Donna Diamond

Jess Aarons, a ten-year-old boy in rural Virginia, finds a beloved and unexpected friend in Leslie, the new girl at school, with whom he creates a secret kingdom in the woods and from whom he learns lifelong lessons when tragedy strikes.

For almost nine-year-old Hannah Perley of Fairfield, Connecticut, growing up means facing new challenges, both great and small--from saving the life of a baby lamb to helping the family prepare to send her brother Ben to join the colonial soldiers in the American Revolutionary War.

In 1780 in Fairfield, Connecticut, Hannah worries about her brother Ben, a colonial soldier being held prisoner by the British, and joins her family in rebuilding their home and preparing for Ben's homecoming.

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.