In 1817 a teenage brother and sister are relieved from the abuses of Newgate Prison in London by the prison reform efforts of Quaker minister Elizabeth Fry.

THE THIEVES OF TYBURN SQUARE, Introducing Elizabeth Fry -- Betsey and Loren Maxwell are on their own in early nineteenth-century England after their mother is deported to New South Wales for stealing two silver candlesticks. Faced with few options, the young Maxwells are forced to live and work in a gloomy London workhouse. Betsey and her brother have a terrible time enduring the harsh treatment and strict rules of the workhouse overseers. Then Loren sees an opportunity to escape, and the pair soon find themselves back on the dangerous streets of London-with only a stolen pouch of money to support them. Their new life takes a disastrous turn when Betsey and Loren are jailed for pickpocketing in Tyburn Square. Betsey is terrified that she'll never see her brother or mother again, but a visit from a kind Quaker woman named Elizabeth Fry gives her courage. Can this compassionate prison reformer save Betsey and her brother from the gallows in Tyburn Square? Alone and in prison with no one to turn to . . .

A young English boy is sold to be trained as a chimney sweep and is rescued by his brother with the help of John Wesley. Ages 8-12.

DANGER ON THE FLYING TRAPEZE: Introducing D.L. Moody -- Fourteen-year-old Casey Watkins wants nothing more than to escape his family's dreary, bare-bones life in the Philadelphia of 1893. When he learns of an opening in Adam Forepaugh's Circus, it seems like the perfect escape, and he convinces his mother and sister to join with him. Then "The Flying Eugenes," a family of trapeze artists, offer Casey a role in their death-defying act, and he is elated. Flying on the trapeze is more exciting than he ever dreamed! The pressure is on-Casey has only a few weeks to learn the act before the circus arrives in Chicago in time for the famous World's Fair. Once in Chicago, the boy is fascinated by D. L. Moody, the dynamic evangelist who preaches to standing-room-only crowds in the circus Big Top Sunday mornings. Casey never imagined that church could be more popular than the circus! But then a dangerous accident leaves him paralyzed with fear, and he runs to Moody looking for a way out. Will the evangelist be able to help him? The circus is counting on him . . . what if he falls?

Set in modern-day Peru, this is the exciting tale of a young boy who sees the courage of a missionary in the face of the Shining Path. Ages 8-12.

In 1817 a teenage brother and sister are relieved from the abuses of Newgate Prison in London by the prison reform efforts of Quaker minister Elizabeth Fry.