In this comical twist on sibling rivalry, a girl decides she needs a new family, so she writes "free kid" on a box and waits in the street for some better parents to choose her.

When twelve-year-old Nick runs away from his uncle's in the middle of a blizzard, he stumbles onto a very opinionated bookstore. He also meets its guardian, the self-proclaimed Evil Wizard Smallbone, who calls Nick his apprentice and won't let him leave, but won't teach him magic, either. It's a good thing the bookstore takes Nick's magical education in hand, because Smallbone's nemesis--the Evil Wizard Fidelou--and his pack of shape-shifting bikers...

Young Ven Polypheme is sent on a secret mission within the walls of the Gated City, a former penal colony in the land of Serendair, where he and his friends face kidnapping and even worse dangers from the ruthless Thief Queen, who is trying to reclaim her runaway daughter.

"Elizabeth is tired of being mistreated in her orphanage, so she runs away and hides in a ship's cargo hold. But when the ship sets sail, two crewmen discover her during a storm. They think she's a jinx! What will become of Elizabeth now?" -- Back cover.

In 1904, twelve-year-old Orphelia follows her dream by running away from home to join an all-black minstrel show headed for the Saint Louis World's Fair, and learns about her family's troubled past in the process.

"When Cricket's Aunt Belinda accidentally forgets her in the grocery store, Cricket decides to run away once and for all. But Cricket has to stay close by because even though her mama hasn't been in touch since she disappeared, she'll surely come back. And Cricket has to be there when she does. Because she needs answers"--

"Connie the Cuddly Cat is feeling lonely, but all her AlphaPet friends are busy and have no time to play with her. Connie thinks that nobody cares for her and decides to run away. When the AlphaPets discover she's missing, they realize how lonely and sad she was feeling. Can they find her and let her know how much they really care?"--Prelim.

Tired of the way she is treated by her big sister, Dee Dee, and Dee Dee's friends, a little girl decides to leave home.

Ten-year-old Bud, a motherless boy living in Flint, Michigan, during the Great Depression, escapes a bad foster home and sets out in search of the man he believes to be his father--the renowned bandleader, H.E. Calloway of Grand Rapids.

A Texas girl at the turn-of-the-century longs to be a cowgirl and ride in Wild West shows on her beloved horse Devildust.