Marie-Grace was born in New Orleans, but left after her mother and younger brother's deaths. She was brave as a young child, as told in backstory. However, years of moving and not having a stable home has changed her. She is now quite shy. She feels out of place after many moves on the East coast, as her father couldn't find the right place for them in the Northeast. Marie-Grace can be apprehensive, and at first she found it hard to stand up for herself....

Kit Kitteredge is a nine-year old girl with a nose for news. But since most of the news is about the hard times of the Depression, Kit writes her own newspaper stories. She reports on the happenings at home - like the day Mother invites fussy Mrs. Howard and her son to stay with them. Kit is excited to have a boy her own age to play with, but Stirling causes Kit nothing but trouble. Then, when Dad loses his business because of the Depression, Mother...

Maryellen Larkin is nine years old and longs to stand out, but in a family with five brothers and sisters it's easy to get lost in the shuffle! A painting mishap gains her some attention, but not the kind she's been longing for. Being invited to stay in at recess and practice her handwriting earns Maryellen a new friend, but what does that mean for her old friendships? Then, Maryellen is wishing for a white Christmas like the ones in the movies (not...

Julie is a fun-loving, happy, spirited girl, full of energy and new ideas but prone to fits of despair at the upheaval of the world around her. She finds it a duty to stand up against the prejudices of the past. This is at least partially because she herself is affected by these prejudices, tormented by the class rumor mill for being a tomboy, an athlete, and a child of divorce, but she also feels for the other people who may be affected. Though Julie...

From her family's New Mexican rancho comes the story of Josefina Montoya. She's trying to preserve what is precious after her mother's passing. When her mother's sister comes to live with Josefina's family, she is overjoyed. But Josefina must learn how to remain faithful to the old ways while helping her sisters and father open up to new ones.

Kaya is a Native American girl of the Nimíipuu, or Nez Perce tribe. Her stories are set prior to permanent settlement of the area by Caucasians. The stories are post-Western contact, as evidenced by the fact the tribe has horses and her grandmother has pock-marks from prior contact that has led to disease. Kaya is a very active young girl, fitting with an outdoor lifestyle. She swims in the river every morning with the other girls. She cares greatly...

Felicity Merriman, a spirited nine-year-old girl who lives in Williamsburg, Virginia, in 1774, just before the Revolutionary War.

Molly comes from a Scottish American family. She comes up with various plans to draw attention to herself through the series; several times these plans and ideas are either wholly unrealistic or fall through. To Molly, World War II is mostly a distant inconvenience in her daily life; it is only when she is introduced to Emily Bennett that she sees that the war is truly affecting other people. She is not very good at math (especially multiplication),...

"Growing up in Seattle in the late 1990s, Nicki loves alternative rock music, skateboarding, and making zines, which are like homemade magazines. She couldn't be more different from her twin sister, Isabel, but they're still best friends."

"Claudie Wells wants more than anything to be a person whose imagination can fly, instead of a person whose feet are stuck on the ground. She's growing up in the neighborhood of Harlem in New York City during the 1920's, surrounded by writers and poets, painters and sculptors, actors and dancers, singers and musicians. When an eviction notice threatens her family, her friends, and the beloved home they share, Claudie has an idea that just might save...