In alternate chapters, Sadima travels from her farm home to the city and becomes assistant to a heartless man who is trying to restore knowledge of magic to the world, and a group of boys fights to survive in the academy that has resulted from his efforts.

A brother and sister struggle to survive a harrowing trip across Death Valley-the most dangerous part of the Mojave Desert and the hottest spot in North America-in this riveting tale of historical fiction, part of the Survivors series. California, 1849: Jess, Will, and their father are in grave danger-separated from the rest of their west-bound party, their wagon is useless with a broken axle, and Pa is seriously ill from an injury that Will feels...

In the Colorado Territory in 1875, orphan Margret and her older sister Libby are staying with the kind-hearted Mrs. Fredrickson when Margret finds an injured horse which she nurses back to health and wants to keep, while Libby is too mistrustful of people to think that they might possibly have found a home.

Orphaned at age six and taken in by a heartless couple, nine-year-old Katie Rose spends her days doing chores and dreaming of going west to find her Uncle Jack. Then Mr. Stevens brings home an unbroken Mustang, and Katie's world changes. Katie is drawn to the horse's wildness, and he seems to sense her need for companionship. So when Katie learns that the Stevenses plan to join the expansion West, without her or the Mustang, she makes a desperate...

When her horse is given to a baron in the castle town of Athenry, nine-year-old Lara goes along.

Katie continues the journey west to Oregon hoping to be reunited with her uncle and returning the Mustang closer to his homeland.

The small piece of gold which Anisett carries in her pocket causes grave danger for her family living in the rough world of the California gold camps.

After returning home with her horse from Connemara, Lara no feels that her old life has anything to offer, so she tries to find another place for herself and her horse which is safe from the warring clans.

When her wounded brother returns from battle, twelve-year-old Mary must get help for him without telling her father, a wealthy Tory, who has disowned his son for joining General Washington's Continental Army.