Kathleen Karr Books in Order

On a Maine lighthouse island, young Emily Perkins agrees to marry widowed keeper Keith Judson. Their new life together forces both of them to face old wounds, loneliness, and the difficult work of learning to trust.

Growing up on an isolated Ohio farm in the 1830s, Maggie McDonald faces the work and uncertainty of a changing life. Her friendship with Johnny becomes the beginning of a larger journey west.

Chessie supports her father by working barges along the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal. After a brash bargeman saves her life, the two must sort through their differences, their faith, and the possibility of a shared future.

Eleven-year-old Jack and his younger sister Mandy are orphaned in New York City and determined to stay together. Leaving the city, they search for safety, family, and a home in a world that rarely makes things easy.

When their father's Texas ranch faces foreclosure, six Harper sisters try increasingly wild ways to save it. Their schemes include rustling, moonshine, and a stagecoach robbery, all told with high-spirited frontier comedy.

In 1855, twelve-year-old Gideon travels with his unpredictable father, a performer known as the Mummy Professor. When the mummy in their act points toward hidden treasure, Gideon is drawn into a risky Mississippi River adventure.

Maggie and Johnny Stuart look westward for a new beginning, but the journey tests their faith, hopes, and growing relationship. This historical romance starts their family story against the risks of frontier travel.

During the Dust Bowl, Christine discovers a hidden cave near her struggling South Dakota farm. Its water and crystals might help her family survive, but revealing the secret could destroy the one beautiful place she has found.

Maggie and Johnny Stuart continue toward Oregon Territory with their children and a wagon train in 1846. Hard miles, danger, and changing responsibilities test their marriage as they chase the promise of a new home.

During World War I, teen twins Fitzhugh and Nelly Dalton star in a silent-film serial written by their mother. Behind the cameras, they uncover a German sabotage plot with dangers far greater than anything in their script.

In 1845, Phoebe Brown joins her family and an all-but-women wagon train heading from Missouri toward Oregon. When disaster leaves the travelers short of help, the women must take charge of the dangerous trail themselves.

Phoebe Brown and the women of the Petticoat Party must learn to hunt after the men in their wagon train are injured. One bold boast leaves Phoebe facing a shooting contest and a chance to prove the group can survive.

Now settled in Oregon Territory, Phoebe Brown's family works to build a farm near the Willamette River. But pioneer life feels too small for Phoebe and her sister Amelia, who both want more than a life of chores.

At the start of the Civil War, orphan Ridley Jones joins balloonist Thaddeus Lowe after his giant balloon lands in South Carolina. Together they seek a way to use aerial observation to help the Union cause.

Fifteen-year-old Phoebe disguises herself as a boy and heads for California's gold country with her friend Robbie. The journey brings mishaps, hard work, and a bustling San Francisco life, along with questions about home and romance.

Fifteen-year-old Simon Green is underestimated at school, but he has a plan: herd a thousand turkeys from Missouri to Denver in 1860. The long trek brings rivers, thieves, unlikely friends, and chances to prove himself.

Kate lives in a lighthouse and spends her days wishing she were a mermaid. When a stormy night brings two real mermaids into danger, she gets the chance to be brave in a world beyond her daydreams.

On a New Jersey chicken farm after World War I, young Istvan learns from his Hungarian immigrant father how to care for their family. A sudden loss forces him to take on responsibilities much sooner than expected.

This illustrated nonfiction collection gathers unusual stories from America's most famous home. From presidential personalities to pets and daily pressures, it offers young readers a lively tour through White House history.

After cholera leaves him orphaned in 1839 New York, twelve-year-old Matthew Morrissey becomes assistant to a phrenologist. His work involves lectures, wealthy clients, and grave robbing, until survival starts to demand harder choices.

In 1885 Manhattan, fifteen-year-old Johnny Woods boxes illegally to help support his fatherless family. Prison and a mentor from the fighting world push him toward a chance to rebuild his life and become a champion.

During the 1920s spiritualism craze, Greer helps her fortune-teller mother hold séances at a Long Island mansion. When Greer begins sensing something truly frightening about her mother's new partner, the game becomes dangerous.

Matthew Morrissey and the eccentric Dr. ABC leave New York for 1840s Africa in search of a missing explorer. The young apprentice faces unfamiliar dangers while trying to survive his employer's reckless ambitions.

Through letters from a New Jersey schoolgirl, this historical story offers a young person's view of Dwight D. Eisenhower's America. Everyday concerns and presidential politics meet in an accessible portrait of the 1950s.

In 1914, a chaplain at a Massachusetts women's prison organizes a production of *The Pirates of Penzance*. As the inmates rehearse, music and theater give a divided group a chance to work together.

In 1896, Miles and his brother expect a dull European summer with their difficult uncle. Instead, a missing valet, Dürer woodcuts, and a secret society send them racing across Italy and Germany.

Ali the camel is taken from Egypt to Texas as part of the United States Camel Corps experiment. Told from his point of view, the story follows his hard work, search for freedom, and changing view of humans.

When Susan Elizabeth's suffragist mother pickets the White House and is arrested, Susan begins to understand the fight for women's voting rights. This picture book tells a child's view of courage and protest.

In 1670 Carolina, young English settler Christopher West befriends Asha-po of the Sewee people. Their friendship helps the colony survive, but expanding settlement brings conflict, exploitation, and painful choices.

Sixteen-year-old Tom Ormsby cons his way onto Henry Morton Stanley's 1887 African expedition. What begins as a dream of adventure becomes a brutal three-year journey shaped by colonial power, danger, and survival.

Conrad the Good, a jester abused by Lord Otto the Witless, escapes with his horse and the servant girl he loves. On the road, the pair seek a safe place where they can live freely together.