Showing results by author "Susan K. Marlow" in All Categories

 When a winter flood in Fresno closes school temporarily, Andi is outraged when she's sent to live with a spinster aunt in San Francisco, doomed to finish the winter term of school at Miss Whitaker's Academy for Young Ladies. But her new roommate, the equally untamable Jenny, and the timid but tenderhearted Lin Mei, a young girl who works at the school, expose her to a whole new world. Soon these three new friends find themselves in more trouble than they can handle. 

Thirteen-year-old Andi Carter wants to surprise her mother with the perfect birthday gift. But keeping her plans to earn money a secret from her family is easier said than done. It takes time, but at last, one of Andi's ideas is working out...until the day she witnesses a back-alley crime that places a beloved citizen at the scene.  

Andrea Carter is turning sweet sixteen and life could not be better. School’s almost over for good, and there will be plenty of time to train the colt of her treasured horse, Taffy. Best of all, big brother Chad is giving Andi more responsibilities on the ranch she loves. Her first job is to teach city-slicker cousin Daniel how things work on the Circle C. There’s just one big problem: Daniel wants nothing to do with ranch life. Charming one minute and outrageously rude the next, he ignores common sense, defies authority, and proves a danger to everyone, including himself.

No more ponies! Andi lives on a ranch in 1874 California. She wants a horse of her own more than anything. But Mother says Andi has to ride pokey old Coco. Andi is sure she's big enough for a horse - even if she's not so good at remembering to care for Coco. Can Andi show her family she's ready for her own horse? Or will she always be stuck riding a worn-out, hand-me-down pony?

No one really knows where Jem’s beloved dog, Nugget, came from when Strike-It-Rich Sam found him. Jem doesn’t care; he just knows he loves his pup. But now, “missing dog” posters are going up around town, and the dog looks just like Nugget! It turns out the pooch is a golden retriever, a brand-new breed that’s very rare.

Jem can't wait for school to let out for the year. Is there anything more boring than class when you could be outside? When rich boy Will brings a coin collection to school, it's an exciting treat. It isn't often the students get to see all that interesting money in one place. Then, a silver dollar goes missing during recess, and Jem is blamed!

Andi Carter has just turned nine. She and her palomino, Taffy, are old enough to be a real horse-and-rider pair at last! With a beautiful new saddle, Andi's sure she is ready to learn to trick ride like her friend Riley used to do before he left the ranch. Sadly, big brother Chad knocks down any trick-riding plans, but Andi cheers up when she discovers a new friend at her special spot. Her fun with Sadie is soon threatened, though. They are caught in the middle of a boundary quarrel between the two families. Both Sadie's pa and Chad are stubborn as mules and neither will back down.

When innocent horseplay temporarily lands Andi and her friends in jail, they decide that a trip into the mountains will leave their troubles far behind. Accompanied by big brother Mitch and armed with a map showing old gold diggings, they can't wait to strike it rich. What could be better than two weeks of camping and horseback riding? But instead of gold they find heaps of trouble - trouble that leaves Mitch gravely wounded. Andi needs help fast. But who can she trust? And what good is a bag of gold when her beloved brother lies near death in the middle of nowhere?

Everywhere 12-year-old Andrea Carter goes, trouble follows. Even in the middle of the main street in Fresno, California. When Andi takes part in a reckless, impromptu horse race with her friend Cory, she nearly tramples her new teacher - not a good way to start the fall term! That mishap is only the beginning. Good intentions just aren't enough to keep Andi out of trouble. When an escaped prisoner forces his way into the schoolroom, Andi must make one of the hardest decisions of her life. 

Twelve-year-old "Andi" Carter attracts trouble the way her palomino horse, Taffy, attracts flies on a hot summer day. Lately, she can't do anything right, from forgetting important chores to putting herself in danger with her brother Chad's wild stallion. After a particularly scary incident where Andi gets in trouble once again, she wonders if her family would be better off without her. So she saddles up Taffy and leaves the Circle C ranch. But her escape quickly leads to frightening encounters with a horse thief and a vicious young lady.

