by Reif Larsen (2009)
We see the world through the eyes of twelve-year-old genius cartographer T.S. Spivet as he leaves his family ranch just north of Divide, Montana, to travel to the Smithsonian to claim the prestigious Baird Award. Along his journey he learns lessons about family and self, and ways to communicate the ebbs and tides of heartbreak, loss, loneliness, and love.
Michael Malone
Raleigh Hayes, a respectable citizen of North Carolina, learns his father has vanished with a young female mental patient. He has left behind a mysterious list of seven outrageous tasks that his upright son must perform in order to rescue his inheritance.
Jillian Medoff
Rosa Guerrero beat the odds as she rose to the top of the corporate world. An attractive woman of a certain age, the longtime chief of human resources at Ellery Consumer Research is still a formidable presence, even if her most vital days are behind her. A leader who wields power with grace and discretion, she has earned the devotion and loyalty of her staff. No one admires Rosa more than her doting lieutenant Leo Smalls, a benefits vice president whose whole world is Ellery. While Rosa is consumed with trying to address the needs of her staff within the ever-constricting limits of the company's bottom line, her associate director, Rob Hirsch, a middle-aged, happily married father of two, finds himself drawing closer to his "work wife," Lucy Bender, an enterprising single woman searching for something--a romance, a promotion--to fill the vacuum in her personal life. For Kenny Verville, a senior manager with an MBA, Ellery is a temporary stepping-stone to bigger and better places--that is, if his high-powered wife has her way. Compelling, flawed, and heartbreakingly human, these men and women scheme, fall in and out of love, and nurture dreams big and small. As their individual circumstances shift, one thing remains constant--Rosa, the sun around whom they all orbit. When her world begins to crumble, the implications for everyone are profound, and Leo, Rob, Lucy, and Kenny find themselves changed in ways beyond their reckoning.--Provided by Publisher.
Helen Cresswell
Upon returning from a vacation, the members of the eccentric Bagthorpe family find chaos as a tramp takes over their house, their maid disappears, and the demonic Cousin Daisy arrives with her pet goat.
Alison Smith
Twelve-year-old Henry takes charge of the family for two weeks to allow his mother uninterrupted time to work on an art portfolio.