Penny is a blue-eyed palomino paint mare with a taste for adventure! She and a boy named Jesse search for gold in Northern California. After striking it rich and then losing everything, Jesse and Penny join the Pony Express. The job is a tough one, but Penny loves a challenge! Here is Penny's story...in her own words.

"A story of first love, family, loss, and betrayal told from different points in time, and in separate voices, by artists Jude and her twin brother Noah"--Provided by publisher.

An overprotective mother, an unfriendly older sister, and a friend-stealing school bully are some of the challenges faced by thoughtful ten-year-old Ben Hunter of Filmland, California.

""Everyone is invited to a birthday party at her parent's candy store, except Stella Batts. She needs to figure out to be a pleasant hostess when she's not on the guest list"--Provided by publisher.

Brainy twelve-year-old Bart attracts little attention at his new middle school near Hollywood, California, but whenever he can get around his gym-coach father, he secretly hunts electricity-guzzling aliens.

Moose has his hands full during the summer of 1936 watching his autistic sister, Natalie, and the warden's daughter, Piper, and trying to get on a baseball team by proving he knows Al Capone.

Ellen is a spunky--and occasionally misbehaving--young riding student. Her teacher Abby Lovitt is a high school student who introduces her to jumping, dressage techniques, and most importantly, Ned. Ned is a colt who used to be a racehorse, until he hurt his leg and moved to Abby's ranch. Ellen discovers that she can have conversations with Ned in her imagination, where she is able to sort out some of the issues that confuse her.

Moose Flanagan, who lives on Alcatraz along with his family and the families of the other prison guards, is frightened when he discovers that noted gangster Al Capone, a prisoner there, wants a favor in return for the help that he secretly gave Moose.

Soon after her beloved grandmother's death, Trisha's family moves to a diverse California neighborhood where she meets Stewart and his grandmother, Miss Eula, who brings people together to help a grieving neighbor.

Retells, in tall-tale fashion, how Levi Strauss went to California during the Gold Rush, saw the need for a sturdier kind of trouser, and invented jeans.