On a dark, cloudy afternoon in the fall of 1909, a strange thing happened on the third floor of the Lovell House Home for Orphaned and Abandoned Boys. Something so downright mysterious that even firsthand witnesses could scarcely believe their eyes." Gibson Whittaker had returned--fairly well dressed and apparently healthy--carrying a handsome saddle. Why was he back? Rhe last the boys or anyone there had seen of him about a year ago, Gib had been heading for adoption. Or had it been indentured servitude? That was something Gib had begun to realize could happen to boys who left the cruel punishments of the orphanage to be "adopted." No wonder he stayed on his guard at the ranch where Ty taught him to work with the horses. He and Ty got to eat with the family in the big house, but they knew their place. Gib had to wonder why the girl Livy kept watching him work with the horses, and he had good reasons to wonder, as well, about what this family knew about his birth mother. Snyder's horse story is based upon her father's childhood in a Nebraska orphanage and his experience being "required to do a man's work when he was eight years old, beaten, mistreated." Her note in an afterword places some of the almost incredible elements of her gripping novel into a believable historical context. (Ages 11-14)

All Gib ever wanted was to be adopted, but life with a family isn't quite what he thought it would be


Gib was sent to an orphanage when he was six years old, and with each year, he knows it becomes less likely that he will be adopted into a loving family. As kids get older, they are more likely to be adopted onto a farm, meaning a hard life of unpaid labor. And after seeing a friend come back battered and near death, Gib is understandably worried.



When his turn for adoption finally comes, Gib is surprised to learn that life on the farm isn't too difficult. His new "parents," the Thorntons, are kind to him, and his job in the stables is fun and interesting. It is as close to the home of his dreams as he could possibly imagine. And though Gib doesn't remember much of his past before the orphanage, as time passes, Gib realizes that his new family may be more connected to his real family than he ever imagined. This smart, touching novel is based on the life of author Zilpha Keatley Snyder's father and his experience as an orphan in the 1900s.



This ebook features an extended biography of Zilpha Keatley Snyder.