A Newbery Honor Book An ALA-ALSC Notable Children's Book Winner of the Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Juvenile Novel “An adventure, a mystery, and a love song to the natural world. . . . Run out and read it. Right now.”—Newbery Medalist Karen Cushman In the town of Placid, Wisconsin, in 1871, Georgie Burkhardt is known for two things: her uncanny aim with a rifle and her habit of speaking her mind plainly. But when Georgie blurts out something she shouldn't, her older sister Agatha flees, running off with a pack of "pigeoners" trailing the passenger pigeon migration. And when the sheriff returns to town with an unidentifiable body—wearing Agatha's blue-green ball gown—everyone assumes the worst. Except Georgie. Refusing to believe the facts that are laid down (and coffined) before her, Georgie sets out on a journey to find her sister. She will track every last clue and shred of evidence to bring Agatha home. Yet even with resolute determination and her trusty Springfield single-shot, Georgie is not prepared for what she faces on the western frontier.

Analytical and set in his ways, Badger is taken aback when jolly, easygoing Skunk rings the doorbell to announce he's Badger's new roommate. (Badger may have been ignoring his landlord Aunt Lula's letters . . . ) But as Badger begrudgingly opens up his home-and heart-to Skunk and his unconventional ways, the two characters become irrevocably changed by each other, establishing an odd-couple friendship that is timeless and real.