Aiken, Joan - The Wolves of Willoughby Chase. When her parents leave Willoughby Chase for a sea voyage, Bonnie and her cousin Sylvia are left in the cruel care of Miss Slighcarp. Together with Simon the Gooseboy, they make a daring escape, but they must find a way to wrest Willoughby Chase from Miss Slighcarp's evil clutches. Gothic.

Billingsley, Frannie - The Folk Keeper. Corinna, known as Corin, is an orphan and a Folk Keeper, whose job it is to pacify the Folk who live beneath the ground to keep them from blighting the crops and souring the milk. Then she goes to Cliffsend, where the Folk are more vicious than ever. There she discovers her own past, why the hair she cut to disguise herself as a boy grows back every night, the powers she has, and those she doesn’t (even if she lies and says she does). Fantasy.

Blackwood, Gary - The Shakespeare Stealer. A young orphan boy is ordered by his master to infiltrate Shakespeare's acting troupe in order to steal the script of "Hamlet," but he discovers instead the meaning of friendship and loyalty. Historical Fiction.

Burnett, Frances Hodgson - A Little Princess. Sara Crewe is left by her father at a girl's school where she is well treated because she is rich. After her father dies and his fortune supposedly lost she is treated as a servant until her father's friend finds her. Historical Fiction.

Burnett, Frances Hodgson - The Secret Garden. Mary Lennox is indeed a miserable child. Upon the death of her parents she finds herself transported to the cold climate of England to live at Misselthwaite Manor with an ailing uncle she has never met. How she hates this country and everything about it. But with the English sunshine, spring comes into Mary's bitter heart. She find that she likes Misselthwaite Manor, its inhabitants, its gardens and especially its secrets... Historical Fiction.

Curtis, Christopher Paul – Bud, Not Buddy. 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. Historical Fiction.

Dahl, Roald - The BFG. Kidsnatched from her orphange by a BFG (Big Friendly Giant), who spends his life blowing happy dreams to children, Sophie concocts with him a plan to save the world from nine other man-gobbling cannybull giants. Fantasy.

Defelice, Cynthia - The Apprenticeship of Lucas Whitaker. . It's 1849, and twelve-year-old Lucas Whitaker is all alone after his whole family dies of a disease called consumption which has swept through the community. Lucas is grief-stricken and filled with guilt. He might have saved his mother, who was the last to die, if only he had listened to news of a strange cure for this deadly disease. Wandering through the Connecticut countryside in grief, Lucas ends up becoming the new apprentice to Dr. Uriah M. Beecher, also the local dentist, apothecary, barber, and undertaker. Lucas' new community is being decimated by the same disease, and the local people want to try the strange cure: digging up the remains of the first family member to die, removing and burning the heart, and breathing in the smoke. Dr. Beecher is certain this is useless at best, but Lucas feels sure it is worth a try. It’s a matter of life and death! Historical Fiction.

Dickens, Charles - Oliver Twist. Poor but honest Oliver, a penniless orphan on the streets of 19th century London, is fleeing the cruelty of the workhouse when he is forced into a band of young thieves. The gentle-hearted boy must summon the courage to fight for his freedom and his future. Historical Fiction.

Furlong, Monica - Robin’s Country. He has lost both the power of speech, and his memory, and now he has stumbled into the biggest group of outlaws in the county. They think he is a spy, and since he can’t speak he can’t swear his loyalty, even after he comes to realize that Robin Hood is actually a kind and brave man, devoted to helping his poor countrymen. Historical Fiction.

Ibbotson, Eva – Dial-A-Ghost. When little Oliver Smith inherits the gloomy mansion Helton Hall, his scheming cousins, the Snodde-Brittles, are determined to rid themselves of the orphan heir. They have a perfect plan. They will hire some terrifying ghosts from the Dial-a-Ghost Agency to scare the boy to death. But the fantastic creatures do not necessarily behave as expected-they are a little too human for that. Soon the ghosts, led by a mysterious girl spirit named Adopta, have joined with Oliver against his cousins. But they may have underestimated the depths of the Snodde-Brittles' evil.... Horror.

