Ellen Kindt McKenzie

When their mother sends Keld and Elylden away, she gives each a special gift to help them on their journey, and these gifts of power and prophecy aid them when they encounter the evil witch Edderis.

An old woman builds a house with twenty-six rooms and keeps all her possessions in alphabetical order, but she still can't find anything.

A good-hearted tinker and a curious young princess show a narrow-minded king that there are more important things in the world than his treasure.

An abandoned child in the desert is found and taught by a holy man whose teachings he mischievously resists, only to regret it years later when he needs that wisdom as he finds himself in a battle of wits with a fearsome villain.

Six-year-old John, emotionally withdrawn and resistant to traditional teaching methods, experiences ridicule and punishment at his one-room schoolhouse, until an old retired teacher reaches out from her blindness to share with him the world of reading and writing.

The son of a royal musician tries to prevent Lady Ysene and her brother from using their evil powers to gain control of the kingdom of Darai.

An orphan boy who lives with a witch becomes involved in a dangerous adventure from which he eventually emerges as the brother of a king.

When Ritchie's younger sister Rosie gets very sick after their mother suddenly goes away, Rosie begins to receive letters from a lonely troll, and these letters help Ritchie cope with his mother's absence, his father's seeming indifference, and the fifth-grade class bully.