His relatively minor atrocities in the novel's early pages include him peaking through the wooden slats of Ellen's room from outside the house.

She boards at the home of Ruth McGinty and her husband, a truly foul human whose depths of depravity only descend further with each interaction. Within moments, it is clear that most of Ellen's clothing and her small allocation of personal belongings that made the trek are no match for the dusty, hardscrabble life on the prairie in the early twentieth century United States. She has been hired to serve as the local teacher after the prior teacher lasted a year, in what turns out to be a trend in the community. New-in-town Kammie Summers falls into a well during a cruel club initiation, where her time alone forces her to explore her memories and the awful reasons her family had to move in the first place in The Girl in the Well is Me by Karen Rivers.Where Coyotes Howl begins with Ellen's arrival in Wyoming, in search of a new life away from her family in Iowa. In Raising Lumie by Joan Bauer, Olive is ready to raise a guide dog after her family’s move to a new town … but will she be able to say goodbye after her dog is trained? Twelve-year-old Belle finds her new start more difficult than expected when her family loses their family farm in Iowa and moves to Colorado to accept the government’s 1910 offer of 320 acres of homesteading land in Hardscrabble by Sandra Dallas.įive orphans want nothing more than to find loving families, until a corrupt sea captain tries to make them his minions and Milou decides to plan an escape for her and her friends in The Unadoptables by Hana Tooke. In Bad Best Friend by Rachel Vail, Niki’s best friend Ava abandoning her ends up being a new beginning as she finds out who she is without Ava.

Small and Mighty: An Activist’s Guide for Finding Your Voice gives you space to explore what you believe, thoughtful “would you rather?” games, inspiring scavenger hunts, and more. Girl Almighty: An Interactive Journal for Being a Mighty Activist of the World & Other Utterly Respectable Pursuits includes inspiration for learning about other activists, lists of ways you can be brave and what you are excited about each day, space for designing feminist T-shirt logos, and more. If you want to record the journey that unfolds from your new start, consider picking up one of Nicole Larue’s guided journals.

Hardscrabble sandra dallas