Kindl, Patrice - Goose Chase. Rather than marry a cruel king or a seemingly dim-witted prince, an enchanted goose girl endures imprisonment, capture by several ogresses, and other dangers, before learning exactly who she is. Fantasy.

Levine, Gail Carson - Dave At Night. When orphaned Dave is sent to the Hebrew Home for Boys where he is treated cruelly, he sneaks out at night and is welcomed into the music- and culture-filled world of the Harlem Renaissance. Historical Fiction.

Montgomery, L. M. - Anne of Green Gables. Anne, an eleven-year-old orphan, is sent by mistake to live with a lonely, middle-aged brother and sister on a Prince Edward Island farm and proceeds to make an indelible impression on everyone around her. Historical Fiction.

Ryan, Pam Muñoz - Riding Freedom. Charlotte Parkhurst has lived at the orphanage since she was two, kept away from prospective parents because of her value as a kitchen maid. But Charlotte’s love of horses gets her by; she enjoys helping in the stables, and riding the horses in races. But when her favorite horse Freedom dies the same day Mr. Millshark tells her she is restricted to the kitchen, Charlotte decides any life without horses isn’t worth living. She cuts her hair and dresses in some borrowed boys’ clothes and runs away as Charley to get work in a stable. She makes it all the way to California, becoming a famous stagecoach driver during the Gold Rush. Historical Fiction.

Rylant, Cynthia - The Islander. 10-year-old Daniel lives with his quiet grandfather on an island off British Columbia. He is lonely until he finds a mermaid’s comb on the beach, and the mermaid comes to get it. He wants to see her again, so he sends her a message in a bottle, a letter that says “Dear Mermaid, Please find me. Daniel.” The mermaid doesn’t reappear, but an otter with a white diamond-shaped mark on his forehead comes, and throws Daniel a shell with a key inside. Daniel finds that the key has magical powers. He discovers that he has a talent for helping birds, and he and his grandfather grow closer as they care for them together. Many years later, his grandfather dies, and in his bureau Daniel discovers a photo of a young girl and her dog, which has a white diamond-shaped mark on his forehead. Magical Realism.

Snicket, Lemony - The Bad Beginning. (A Series of Unfortunate Events #1). After the sudden death of their parents, the three Baudelaire children must depend on each other and their wits when it turns out that the distant relative who is appointed their guardian is determined to use any means necessary to get their fortune. Gothic.

Spinelli, Jerry - Maniac Magee. He came into this world named Jeffrey Lionel Magee, but when his parents died and his life changed, so did his name. And Maniac Magee became a legend. Separating the truth from the fiction about the life of a hero is always difficult, and setting the record straight on Maniac Magee is no exception. It's not just that this homeless 12-year-old kid can hit a ball better and run faster than anyone else in Two Mills, Pennsylvania, but that he does unthinkable things, like crossing the boundary between the white West End and the black East End, confronting prejudice and racism head on. Tall Tale.

Spyri, Johanna – Heidi. A Swiss orphan is heartbroken when she must leave her beloved grandfather and their happy home in the mountains to go to school and to care for an invalid girl in the city. Historical Fiction.

Umansky, Kaye - The Silver Spoon of Solomon Snow. Solomon Snow, a foundling discovered with a silver spoon in his mouth, sets off to reclaim the spoon from a pawnshop and try to find out who his parents are. Along the way he's helped by an aspiring writer and a circus performer.

Wallace, Barbara - Peppermints in the Parlor. Sent to San Francisco to live with her beloved aunt and uncle, newly orphaned Emily expectantly enters their once-happy mansion only to find unimaginable horrors. Gothic.

Wallace, Barbara - The Twin in the Tavern. A young orphan, afraid of being sent to the workhouse, finds himself at the mercy of the unsavory owner of a tavern in Alexandria, Virginia, while he tries to solve the mystery surrounding his past and a missing twin. Gothic.