Karen Ackerman

Three children routinely spend summer afternoons in the park with their father, who no longer lives with them.

A rainstorm sends a family from their long-awaited first house, with all of its leaks, onto the sleeping porch to enjoy the pleasures of the summer night.

An account of the writing of the "Star-Spangled Banner," detailing how Key was actually behind enemy lines at the time seeking release of a captured friend from the British, who would not allow their departure until the bombardment of Baltimore was completed.

In 1938, having begun to feel the persecution that all Jews are experiencing in their Austrian city, Clara and her family escape over the mountains into Switzerland.

Clara Belle shares her memories of her life with a young girl as they enjoy a walk together.

A child describes a place where all the rooms have warmth, comfort, and love, and it turns out to be home.

Henry, Will, and Charley learn to do things around the house when Mama considers retiring from housework and becoming a wartime riveter.

After her mother leaves them, nine-year-old Livvy struggles to understand and forgive as her father loses his job and takes her and her younger brother to live in a shelter for homeless people.

When Great-uncle Max, the tailor, becomes sick and can no longer sew, nephew Aaron becomes his "hands" and together they create something special.

When Terry wakes up in the middle of the night to horrible screeching, he thinks the Banshee has come to pay his family a visit.

As the onset of the Civil War causes a rift between their fathers, Mahaley and Flora find a way to preserve their friendship.

Transfixed by the sight of a marvelous doll in a shop window, Isobel and Mimi dare to hope that their parents will buy it for them.

When her family moves from Boston to California in 1847, Araminta and her paintbox become separated, but through a series of new owners, the paintbox finds its way to California.

Summary, Grandpa demonstrates for his visiting grandchildren some of the songs, dances, and jokes he performed when he was a vaudeville entertainer.

Commander Ahab Flannery is once again setting out to sea but not before he says goodbye to his twenty-six alphabetically arranged children.

Although an old house appears abandoned, an owl, squirrels, mice, rabbits, and many other wild creatures have made it their home.