When orphaned, eleven-year-old Pollyanna comes to live with austere and wealthy Aunt Polly, her philosophy of gladness brings happiness to her aunt and other unhappy members of the community.

"There was one passenger in the coach,-a small dark-haired person in a glossy buff calico dress. She was so slender and so stiffly starched that she slid from space to space on the leather cushions, though she braced herself against the middle seat with her feet and extended her cotton-gloved hands on each side, in order to maintain some sort of balance. Whenever the wheels sank farther than usual into a rut, or jolted suddenly over a stone, she bounded...

As a child, Great-aunt Alice Rumphius resolved that when she grew up she would go to faraway places, live by the sea in her old age, and do something to make the world more beautiful; she does them all, the last being the hardest of all. In Spanish and English.

Twelve-year-old Katie, living with her father, aunt, and five siblings in a small town in the 1870's, constantly makes and breaks resolutions to be a kind and generous person like her invalid Cousin Helen, but when she herself is bedridden after an accident, Katie finds her cousin's example very hard to follow.

Flora and Ruby's Aunt Allie is about to adopt the baby she always wanted and the whole family is excited.

"After the death of their mother, sisters Daisy and Beatriz Davenport found a home with their aunt Stella in the beautiful and welcoming town of Cape Sanctuary. They never knew all the dreams that Stella sacrificed to ensure they had everything they'd ever need. Now, with Daisy and Bea grown, it's time for Stella to reveal the secret she's been keeping from them--a secret that will change their family forever. Bea thought she'd sown all her wild oats...

"November 1919. A relaxing few weeks by the seaside with her husband, Sidney, could almost convince Verity Kent that life has returned to the pleasant rhythm of pre-war days. Then Verity's beloved Great-Aunt Ilse lands on their doorstep. After years in war-ravaged Germany, Ilse has returned to England to repair her fragile health -- and to escape trouble. Someone has been sending her anonymous threats, and Verity's Secret Service contacts can only...

"[A] story of family life that is a dance of love and grief and rebirth set on a gorgeous island in the Indian Ocean"--Dust jacket flap.

On a visit to Cincinnati from rural Kentucky during the Great Depression, Aunt Millie impresses Kit with her money-saving cleverness. Includes information on life in America during the Great Depression.

Nine-year-old Josefina, the youngest of four sisters living in New Mexico in 1824, tries to help run the household after her mother dies.