"Jane McKeene was born two days before the dead began to walk the battlefields of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania--derailing the War Between the States and changing the nation forever. In this new America, safety for all depends on the work of a few, and laws like the Native and Negro Education Act require certain children attend combat schools to learn to put down the dead. But there are also opportunities--and Jane is studying to become an Attendant, trained...

Papa and Chita leave downtown Baltimore in a buggy to find a Christmas tree in the deep woods.

While visiting their Great-Aunt Flossie, two sisters get a chance to see what family treasures are stored in a locked room there.

After moving to Baltimore and enrolling in a private school, high school senior Beatrice befriends a quiet loner with a troubled family history.

Elijah, seventeen, has always been sure of just one thing--basketball--and believes it will be his way out of West Baltimore, but when gang violence knocks him down, helping a veteran repair his rickety home helps Elijah see what really matters.