Updated for young readers by John Merriman, this book describes a history that begins with the origins of mankind and tells of significant people and events of every age through the late twentieth century.

A little cat comes to the home of a poor Japanese artist and, by humility and devotion, brings him good fortune.

The young son of a New Mexico sheep rancher longs to go with the men when they take the sheep to the Sangre de Christo Mountains.

When he finds a lost beagle in the hills behind his West Virginia home, Marty tries to hide it from his family and the dog's real owner, a mean-spirited man known to shoot deer out of season and to mistreat his dogs.

Ten-year-old Bud, a motherless boy living in Flint, Michigan, during the Great Depression, escapes a bad foster home and sets out in search of the man he believes to be his father--the renowned bandleader, H.E. Calloway of Grand Rapids.

A quietly humorous story of one kind of contemporary New York City boyhood, a fourteen-year-old and his family, his friends, and a stray tomcat.

Having run away with her younger brother to live in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, twelve-year-old Claudia strives to keep things in order in their new home and to become a changed person and a heroine to herself.

Having felt deprived all her life of schooling, friends, mother, and even her name by her twin sister, Louise finally begins to find her identity. My twin sister was adored by everyone but me -- the one who should have loved her best. "Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated...." With her grandmother's taunt, Louise knew that she, like the biblical Esau, was the despised elder twin. Caroline, her selfish younger sister, was the one everyone...

A young Jewish rebel is filled with hatred for the Romans and a desire to avenge his parents' deaths until Jesus teaches him love and understanding of others.

After the death of the beloved aunt who has raised her, twelve-year-old Summer and her uncle Ob leave their West Virginia trailer in search of the strength to go on living. Twelve-year-old Summer, her classmate Cletus, and her grieving Uncle Ob set off across West Virginia in search of a "Small Medium at Large" in fond hopes of reaching Aunt May beyond the grave. Their journey is heartening, funny, and altogether unforgettable.