the world who can hear Teddy speak: poets and children. Then one day Teddy learns that Sylvan was right. When Teddy finds Nickel and Flora trapped in a snowstorm, he tells them that he will bring them home?and...

A young boy describes the favorite places that he shares with his family on his grandparents' farm and in the nearby countryside.

During her family's first summer in a weathered old house by the sea, Cassie learns to accept change and to find her own space.

Great-grandfather reminisces about going to school on the prairie with his dog Three Names.

While in North Dakota helping her Aunt Frankie prepare for a possible flood, Lucy finds her voice as a poet with the help of her two-year-old brother Teddy, the rest of their family, and a few cows.