As the war continues into May 1945, eleven-year-old Molly finds herself pulled in many different directions trying to cope with her troubled father's return from war, the abrupt resignation of her favorite Red Cross volunteer, a scrap-paper drive, and a mysterious neighborhood prowler.

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.

During a visit to her grandparents' Illinois farm in 1944, ten-year-old Molly tries to prove the innocence of a German-American neighbor whom the FBI suspects of smuggling anti-American propaganda. Includes historical notes about life on the home front in World War II.

When Tía Dolores, the beloved aunt who has cared for the Montoya family since the death of their mother, announces that she is planning to leave, Josefina and her sisters try to find a way to change her mind.

Nine-year-old Josefina wants to give up learning to play the piano until she sees the joy it brings to her baby nephew. Discusses the importance of music on the New Mexican frontier and describes how to dance La Vaquerita.

The second Christmas after their mother has died, Josefina and her three sisters find that participating in the traditions of Las Posadas helps keep memories of Mamá alive.

While working as a reporter during her summer vacation in 1935, Kit uncovers a mystery at the Cincinnati Zoo involving suspected break-ins at the monkey house.

In 1765, the arrival of an injured stranger from another tribe, traveling alone and apparently unable to speak, arouses suspicion in Kaya's Nez Percé village. Includes glossary and historical notes on the Nez Percé Indians

Contains six stories about the adventures of Josefina Montoya, a young girl living in New Mexico in the 1820s, following her as she adjusts to growing up and the many changes that occur in her household after the arrival of her Tia Dolores who has come to care for her and her sisters following the death of their mother.

Josefina hopes to become a "curandera" or healer like Tía Magdalena, and she is tested just before her tenth birthday when a friend receives a potentially fatal snakebite.