Kirby, Susan E

Eleven-year-old Isaac's secretive attempt to join his father's annual pig drive to Chicago in the fall of 1837 is foiled by Porker, a pig with a mind of her own.

After Arnie suffers a closed-head wound in a car accident, adjustment and recovery are difficult for him, his sister, Cozy, and the whole family.

Great-grandmother Tandy tells Lacey about a quilt given to their ancestor, Daniel, who, upset by the changes after his grandfather's death, leaves Illinois for South Dakota in 1891 to find his father, and learns about the Sioux Ghost Dance first-hand.

Lacey learns about her great-great-great-grandmother, Hattie, who lived in a small Illinois town in 1856 when tensions were high between pro-slavery and anti-slavery factions.

Competing with older brothers who are more talented and surrounded at school by others who seem to excel where he cannot, Eli finds friendship with his neighbor Mr. Murphy and his rabbits, especially the buck rabbit Culligan Man.

In 1918 Illinois, Ida Lou dreams of finding her estranged father by becoming an aerialist in the circus, but her plans may be sidetracked by a terrible accident.

The story of Ellen who lives on an Illinois farm in 1830 and who gets a new stepmother and brother.