Wendy Orr

The girl has had many selves in her short life. The first she remembers is Aissa, the daughter of Mama and Dada, sister to Zufi who watched the goats. Then the Bull King's raiders came, and Mama said, "Don't make a sound till I come back." And when the villagers found her she was silent as stone, because Mama never come back again. So the villagers cursed her as bad luck and made her No-Name, lowest of the servants to the Lady, the island's priestess....

Sam chooses a guinea pig named Henry to be her pet, envisions a dog named Nelly visiting and helping her younger brother Liam feel comfortable in his kindergarten class, and encourages Liam to also get a guinea pig as a pet.

After his pet rabbit dies, Josh feels sad and does not want to own another pet until an elderly neighbor's cat goes missing.

When Mona McNeil returns to visit her grandparents' farm as an adult, she recalls the summer she spent there raising Kiki, a lion cub she got as an eighth birthday gift from her uncle Matthew--an experience the led her to open Rainbow Street Animal Shelter.

Leira is about to start her initiation as a priestess when her world is turned upside down. A violent earthquake leaves her home - and her family - in pieces. And the earth goddess hasn't finished with the island yet. With her family, Leira flees across the sea to Crete, expecting sanctuary. But a volcanic eruption throws the entire world into darkness. After the resulting tsunami, society descends into chaos; the status and privilege of being noble-born...

"In Bronze-Age Crete, before horses were common on the island, potter's-daughter Clio continues to raise and train them even though an accident has left her unable to ride. After a series of difficult years in the community, the threat of raiders prompts the town's ruling Lady to demand the sacrifice of a maiden between ages twelve and fourteen, who will be selected at the spring equinox. Certain that she will be named the sacrifice, Clio struggles...