Showing results by author "Susan K. Marlow" in All Categories

No more ponies! Andi lives on a ranch in 1874 California. She wants a horse of her own more than anything. But Mother says Andi has to ride pokey old Coco. Andi is sure she's big enough for a horse - even if she's not so good at remembering to care for Coco. Can Andi show her family she's ready for her own horse? Or will she always be stuck riding a worn-out, hand-me-down pony?

It's just a made-up story...or is it? It's the summer of 1874. Andi wishes Riley had never read her that scary old dime novel to her. Now, she can't stop thinking about being captured by Indians. Then, one hot day when she and Riley ride up to the creek, Andi hears something moving in the bushes. Is it a rabbit? Is it a skunk? Or is it...Indians?

Everyone's favorite frontier heroine, Andi Carter, is back! Only she's Andrea Prescott now, and she and her husband, Riley, are starting their lives together. From their honeymoon in Yosemite—and the holdup that happens on their way—to the corners of their new home on Memory Creek ranch, just down the road from Circle C, Andi and Riley's first year of marriage is full of excitement in Yosemite at Last.

Andi and Riley are together at last—but the adventures don't stop in their happily-ever-after. Everyone's favorite frontier heroine, Andi Carter, is back! Only she's Andrea Prescott now, and she and her husband, Riley, are starting their lives together. And a new addition to the family joins the couple in Stranger in the Glade.

Andrea Carter is finally pulling her own weight on the Circle C Ranch she loves. The only thing she loves more than helping to run the ranch is spending time racing and stunt-riding on her horse Shasta, with the help of wrangler Riley Prescott. Little does she know that when she and Riley stumble onto a mysterious cut in the fence around her brother's prize calves, life is about to get far more exciting - and dangerous.

Andrea Carter is turning sweet sixteen and life could not be better. School’s almost over for good, and there will be plenty of time to train the colt of her treasured horse, Taffy. Best of all, big brother Chad is giving Andi more responsibilities on the ranch she loves. Her first job is to teach city-slicker cousin Daniel how things work on the Circle C. There’s just one big problem: Daniel wants nothing to do with ranch life. Charming one minute and outrageously rude the next, he ignores common sense, defies authority, and proves a danger to everyone, including himself.

Andi quickly discovers that a cattle drive is a dirty, dangerous business with little sleep and the same food day after day. Between late nights, dust, mosquitoes, and an abrasive cowhand trying to win Andi’s attention, it is definitely not a holiday. Andi grimly determines she will stick it out. When a river crossing goes wrong and Chad is shot in a gunfight with suspicious men who have been shadowing the herd, Mitch the trail boss finds himself dangerously shorthanded.

Fourteen-year-old Andrea Carter would rather ride her beloved palomino, Taffy, than do anything else. But life on the Circle C ranch in 1882 is busy. Between school and chores, Andi is left with little time to prepare for Taffy’s first foaling. Then when the event finally arrives, it nearly ends in disaster. Returning to school keeps Andi hard-pressed to find time for foal training. And she now has a new problem on her hands - Macy Walker, who has been assigned as Andi’s seatmate.

No one really knows where Jem’s beloved dog, Nugget, came from when Strike-It-Rich Sam found him. Jem doesn’t care; he just knows he loves his pup. But now, “missing dog” posters are going up around town, and the dog looks just like Nugget! It turns out the pooch is a golden retriever, a brand-new breed that’s very rare.

Winter in Goldtown, California, is rarely harsh. But this year snow covers the whole area. No one can get out to pan for gold in the icy creek for weeks on end. There’s never been a winter like this in all Jem’s eight years. That means all the wild critters are coming down to the low country looking for food to stay alive. It isn’t all bad, though - animals mean Pa can put out a trapline to make some money for the family. Jem goes along to help with the traps. But a sudden storm leaves them both stranded in the wilderness.

Jem needs to buy food for his dog Gold Nugget. But try as he may, his panning just never leads to gold. When he asks for a job, Mr. Sims, the café owner, sends him out to catch bullfrogs for the menu. Money and frog-catching - what a great solution for this active boy! But Nugget and Jem's little sister Ellie get in the way and ruin his plans. When he argues with Ellie, she stomps off in a huff, and Jem can get back to work.

Jem is turning eight years old. And there's just one thing he wants for his birthday: a prospecting trip with Strike-It-Rich Sam. With his grown-up friend to watch out for him, Jem's parents say yes. It's off for two weeks in the mountains to find gold! But this trip isn't going as planned. There are more tall tales from Sam than there are deep pockets of gold ore.

It's 1859. Seven-year-old Jem Coulter's family is trying to make a go of it in Goldtown, California, with Pa panning for gold and Mama baking pies and washing laundry to make ends meet. Jem and his little sister Ellie do everything they can to help out. But it's hard to help when Will Sterling, a rich boy with a mean streak, picks on Jem every time he runs errands for Mama.

Jem can't wait for school to let out for the year. Is there anything more boring than class when you could be outside? When rich boy Will brings a coin collection to school, it's an exciting treat. It isn't often the students get to see all that interesting money in one place. Then, a silver dollar goes missing during recess, and Jem is blamed!

Jem Coulter thinks his family is just on a sightseeing trip to the big city of Sacramento. Then, armed bandits hold up the stagecoach for the secret stash they’re carrying: gold for the Union Army fighting the distant Civil War! Suddenly, war isn’t so far away; it’s right there on the road to Sacramento, with Jem’s father, the sheriff of Goldtown, fighting against the rebel army’s Knights of the Golden Circle.

Jem Coulter’s pa, the sheriff of Goldtown, is away on a trip to deliver a prisoner to Sacramento, and he has left Jem in charge of the ranch - along with Aunt Rose, that is. No sooner is the sheriff gone, then trouble starts. A dead calf, a mysterious stranger, and then, Pa’s horse Copper and his prize rifle are stolen. And Pa’s deputies seem unconcerned.

Andi Carter has just turned nine. She and her palomino, Taffy, are old enough to be a real horse-and-rider pair at last! With a beautiful new saddle, Andi's sure she is ready to learn to trick ride like her friend Riley used to do before he left the ranch. Sadly, big brother Chad knocks down any trick-riding plans, but Andi cheers up when she discovers a new friend at her special spot. Her fun with Sadie is soon threatened, though. They are caught in the middle of a boundary quarrel between the two families. Both Sadie's pa and Chad are stubborn as mules and neither will back down.

When Fresno is hit with an unexpected outbreak of deadly scarlet fever, Andi Carter is scared. Her town friends are getting sick and school is closed until it passes. Far from the danger, at least Andi has her horse Taffy and plenty of work on the Circle C ranch to distract her. But is she really safe? First one ranch hand, then two, and then her brother Mitch fall ill. Mother is convinced that the only way to protect Andi from this terrible disease is to send her far away to fussy Aunt Rebecca in San Francisco.

Andi Carter has gold fever! Someone near town has struck it rich. Now Andi can't stop wondering if there might be some of the glittery metal in the creeks on the Circle C ranch. Her brothers agree that she might find something that sparkles. But they laugh whenever they talk about it. Andi is determined - when she finds gold, she'll be the one laughing!

This is so embarrassing. Andi's teacher, Miss Hall, is sick - and Mother is the substitute teacher...But it turns out embarrassment is the last thing Andi needs to worry about when two outlaws kidnap Andi and her mother after school in a case of mistaken identity! Now they're being held in a remote cabin until Mother can teach the man in charge how to read - and he's willing to go to any length to make it happen. Andi must escape and find help. But can she lead a rescue party back to Mother before the outlaws take their new teacher - and disappear forever?