Böcker av Sherry Garland

Twelve-year old Dusty is terrified of drowning. He'll make any excuse and even lie to get out of getting in water. Matters get even worse when his father marries a woman with two daughters, all of whom love living on Galveston beach and swimming everyday. His excuses are genius, but he can't get out of a Caribbean cruise with his new family. Things are going badly until Dusty hears someone crying in the cabin next door, Cabin 102. It is a girl named Tahni. Could she be the ghost of an Arawak Indian who died in a hurricane on a Spanish galleon in 1511? Through Tahni's friendship, Dusty gradually leans to accept swimming. In the climactic ending he must face the worst of his fears if he is going to save his family and return Tahni to her beloved island home.

The soldiers moved quietly in the darkness--this was to be a surprise attack. Slowly, fifteen-year-old Lorenzo slipped into the column of men as they crept forward, their frosty breath encircling their heads, their lips moving in silent prayer. About a hundred yards from the enemy fort, the soldiers stopped, and settled down to wait for dawn. As he sat silently on the cold, damp ground, awaiting El Presidente's call to arms, Lorenzo's head whirled with troubled thoughts. Lorenzo Bonifacio never intended to be a soldier. But when the soldados raid his tiny Mexican village, Lorenzo finds himself forced to join General Santa Anna's army...all because of the pesky goatherd Catalina and the haughty Esteban Esquivel, son of the wealthiest land-owner in the region. Thrown into an unlikely friendship, Lorenzo and Esteban endure boredom, exhaustion, hunger, and danger as the army makes its way across Mexico to San Antonio de Bexar, where rebellious norte-americanos have barricaded themselves inside an old mission called El Alamo. Neither boy can imagine what lies at the end of the march. And neither can accept the price paid during the fight for Texas.

Thirteen-year-old Alyssa has not spoken since witnessing her parents drown at sea during a storm. Now, three years later, a hurricane is headed for Galveston Island, threatening to unleash Alyssa's memories of the horrific storm that ripped her family apart. When Hurricane Berta hits, Alyssa is desperately trying to find a way to get home to her grandfather and his mustang horses. Finding the old man injured, Alyssa realizes that to help her grandfather, she must first confront the silent storm of memories locked deep within her.

When American soldiers departed Vietnam, many left children behind?like seventeen-year-old Loi, whose fellow villagers ostracize her because she is con-lai, a half-breed and a reminder of her country's tragic civil war. Only Khai, a young buffalo tender, shows her love and respect. Promised in an arranged marriage to a cruel older man, Loi flees to Ho Chi Minh City. Along with thousands of others, she applies for the chance to leave for the United States through the Amerasian Homecoming Program, and faces the most important decision of her life: Should she leave her beloved country, her family, and her gentle, loving Khai? Includes a reader's guide, an author's note, and a glossary of Vietnamese words.

When she is forced to leave Vietnam, a young girl brings a lotus seed with her to America in remembrance of her homeland. ?Exquisite artwork fuses with a compelling narrative--a concise endnote places the story effectively within a historical context--to produce a moving and polished offering.?--Publishers Weekly