Books with author Liza Ketchum

When Jesse's parents decide to abandon their Illinois farm and return to their first home in Kentucky, Jesse is happy at the thought of seeing her grandmother again. Her older brother, Moses, would rather travel west, where the prairie goes on forever. He hates the idea of returning to a slave state and joins the family only reluctantly. But just a few days into their journey, Mama and Papa both die of the milk sickness.Now Jesse, Moses, and the two younger children are orphans, and must make the long journey on their own, in a pioneer world where orphan children can be bound out and forced to live as indentured servants until they are grown. Armed with a letter of protection from their father and the heart and will to survive, the children brave the wilderness. They don't know whom to trust. Will they ever find their way to Kentucky? And when they do, will they have a home?When Jesse's parents decide to abandon their Illinois farm and return to their first home in Kentucky, Jesse is happy at the thought of seeing her grandmother again. Her older brother, Moses, would rather travel west, where the prairie goes on forever. He hates the idea of returning to a slave state and joins the family only reluctantly. But just a few days into their journey, Mama and Papa both die of the milk sickness.Now Jesse, Moses, and the two younger children are orphans, and must make the long wagon journey on their own, in a pioneer world where orphan children can be bound out and forced to live as indentured servants until they are grown. Armed with a letter of protection from their father and the heart and will to survive, the children brave the wilderness. They don't know whom to trust. Will they ever find their way to Kentucky? And when they do, will they have a home?When Jesse's parents decide to abandon their Illinois farm and return to their first home in Kentucky, Jesse is happy at the thought of seeing her grandmother again. Her older brother, Moses, would rather travel west, where the prairie goes on forever. He hates the idea of returning to a slave state and joins the family only reluctantly. But just a few days into their journey, Mama and Papa both die of the milk sickness.Now Jesse, Moses, and the two younger children are orphans, and must make the long wagon journey on their own, in a pioneer world where orphan children can be bound out and forced to live as indentured servants until they are grown. Armed with a letter of protection from their father and the heart and will to survive, the children brave the wilderness. They don't know whom to trust. Will they ever find their way to Kentucky? And when they do, will they have a home?

It's the spring of 1851 and San Francisco is booming. Twelve-year-old Amelia Forrester has just arrived with her family and they are eager to make a new life in Phoenix City. But the mostly male town is not that hospitable to females and Amelia decides she'll earn more money as a boy. Cutting her hair and donning a cap, she joins a gang of newsboys, selling Eastern newspapers for a fortune. And that's just the beginning of her adventures. Participating in the biggest news stories of the day, Amelia is not a girl to let life pass her by - even and especially when it involves danger!

When Rosie Maxwell, age nine, discovers her family will soon expand from five kids to six, she explodes. “No one has that many kids anymore!” After Clara is born, Rosie’s parents are too busy to notice that the family is crazier than ever: Silas, age four, can’t talk, even though his twin sister Katie always knows what he wants. Dan, the family bookworm, has a habit of disappearing. Bossy Shirley lives on the phone, even in a crisis, and Clara can’t do much except cry and mess her diaper. Clearly, it’s up to Rosie to fix things but somehow, all her efforts make matters worse. Then a brush fire roars into Copper Canyon, threatening the Maxwell’s home. That’s when everyone learns to appreciate Rosie’s spunk, imagination, and gift for gymnastics—and when Rosie, now a hero, discovers she fits into her unusual family after all.In its starred review of Allergic to My Family, Kirkus Reviews wrote: “[Ketchum] deftly builds a consistent picture of this entire lively family in three amusing, self-contained episodes, then tells a satisfyingly suspenseful story about how her well-established characters cope with the fire. Welcome, Maxwells! Come back soon.” “Rosie is a spirited and funny heroine, and her antics are completely believable,” Booklist wrote. “[Ketchum] has captured the injured and indignant feelings of a harassed nine-year-old with great sympathy and humor. Rosie is sure to be popular with preteen readers.” And indeed, as one enthusiastic teen wrote to the author, “I wish you would write another book about Rosie. I think it would help a lot of preteen girls with their lives.”

As seen in the Publishers Weekly African-American Titles for Young Readers feature! Will Teresa Find Fame But Lose Her Soul? It's 1913 and vaudeville is America's most popular form of entertainment. Thousands of theaters across the country host vaudeville troupes. In Brattleboro, Vermont, fifteen-year-old Teresa LeClair--who has a "voice like a nightingale"--remembers the thrill of singing onstage as a child. But her parents have given up life on the road, and her father has decided that Teresa, blessed with perfect pitch, should drop out of school and work in the tuning rooms of the organ factory. Determined to escape the life her father wants for her, Teresa wins an amateur singing contest in Brattleboro's opera house and steals away on the night train to New York. She hopes to become a star on Broadway's "Great White Way," but has no idea of the challenges that lie ahead. There she runs into Pietro Jones and his father, talented African American dancers. Teresa and Pietro become competitors as well as unlikely friends. At a time when young black men could be lynched for simply looking at a white girl, Pietro understands, better than Teresa, the danger of their relationship. Teresa's quest to find her voice onstage and in her life, far from the support of her family, takes place against a complex racial backdrop of American history.

How will they ever get home now?The year is 1828. Jesse and her family have left their failing farm in Illinois to return to Kentucky, where her grandmother lives. But everything changes when Mama and Papa both die a few days into the journey, and the four children arc left to finish it alone.The wagon trails are more dangerous than they seem, especially for orphans, who can be captured and "bound out" as servants until they are grown. Will the children make it back to Kentucky? And if they do -- will they find a home there?A spirited and stirring adventure story rich with historical detail, Orphan Journey Home charmed readers across the country through its first publication as a newspaper serial.

As seen in the Publishers Weekly African-American Titles for Young Readers feature! Will Teresa Find Fame But Lose Her Soul? It's 1913 and vaudeville is America's most popular form of entertainment. Thousands of theaters across the country host vaudeville troupes. In Brattleboro, Vermont, fifteen-year-old Teresa LeClair--who has a "voice like a nightingale"--remembers the thrill of singing onstage as a child. But her parents have given up life on the road, and her father has decided that Teresa, blessed with perfect pitch, should drop out of school and work in the tuning rooms of the organ factory. Determined to escape the life her father wants for her, Teresa wins an amateur singing contest in Brattleboro's opera house and steals away on the night train to New York. She hopes to become a star on Broadway's "Great White Way," but has no idea of the challenges that lie ahead. There she runs into Pietro Jones and his father, talented African American dancers. Teresa and Pietro become competitors as well as unlikely friends. At a time when young black men could be lynched for simply looking at a white girl, Pietro understands, better than Teresa, the danger of their relationship. Teresa's quest to find her voice onstage and in her life, far from the support of her family, takes place against a complex racial backdrop of American history.

"Tito doesn't live here anymore." Alex Beekman's best friend Tito has disappeared, and his parents won't say where he's gone--or why. To solve the mystery, Alex joins his father on a summer trip to Los Angeles. As he searches, Alex uncovers clues--Tito's surfboard, abandoned on a beach; the turtle design they once painted on their surfboards, now on display at a tattoo shop--but everyone who knew Tito clams up when Alex demands answers about his missing friend. Alex must draw on reserves of courage and physical strength as he outruns a dangerous canyon fire and uncovers the truth about Tito--and himself. Blue Coyote, sequel to Ketchum's award-winning novel, Twelve Days in August, answers the question most often posed by readers: What ever happened to Alex?