To ten-year-old Josephine Barkley, life on a small farm would be perfect even during the Great Depression if only she had a pony to take to the fair.

With the help of her friend, Bobby, Jo tries several schemes to get a pony. They chase a wild horse, but it gets away. They raise a runt pig to trade for a pony, but it is killed by a pack of dogs. They catch gophers, but their penny-a-tail bounty will never buy a horse.

When Grandpa offers Jo a summer job to earn one of his ponies, she thinks her problem is solved. But Mom comes down with pneumonia and Jo faces a decision? Is family more important than her pony?

Publishers Weekly

A School Library Journal Best Book of the Year and winner of the Washington Irving Children's Choice Award.

This is a novel about migrant farm workers. All his life Jack O'Neal has known the joy of moving from one place to another, winter and summer, spring and fall, following the crops with his family. Jack is a hard-working boy, and when his father suddenly dies he shoulders the responsibility for supporting himself, his mother, and his little sister. In addition, he takes upon himself the burden of repaying a loan old Colonel House, a plantation owner, had made to Jack's father.

Picking, grubbing, and clearing is back-breaking labor for them all, but there is fun and adventure too as they move through the South in the old truck that serves as their home. And they meet all sorts of interesting people, the kind stay-at-homes never get to know.

In the end something good happens to Jack, and he knows that thereafter his mother and sister will not have to work the fields again. But not before the reader has had a rare opportunity to get to know the life of the Wanderers of the Field.

Jo Barkley and her friend, Bobby, are invited to Uncle Clint's ranch near Tabby Mountain to help with the spring cattle drive. But Jo's parents have invited Flora Mae, her city cousin, to spend the summer with her on the Barkley farm.

Jo decides to help her cousin get used to country life so Flora Mae can go to the ranch with her and Bobby. Laugh with Jo and weep with her as she teaches Flora Mae to take care of the chickens, milk a cow, and ride a horse. The three children go to the ranch where they find out chasing cattle on a real cow pony is quite different from herding milk cows back home. They make friends with a Ute Indian and discover a secret on the mountain. Will the secret keep them from helping with the cattle drive? Find out in The Secret of Tabby Mountain.

How can young Jim Tyler forget that awful night? After all, he was the one driving the truck the rainy night when his dad was killed.

Once out of the hospital and back at the Tyler J-Bar-J Ranch, Jim mopes and feels blue. Confined to a wheelchair, he has lost interest in the farm and his friends. His mom, Aunt Martha, and ranch hand Monty all pitch in and try to cheer Jim. Classmates from school visit. But Jim doesn't want to get better or to help himself walk again. Not even the threatened loss of the farm forces him to make an effort.

Then the cry of the wolf echoes through the night and terror stalks the invalid!

Jo Barkley and her friend, Bobby, are invited to Uncle Clint's ranch near Tabby Mountain to help with the spring cattle drive. But Jo's parents have invited Flora Mae, her city cousin, to spend the summer with her on the Barkley farm.

Jo decides to help her cousin get used to country life so Flora Mae can go to the ranch with her and Bobby. Laugh with Jo and weep with her as she teaches Flora Mae to take care of the chickens, milk a cow, and ride a horse. The three children go to the ranch where they find out chasing cattle on a real cow pony is quite different from herding milk cows back home. They make friends with a Ute Indian and discover a secret on the mountain. Will the secret keep them from helping with the cattle drive? Find out in The Secret of Tabby Mountain.

How can young Jim Tyler forget that awful night? After all, he was the one driving the truck the rainy night when his dad was killed.

Once out of the hospital and back at the Tyler J-Bar-J Ranch, Jim mopes and feels blue. Confined to a wheelchair, he has lost interest in the farm and his friends. His mom, Aunt Martha, and ranch hand Monty all pitch in and try to cheer Jim. Classmates from school visit. But Jim doesn't want to get better or to help himself walk again. Not even the threatened loss of the farm forces him to make an effort.

Then the cry of the wolf echoes through the night and terror stalks the invalid!

To ten-year-old Josephine Barkley, life on a small farm would be perfect even during the Great Depression if only she had a pony to take to the fair.

With the help of her friend, Bobby, Jo tries several schemes to get a pony. They chase a wild horse, but it gets away. They raise a runt pig to trade for a pony, but it is killed by a pack of dogs. They catch gophers, but their penny-a-tail bounty will never buy a horse.

When Grandpa offers Jo a summer job to earn one of his ponies, she thinks her problem is solved. But Mom comes down with pneumonia and Jo faces a decision? Is family more important than her pony?