Jennifer Black Reinhardt

Illustrations and simple, rhyming text remind the reader that any achievement may be preceded by mistakes, and learning from them makes accomplishments sweeter.

Gondra, a little dragon, celebrates her uniqueness while talking with her parents about differences between her father's homeland in the East, and her mother's in the West.

Eleven-year-old Footer and her friends investigate when a nearby farm is burned, the farmer murdered, and his children disappear, but as they follow the clues, Footer starts having flashbacks and wonders if she is going crazy like her mother, who is backin a mental institution near their Mississippi home.