Patricia Reilly Giff

The stories in Eleven are small masterpieces of Patricia Highsmith’s particular art—that of obsession and foreboding, of probing the dark corners of the human psyche. From the eerily outlandish (a man suffocated by countless snails) to the irrational and brutal (a child’s revenge on his mother for cooking his pet turtle), Eleven presents a gallery of bizarre characters, each driven by strange, unspoken urges, and their cumulative effect is at least as unsettling as any of her novels. [publisher page]

Jill's friends know that she has strong arms and hands and so when she is learning to play soccer, they make her the goalie.

In the shadow of the construction of the Brooklyn Bridge, eighth-graders and new neighbors Bird Mallon and Thomas Neary make some decisions about what they want to do with their lives.

Assisted by her cat Max, sixth grader Minnie starts up her new detective agency by investigating a kidnapping and a thief who will steal anything, even a hot stove.

1944Meggie Dillon's life has been turned upside down by World War II. Her older brother Eddie enlisted and was shipped off to fight in Europe. And people say that anywhere else Grandpa would be turned in because he's German, and people might think he's a spy. Is it true? Could Grandpa be taken away?Meggie's father has announced that they must help the war effort and move to Willow Run, Michigan, where he'll work nights in a factory building important war planes that will help fight the enemy in Europe. Willow Run will be the greatest adventure ever, Meggie thinks. There she meets Patches and Harlan, other kids like her whose parents have come here to do their part in the war. And there she faces questions about courage, and what it takes to go into battle, like Eddie, and how to keep hope alive on the home front.From the Hardcover edition.

SEWING! NO ONE could hate it more than Dina Kirk. Endless tiny stitches, button holes, darts. Since she was tiny, she's worked in her family's dressmaking business, where the sewing machine is a cranky member of the family.When 13-year-old Dina leaves her small town in Germany to join her uncle's family in Brooklyn, she turns her back on sewing. Never again! But looking for a job leads her right back to the sewing machine. Why did she ever leave home? Here she is, still with a needle and thread--and homesick to boot. She didn't know she could be this homesick, but she didn't know she could be so brave either, as she is standing up to an epidemic or a fire. She didn't know she could grow so close to her new family or to Johann, the young man from the tailor's shop. And she didn't know that sewing would reveal her own wonderful talent--and her future. In Dina, the beloved writer Patricia Reilly Giff has created one of her most engaging and vital heroines. Readers will enjoy seeing 1870s Brooklyn through Dina's eyes, and share her excitement as she discovers a new world.From the Hardcover edition.

We will dance on the cliffs of Brooklyn.Maggie's Door is the story of the journey from Ireland to America told by both Nory and her neighbor and friend Sean Red Mallon, two different stories with the same destination--the home of Nory's sister Maggie, at 416 Smith Street, Brooklyn, America. Patricia Reilly Giff calls upon her long research into Irish history and her great powers as a storyteller in this deeply involving, riveting stand-alone companion novel to Nory Ryan's Song.From the Hardcover edition.

In 1941, circumstances bring together Brick, a boy from New York's apple country, and Mariel, a young girl made shy by her bout with polio, and the two make a journey from Brooklyn back to help Brick's elderly neighbors save their apple crop and to help Mariel learn about her past.

When Rosie sets her heart on being selected for a part in Miss Deidre's summer ballet performance, she has no idea that she may be chosen for something even better.

Sarah writes to her pen pal in South America about her attempts to plan a surprise birthday party and her dislike of a new girl at school.

The neighborhood is getting ready to have a fiesta, but the fun stops when everyone starts fighting.

Sarah goes to New York City with Señora Sanchez and her little dog Bonita, and when the dog runs away she feels responsible.

The kids in Ms. Rooney's class are off to tour Philadelphia. It's going to be a great trip, except that Mrs. Miller the Killer, the substitute teacher is coming along.

Benjamin's Christmas is not turning out well--until he catches some of the season's spirit from Señora Sanchez, his new neighbor from Ecuador.