Katherine Paterson

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt is publishing a monthly series of e-only essays to correspond with Katherine Paterson's two-year term as the National Ambassador for Young People's Literature. The subjects of the essays include: writing and literature for young people, the wonder and imagination found within great books, common questions novice writers ask, and Katherine's own personal experiences throughout her historic career.

Feeling deprived all her life of schooling, friends, mother, and even her name by her twin sister, Louise finally begins to fight back.

Josh, who has just moved to Vermont with his mother, stepfather, and new baby brother, must deal with the bullying of a neighbor boy and discovers that his dog, whom he hears talking with other dogs, is also facing a bully of his own.

Jake and Rosa, two children, form an unlikely friendship as they try to survive and understand the 1912 Bread and Roses strike of mill workers in Lawrence, Massachusetts.

In 1899, ten-year-old Robbie, son of a preacher in a small Vermont town, gets himself into all kinds of trouble when he decides to give up being Christian in order to make the most of his life before the end of the world.

Meli Lleshi is positive that her drawing of her teacher with his pelican nose started it all. The Lleshis are Albanians living in Kosovo, a country trying to fight off Serbian oppressors, and suddenly they are homeless refugees. Old and young alike, they find their courage tested by hunger, illness, the long, arduous journey, and danger on every side. Then, unexpectedly, they are brought to America by a church group and begin a new life in a small...

Lyddie Worthen is only 13 when her family is split up and she is forced to hire herself out at Cutler's tavern. Far from home, she despairs of ever seeing her loved ones again. Desperate, Lyddie makes her way to Concord, Massachusetts where she becomes a factory girl, working as a weaver in a textile mill. Six days a week Lyddie struggles at the back-breaking looms. In spite of the deafening noise of the machines, the sweltering heat, and the choking...

In James Johnson's family, everybody strums and sings. With their music, his mamma, daddy, and uncle get crowds stomping at county fairs. Eleven-year-old James loves to sing harmony with his grandma on their favorite old mountain ballads. One day, the Johnson family hires a manager to book their appearances. But when the manager hears James sing, he quickly gives the boy a stage name and puts him on national TV. As his popularity grows, James will...

Nine-year-old Vinnie Matthews is a little girl with a big problem. She needs a lifesaver-not the candy kind, but a real one that will take her back to her home in Washington and make her daddy live again. Life without Daddy means moving to Grandma's rickety old house in Virginia and going to a new school where the other girls only make fun of Vinnie. Most of the time, Vinnie spends recess sitting alone on the school steps. But one day on the playground,...

A soothsayer and his faithful donkey save the Israelites from destruction by King Balak on the orders of an angel.