It's just a made-up story...or is it? It's the summer of 1874. Andi wishes Riley had never read her that scary old dime novel to her. Now, she can't stop thinking about being captured by Indians. Then, one hot day when she and Riley ride up to the creek, Andi hears something moving in the bushes. Is it a rabbit? Is it a skunk? Or is it...Indians?

 Andi quickly discovers that a cattle drive is a dirty, dangerous business with little sleep and the same food day after day. Between late nights, dust, mosquitoes, and an abrasive cowhand trying to win Andi’s attention, it is definitely not a holiday. Andi grimly determines she will stick it out. When a river crossing goes wrong and Chad is shot in a gunfight with suspicious men who have been shadowing the herd, Mitch the trail boss finds himself dangerously shorthanded.

Fourteen-year-old Andrea Carter would rather ride her beloved palomino, Taffy, than do anything else. But life on the Circle C ranch in 1882 is busy. Between school and chores, Andi is left with little time to prepare for Taffy’s first foaling. Then when the event finally arrives, it nearly ends in disaster. Returning to school keeps Andi hard-pressed to find time for foal training. And she now has a new problem on her hands - Macy Walker, who has been assigned as Andi’s seatmate. 

Winter in Goldtown, California, is rarely harsh. But this year snow covers the whole area. No one can get out to pan for gold in the icy creek for weeks on end. There’s never been a winter like this in all Jem’s eight years. That means all the wild critters are coming down to the low country looking for food to stay alive. It isn’t all bad, though - animals mean Pa can put out a trapline to make some money for the family. Jem goes along to help with the traps. But a sudden storm leaves them both stranded in the wilderness.

Jem is turning eight years old. And there's just one thing he wants for his birthday: a prospecting trip with Strike-It-Rich Sam. With his grown-up friend to watch out for him, Jem's parents say yes. It's off for two weeks in the mountains to find gold! But this trip isn't going as planned. There are more tall tales from Sam than there are deep pockets of gold ore.

It's 1859. Seven-year-old Jem Coulter's family is trying to make a go of it in Goldtown, California, with Pa panning for gold and Mama baking pies and washing laundry to make ends meet. Jem and his little sister Ellie do everything they can to help out. But it's hard to help when Will Sterling, a rich boy with a mean streak, picks on Jem every time he runs errands for Mama. 

Jem needs to buy food for his dog Gold Nugget. But try as he may, his panning just never leads to gold. When he asks for a job, Mr. Sims, the café owner, sends him out to catch bullfrogs for the menu. Money and frog-catching - what a great solution for this active boy! But Nugget and Jem's little sister Ellie get in the way and ruin his plans. When he argues with Ellie, she stomps off in a huff, and Jem can get back to work. 

Jem Coulter thinks his family is just on a sightseeing trip to the big city of Sacramento. Then, armed bandits hold up the stagecoach for the secret stash they’re carrying: gold for the Union Army fighting the distant Civil War! Suddenly, war isn’t so far away; it’s right there on the road to Sacramento, with Jem’s father, the sheriff of Goldtown, fighting against the rebel army’s Knights of the Golden Circle.

Jem Coulter’s pa, the sheriff of Goldtown, is away on a trip to deliver a prisoner to Sacramento, and he has left Jem in charge of the ranch - along with Aunt Rose, that is. No sooner is the sheriff gone, then trouble starts. A dead calf, a mysterious stranger, and then, Pa’s horse Copper and his prize rifle are stolen. And Pa’s deputies seem unconcerned.

When Fresno is hit with an unexpected outbreak of deadly scarlet fever, Andi Carter is scared. Her town friends are getting sick and school is closed until it passes. Far from the danger, at least Andi has her horse Taffy and plenty of work on the Circle C ranch to distract her. But is she really safe? First one ranch hand, then two, and then her brother Mitch fall ill. Mother is convinced that the only way to protect Andi from this terrible disease is to send her far away to fussy Aunt Rebecca in San Francisco.