A young lad named Tom rescues an injured magpie & takes her into his care. They become the best of friends and once Maggie the Magpie recovers, Tom releases her back into the wild. They reunite in the most heartfelt way when Tom revisits the area.

The author tells about his and his family's experiences as Japanese American internees at the Heart Mountain Relocation Center in Wyoming from 1942 to the end of World War II. During that time, he made friends with a magpie whom he named Maggie.

1911: Sydney, Australia. From the moment the tumours appeared on her face, Maggie Bright knew she would never live a normal life. Abandoned by her mother and then given away by her father, she spent her childhood learning to become the 'Lagoon Creature': part acrobat, part clown, part circus hand. It's not a bad life -Rafferty Braun, the ringmaster, provides her with an ongoing education, and now, as a young woman, she has the kind of freedom her condition could have easily taken away from her. As much as she tries not to, however, Maggie can't help wishing for more. Charlotte Voigt could not be more different. The talented tightrope walker is a star of the circus, with the entertainment world at her slipper-clad feet. She is also a liar. When an opportunity arises to try on Charlotte's identity for her own, Maggie doesn't hesitate. She wants to know what it feels like to be admired, to be accepted, to be beautiful. And the circus's sudden decision to cross Australia via wagon provides her with the perfect cover. Each new town or remote settlement brings the women closer to understanding one another. Resentments begin to fade, but in their place are secrets that could undo the delicate trust they've built: Maggie, with her alternative life pretending to be the glamorous tightrope walker; Charlotte lying about her background, her family, and the reason she reappeared with the circus after several years' absence. The sawdust road will test their willpower. The truth will determine their futures.

This is a true story of cockatoos who try to eat a log house who are defeated by a small dog who defends the home from intruders with the help of a neighbor's dog. Barking is loud and the party is observed by a small family of possums and kookaburras.

"From a Race of Storytellers will also be attractive to the general reader who wants to read more about the characters who inhabit McCrumb's fictional Hamelin, Tennessee, and to better understand the events that occur there. Through essays written by fourteen different scholars of McCrumb's fiction and one by McCrumb herself, readers will gain a deeper understanding of the real southern Appalachian mountains, not just the popular image."--BOOK JACKET.

Ryder Creed rescues abandoned dogs and turns them into heroes. But this time, it’s Creed who may need rescuing when a madman leads him and Agent Maggie O’Dell on a gut-wrenching scavenger hunt. Winner of the NEBRASKA BOOK AWARD in fiction Winner of the TCK Publishing Reader's Choice for Best Mystery “The Ryder Creed books are absolutely phenomenal.” —Suspense Magazine "A flawed, fierce protagonist whose first and absolute loyalty is to his dogs, plus compelling storylines: a slam-dunk recipe for late-night reading!” —The Bark Sixteen years ago, Ryder Creed’s sister, Brodie vanished from an interstate rest stop. She was only eleven and Creed was fourteen. Her disappearance ripped apart his family and has haunted Creed. Now a former Marine with his own scars, Creed has dedicated his life to his K9 business. He takes discarded and abandoned dogs and trains them for scent detection. Together they search for the lost and the missing. And always, Creed has held onto the hope that one day he might find out what happened to his sister. A thousand miles away during a police raid, FBI Agent Maggie O'Dell stumbles upon a clue that may explain what happened to Brodie Creed all those years ago. But to find the answers she’ll need to make a deal with a madman. And the search that follows will be as agonizing for Creed, as are the answers he discovers. A trailblazer in the K9 mystery genre, Kava creates a "dynamic between Ryder and his canines that reveals a world rarely shared in fiction and perhaps nowhere presented more effectively than in this series." —Phil Jason, Florida Weekly Read less

Devoted to the pains and pleasures of being female, the Museum of the Revolution--with exhibits such as "The Menstrual Show" (performed in redface), "The Hard-to-Please Momma," and "The Litany of the Clothes"--is under siege. The City Fathers, frightened by its continual expansion, are out to destroy it once and for all. But the City Fathers haven't reckoned with the residents of Heartbreak Hotel, a way station for Museum tour guides on mandatory rest leave, including an ex-nun, an unhappy comic, an aging cheerleader, a bitter cop, an accomplished translator, and a very sensuous ex-car hop. Fiercely funny, astonishingly inventive, Heartbreak Hotel maps both the familiar and the uncharted landscapes of women's lives.