Metropolitan Library System

Twelve-year-old Mallie knows better than to dream. In Coal Top, you live the story you're given: boys toil in the mines and girls work as servants. Mallie can't bear the idea of that kind of life, but her family is counting on her wages to survive. It wasn't always this way. Before the Dust came, the people of Coal Top could weave starlight into cloth. They'd wear these dreaming clothes to sleep and wake up with the courage to seek adventure ... or...

Hoping to escape the attention brought on by the accident that flattened Stanley, the Lambchop family drives to South Dakota, where they become involved in a wild west adventure at Mount Rushmore.

In September, 1859, Jem learns that his beloved dog, Nugget, is a very rare golden retriever whose wealthy owner wants him back, but when Jem hides Nugget in the woods, danger awaits. Includes vocabulary list and note about rattlesnakes.

The exceptionally harsh winter of 1860 in Goldtown, California, causes trouble for eight-year-old Jem and his family and friends, especially when wild animals come down from the mountains seeking food. Includes vocabulary list and historical notes.