Curl up on a cold day with one of these new children's fiction books!

Mistress of the Storm by M.L. Welsh

A wind-swept, salt-sprayed novel that will whisk you away...

Verity Gallant knows she'll never be as pretty and popular

as Poppy, her perfect little sister - she doesn't quite fit in.

But when a mysterious stranger hands her an ancient

red book, everything changes.

Verity becomes embroiled in a tale of dark magic and intrigue; she

uncovers old rivalries and discovers new friends.  Together, she, Henry,

and Martha explore the secrets stirring in the ancient harbour town of Wellow.

But what will it take to stop a powerful witch hell-bent on revenge?

True Blue by Jane Smiley

True Blue is a beauty, a dapple gray, and when

Abby Lovitt gets to take him to her family's ranch,

she can hardly believe her luck.  The horse needs a 

home:his owner - a woman brand-new to the riding

stable - was tragically killed in a car crash, and no one

has claimed him.  Daddy is wary, as always.  But Abby is

smitten.  True Blue is a sweetheart, and whenever Abby calls out

"Blue, Blue, how are you?" He whinnies back.

But sometimes True Blue seems...spooked.  He paces, and

always seems to be looking form something.  Or someone.  Abby

starts to wonder about True Blue's owner.  What was she like?  What

did she look like?  And what are the strange whispers Abby sometimes

hears when she's with True Blue?

Maggie & Oliver or a Bone of One's Own by Valerie Hobbs

Maggie is always full of questions.  But a young

maid in a fine house isn't supposed to wonder so much, 

and one day Maggie is thrown out into the street with only

a tiny heart-shaped locket for a keepsake.  Who is 

the lady in the locket?

A little dog named Oliver is pushing his nose along an

icy sidewalk searching for his lost mistress, or at least

something to eat.  No matter how hard he looks, he can't find

either one, but he does see a girl with round blue eyes and a golden locket.

The girl calls him Lucky.

And perhaps Lucky is the right name after all, for the little dog

helps Maggie find a warm, wonderful home of her own-and one for him, too.

R My Name is Rachel by Patricia Reilly Giff

It's 1936, and twelve-year-old Rachel's family doesn't

have two nickels to rub together.

Rachel lives in the city with Pop and her younger

brother and sister, Joey and Cassie.  Rachel's mother

died long ago, but the family had a special friend in Miss 

Mitzi at the flower shop, and they know everyone on their block.

Pop needs a job.  His search for work lands the family on a farm

upstate, in North Lake.  But times are hard there, too- the school

and the library are closed.  Their isolated house is falling

apart.  Still, Rachel loves the farm.

Miss Mitzi and Rachel write to each other constantly, exchanging

letters that sustain Rachel as the three city kids adjust to life

in the country.  When Pop's job takes him away from home for

a while, Rachel is determined that she and Joey and Cassie will do just fine on the farm.