Frank Carlson Library

Timid Don Diego Vega grows faint at even the mention of bloodshed and would rather read poetry than defend his own honor. No one suspects that the effete aristocrat is living a double life as Zorro the fox, bold fighter of injustice, whose sword is ever ready to defend the poor and oppressed against a corrupt governor and his merciless army. Zorro's charade fools even the spirited Lolita Pulido, whose father forces her to endure the listless wooing...

In 1886, eighteen-year-old Mack Chance journeys from Pennsylvania to California to make a new life for himself, finding fortune, love, and power in Southern California, in a novel that spans from late-nineteenth-century San Francisco to 1921.

Diego de la Vega, the son of an aristocratic Spanish landowner and a Shoshone mother, returns to California from school in Spain to reclaim the hacienda on which he was raised and to seek justice for the weak and helpless.

This was the boy's mantra as he plodded through the desert alone, left to die by his vengeful grandfather. Johannes Verne was soon to be rescued by outlaws, but no one could save him from the lasting memory of his grandfather's eyes, full of impenetrable hatred. Raised in part by Indians, then befriended by a mysterious woman, Johannes grew up to become a rugged adventurer and an educated man. But even now, strengthened by the love of a golden-haired...

Ten-year-old Leo loves being a newsboy in San Francisco -- not only does he get to make some money to help his family, he's free to explore the amazing, hilly city as it changes and grows with the new century. Horse-drawn carriages share the streets with shiny new automobiles, new businesses and families move in every day from everywhere, and anything seems possible. But early one spring morning, everything changes. Leo's world is shaken -- literally...

"When the magic tree house whisks Jack and Annie back in time, they land in the tallest tree in Yosemite, California, where they join nature conservationist John Muir, and US President Teddy Roosevelt on a historic trip through the woods"--

"In the brutal, unforgiving West a dozen years after the California Gold Rush, a lone Pinkerton detective is on the trail of two vicious killers. When a famous ex-general's daughter is kidnapped, Detective Simms is assigned with bringing her home. Forged in the Mexican War, this man of steel knows how to survive and how to kill. But he will need all of his skill and guile if he is to survive this unforgiving land, and bring the general's daughter...