Janet Taylor Lisle

After their mother's death, Olivia and Nellie go to live with their great aunt, where they slowly bring her overgrown and weedy old garden back to life, enabling them to adjust to a new life as well.

As Hillary works in the miniature village, allegedly built by elves, in Sara-Kate's backyard, she becomes more and more curious about Sara-Kate's real life inside her big, gloomy house with her mysterious, silent mother.

Twelve-year-old Jessie spends the summer with her family on Quicksand Pond, a New England vacation spot, where she develops a star-crossed friendship with independent Terri, and meets a reclusive old lady whose connection to a murder that took place decades ago still informs her present--and affects Terri in ways that Jessie gradually comes to understand the more time they spend together.

A hard-bitten group of mangy highway cats is changed forever after the mysterious arrival of three kittens.

Poco is horrified when Angela's cat disappears while under her watch. Is magic involved? Together, Angela, Poco, and Georgina have investigated some peculiar happenings. They are just on the verge of a major magical breakthrough when Angela's father moves to Mexico, taking Angela and breaking up the trio of friends. As consolation, Angela gives Poco her cat, Juliette, to care for and talk to while she's gone. Talking to animals is Poco's special skill,...

On the unforgiving coast of Twill, a boy is sucked into a fantastic adventure The country of Twill has a notoriously treacherous coastline: rough, rocky, and primed for shipwrecks and drownings. In the salt-scarred port town of Twickham, the locals are dependent on fishing. Everyone pitches in, devising new ways to catch fish and crabs without falling prey to the dangerous rocks and waves. Of all the fish that dart around their deadly shore, none...

In a forgotten small town, one girl and a hundred cats are about to do something spectacular Applesap is a small town smack dab in the middle of New York state, and beyond that geographical oddity, there isn't much special about it. It has a dress shop, a run-down movie theater, and two old-fashioned drug stores: Jiggs' and the Super Queen. But nobody goes to Jiggs'. The roof is leaky, the seats are sticky, and the flies have built a kingdom around...

An ancient oak tree has seen glory and tragedy-but nothing quite as spectacular as the showdown that's brewing For nearly a thousand years, the Dimpole Oak has towered over this small East Coast town, witnessing the passage of history: duels and revolution, lovers' trysts and traitors' hangings, victory parades and midnight conspiracies. The farmer who owns the land beneath the tree likes to tell stories of the murders and witch trials that took place...