After the sudden death of their parents, the three Baudelaire children must depend on each other and their wits when it turns out that the distant relative who is appointed their guardian is determined to use any means necessary to get their fortune.

An abridged version of Dicken's story of the orphan forced to practice thievery and live a life of crime in nineteenth-century London. Illustrated notes throughout the text explain the historical background of the story.

Set in the mountains of southern Appalachia, this is the story of a boy born to a teenaged single mother in a single-wide trailer, with no assets beyond his dead father's good looks and copper-colored hair, a caustic wit, and a fierce talent for survival. In a plot that never pauses for breath, relayed in his own unsparing voice, he braves the modern perils of foster care, child labor, derelict schools, athletic success, addiction, disastrous loves,...

Orphaned by the Border Wars, Alina Starkov is taken from obscurity and her only friend, Mal, to become the protegé of the mysterious Darkling, who trains her to join the magical elite in the belief that she is the Sun Summoner, who can destroy the monsters of the Fold.

"A brilliant and immersive, all-consuming read about one fourteen-year-old girl's heart-stopping fight for her own soul. Turtle Alveston is a survivor. At fourteen, she roams the woods along the northern California coast. The creeks, tide pools, and rocky islands are her haunts and her hiding grounds, and she is known to wander for miles. But while her physical world is expansive, her personal one is small and treacherous: Turtle has grown up isolated...

After narrowly escaping the menacing clutches of the dastardly Count Olaf, the three Baudelaire orphans are taken in by a kindly herpetologist with whom they live happily for an all-too-brief time.

Kidsnatched from her orphanage by a BFG (Big Friendly Giant), who spends his life blowing happy dreams to children, Sophie concocts with him a plan to save the world from nine other man-gobbling cannybull giants.

Sara Crewe looks like a little princess - that's what her schoolmates say when Sara's rich father brings her to Miss Minchin's Select Seminary for girls. Yet when Sara's fortunes vanish and she must live as a servent in a cold attic room, she proves that being a real princess takes heart, hope, and perhaps a little magic.

In Rudyard Kipling's 1901 novel Kim an orphan boy of poor Irish parents makes his living on the streets of Lahore running errands. After befriending a Tibetan monk, Kim undertakes several adventures which ultimately put him at the heart of The Great Game the geopolitical struggle between Britain and Russia for the control of India and Afghanistan. Notable for its vivid descriptions of the people, culture and landscape of India.

An orphan girl and her invalid cousin bring new life to their home on the moors when they discover the secret garden.