There were only eleven of them, like eleven sisters all the same age in a large family.... On the television news they heard gunfire and the sound of helicopter blades and bombs falling. The little girls hung on to the brink of a hugeness that they knew was there but had no way of discovering.The Vietnam War rages overseas, but back at home, in a year that begins with the hanging of one man and ends with the drowning of another, eleven schoolgirls embrace their own chilling history when their teacher abruptly goes missing on a field trip. Who was the mysterious poet they met in the garden? What actually happened that day? And most important, who can they tell about it?In beautifully crafted prose that shimmers and fades, Ursula Dubosarsky reveals how a single shared experience can alter the course of young lives forever. Part gripping thriller, part ethereal tale of innocence lost, The Golden Day is a poignant study of fear and friendship, and of what it takes to come of age with courage.

Twelve-year-old Julia has always tried to take care of her Argentine- born father, but her efforts to help him improve his English don't turn out as planned.

Becky finds an old paintbrush in the rubbish pile, and transforms it into a magic wand that may actually work, as her brother disappears when she points it at him and a mysterious, just-as-annoying black cat appears instead.

Three sisters growing up in post-World War II Sydney, Australia, deal with their mentally unstable father, their possibly unfaithful mother, and the defecting Russian spy who lives next door. 17,500 first printing.

Students take turns bringing home Rex, the class chameleon, and writing about how he spent his visit, which includes going for a swim, falling out of a window, and getting dressed as Malibu Barbie.