Early life and education

Career

Marriage and children

Poetry

• Tickle a Pickle illustrated by Karen Ann Weinhaus (Macmillan, 1986)
• Street Talk illustrated by Catherine Stock (Houghton Mifflin, 1986)
• Grass Songs illustrated by Barry Moser (Harcourt, 1993)
• A Moon for Seasons illustrated by Robert Noreika (Macmillan, 1994)
• The Christmas House illustrated by Nancy Edwards Calder (HarperCollins, 1994)
• Mississippi Mud illustrated by Robert J. Blake (HarperCollins, 1997)
• A Lion's Hunger illustrated by Maria Jimenez (Marshall Cavendish, 1998)
• Learning to Swim: a Memoir (Scholastic, 2000)

Picture books

• Dakota Dugout illustrated by Ronald Himler (Macmillan, 1985)
• Time of the Bison illustrated by Beth Peck (Macmillan, 1987)
• Nettie's Trip South illustrated by Ronald Himler (Macmillan, 1987)
• Hedgehog for Breakfast illustrated by Lisa McCue (Macmillan, 1989)
• Heron Street illustrated by Lisa Desimini (Harper & Row, 1989)
• Through Moon and Stars and Night Skies illustrated by James Hale (Harper & Row, 1990)
• Stars for Sarah illustrated by Mary Teichman (HarperCollins, 1991)
• Katie's Trunk illustrated by Ronald Himler (Macmillan, 1992)
• Rainflowers illustrated by Robert J. Blake (HarperCollins, 1992)
• Apple Valley Year illustrated by Sandi Wickersham Resnick (Macmillan, 1993)
• Sewing Quilts illustrated by Thomas B. Allen (Macmillan, 1994)
• Shaker Hearts illustrated by Wendell Minor (HarperCollins, 1997)
• Drummer Boy: Marching to the Civil War illustrated by Mark Hess (HarperCollins, 1998)
• Let's Be Animals illustrated by Richard E. Brown (HarperFestival, 1998)
• Angel Hide and Seek illustrated by Lois Ehlert (HarperCollins, 1998)
• Red Flower Goes West illustrated by Dennis Nolan (Hyperion, 1999)
• Secrets from the Dollhouse illustrated by Raúl Colón (HarperCollins, 2000)
• In the Heart illustrated by Sally Mavor (HarperCollins, 2001)
• Abe Lincoln Remembers illustrated by Wendell Minor (HarperCollins, 2001)
• When Mr. Jefferson Came to Philadelphia: What I Learned of Freedom, 1776 illustrated by Mark Hess (HarperCollins, 2003)
• Pumpkin Cat illustrated by Amy June Bates (Hyperion, 2004)
• Sitting Bull Remembers illustrated by Wendell Minor (HarperCollins, 2007)

Novels

• A Hunter Comes Home (Crown, 1980)
• The Way Home (Crown, 1982)
• Third Girl from the Left (Macmillan, 1986)
• Grasshopper Summer (Macmillan, 1989)
• Rosemary's Witch (HarperCollins, 1991)
• Dust for Dinner illustrated by Robert Barrett (HarperCollins, 1995)
• One Brave Summer (HarperCollins, 1995)
• Elfsong (Harcourt, 1995)
• Finding Walter (Harcourt, 1997)
• The Diary of Sarah Nita, a Navajo Girl (Scholastic, 1999)
• The Tory Diary of Prudence Emerson (Scholastic, 2003)
• Maïa of Thebes : 1463 B.C. (Scholastic, 2005)
• Hard Hit (Scholastic, 2006)

Non-fiction

• Vultures (D. McKay Co., 1973)
• Houses for the Dead (D. McKay Co., 1976)
• Rituals of Birth: from Prehistory to the Present (D. McKay Co., 1978)
• The Scrub Oak with Anna E Laine (1980)

• 1967: first prize, The Atlantic Monthly college creative writing contest
• 1991: first prize, National Council for the Social Studies, Through Moon and Stars and Night Skies