Katherine Paterson

The 40th anniversary edition of the classic Newbery Medal-winning title by beloved author Katherine Paterson, with brand-new bonus materials including an author's note by Katherine herself and a foreword by New York Times bestselling author Kate DiCamillo. Jess Aarons has been practicing all summer so he can be the fastest runner in the fifth grade. And he almost is, until the new girl in school, Leslie Burke, outpaces him. The two become fast friends...

Holiday hijinks abound in this very merry Christmas story about three siblings who can't resist sneaking a peek under the tree before it's time, for fans of How to Catch Santa and 5 More Sleeps. Everyone knows there's no peeking at presents before Christmas morning. But what if there's a very, very good reason to take a look? It's Christmas Eve and the three kids in this story are trying their best to go to sleep, but something keeps waking them...

An eleven-year-old foster child tries to cope with her longings and fears as she schemes against everyone who tries to be friendly.

It's 1899 in a small town in Vermont, and the turn of the century is coming fast. According to certain members of the church where Robbie's father is the preacher, the end of the century might even mean the end of the world. But Robbie has more pressing worries. He's sure his father loves his simple-minded brother, Elliot, better than him, and he can no longer endure the tiresome restrictions of Christianity. He decides to leave the fold and become...

Sing out, my soul, the wonder . . . Mary's baby has arrived, and she can't contain her joy! As Joseph sleeps, she examines her newborn's tiny mouth, his wild hair, his little hands. Yet what's most wondrous is that this child is not just Mary's own but a gift that God has shared with everyone. Poetic text by Newbery Medalist Katherine Paterson and striking images by Lisa Aisato reveal the intimacy of that unforgettable night long ago, when the mother...

Eleven-year-old Park makes some startling discoveries when he travels to his grandfather's farm in Virginia to learn about his father who died in the Vietnam War.

When officials bring the lunatic to the poor farm in Vermont and lock him in a cage, Jip is the only one who befriends the shaggy old man. An abandoned child who has no memory of his life before coming to the farm, Jip has a gentle knack for calming all frightened creatures. Months later, a dark-clad stranger comes to the poor farm, asking about Jip. The boy recoils from him as he would from a snake. In the stranger's shadow, the lives of Jip and...

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt is publishing a monthly series of e-only essays to correspond with Katherine Paterson's two-year term as the National Ambassador for Young People's Literature. The subjects of the essays include: writing and literature for young people, the wonder and imagination found within great books, common questions novice writers ask, and Katherine's own personal experiences throughout her historic career.

A Stubborn Sweetness and Other Stories for the Christmas Season is a collection of modern-day short stories by Katherine Paterson, award-winning author of Bridge to Terabithia and The Great Gilly Hopkinsboth loved by children and adults for over twenty years. This compilation includes stories of real-life people such as a shopping mall's night watchman, a lonely widower, a pregnant teenage runaway, a political prisoner in China, a grieving mother,...