Janet Shaw

Ten-year-old Kirsten regrets the promise she has made to a ragged boy she discovers alone near a wrecked covered wagon not far from her Minnesota home.

In 1854, Kirsten and her cousins look after the farm while the adults go to town for supplies and everything is fine--until a blizzard surprises them.

When her bragging earns her a nickname around her Nez Perce camp, Kaya desperately tries to lose it and gain the respect of a young warrior woman named Swan Circling.

In the fall of 1764, after Kaya and her sister are kidnapped from their Nez Percé village by enemy horse raiders, she tries to find a way to escape back home. Includes historical notes on education and learning among the Nez Percé Indians.

Feeling lonesome and missing her sister and her horse who were captured by enemy raiders, Kaya befriends a dog that has wandered near camp. Although others warn her not to trust the animal, Kaya senses something different. Then, an annual gathering makes Kaya hopeful of her sister' return, and a group of hunters bring news of horses running wild in the mountains. Will this summer bring the happy reunions Kaya's tribe is hoping for?

Kirsten and her family celebrate their first Christmas in their new home on Uncle Olav's farm in mid-nineteenth-century Minnesota.

After immigrating from Sweden to join relatives in an American prairie community, Kirsten endures the ordeal of a strange school through a secret friendship with an Indian girl.

Joseph Cotten stars as Uncle Charlie, a calculating and charming killer who hides out in his relatives' small hometown. There, he befriends his favorite niece and namesake, Young Charlie. But she begins to suspect he may be the famed Merry Widow murderer. A deadly game of cat and mouse ensues as the psychopathic killer plots the death of his young niece to protect his secret.