Having lost his memory, a boy with magical powers teams up with the rabbit Gildaen to search for his true identity.

Includes indexes.

Provides biographical information on the men and women who write and illustrate children's books

It's 1935 and from a child's eye view, the hard times of the Depression era are becoming more and more real. Each day, coming home from school, there is something else missing. First the sow pig, then the cow, then the truck. On one wrenching day the beloved hunting dog is sold. Finally the whole family packs up in the car and leaves--the children wonder where, but their parents are silent. Suddenly, the car stops at the edge of the road and Mother leans into the back seat, giving Mary Jake a handkerchief with something tied inside and the instructions to walk down the path into the forest, take the LEFT fork into town, and present the handkerchief at the stone house. So begins the adventure of a girl who chooses her own in path (neither left fork nor right), dyes herself in a stump full of walnut-colored water and disguises herself as a boy. "Jake" Smith soon meets Miz Bennett and hires on to help with her garden and animals. In this rags-to-riches story, rich with descriptions of Alabama during the Depression a strong female character copes with abandonment with courage and resilience.

When 12-year-old Andy meets Laurie and Jeff at an adoption party, he has already been in eight foster homes. Andy s alcoholic mother has given him up to the state as too hard to handle, and his father is in jail. Andy longs for a loving home and parents he can trust, but his attention deficit disorder, combined with the legacy of his dysfunctional parents, causes him to constantly challenge authority. He steals, destroys property, gets in trouble at school, tries to make a gunpowder bomb, and accuses Jeff, his soon-to-be father, of touching him inappropriately. To make matters worse, Andy s real father shows up asking for money. But Andy s new parents refuse to give up on him, and Andy must fight to save his soon-to-be-father s reputation and his own chance at having a real family."

A study and bibliography of modern fantasy novels and stories, concentrating on books that have taken on somewhat classic proportions, but examining others as well. Chapter one defines fantasy as a type of modern literature, establishing certain set subgenres, using terminology derived from J.R.R. Tolkien's "On Fairy-Stories" and Northrop Frye's Anatomy of Criticism. Chapter two is a historical overview of fantasy from George MacDonald and William Morris to the present. The bibliographical guide consists of approximately one thousand annotated entries, evaluating the works and placing them in their appropriate subgenres ... Four appendices list fantasies by subgenre, by year of appearance, and by awards given to them. There is also a discussion, with examples, of the current state of fantasy illustration.