A gripping historical fiction friendship story that will grab everyone by the heartstrings and never let go.
A giant, a dwarf, and three doomed circus animals . . .
By her fourteenth birthday, Babe Killingsworth measures 6ʹ9ʺ and weighs 342 pounds. In 1896, what other options does a giant have but to join a carnival?
Her only real talent is handling animals: “Critters is folks to me.” The cheap outfit her feckless father sells her off to offers critters galore; an escape from Neal, Idaho; and a bit of fame. It also opens the doorway to exploitation and neglect.
But Babe’s love for Euclid (a chimp) and Jupiter (a bear) keeps her anchored, and in Professor Renoir’s Collection of Oddities, Curiosities, and Delights, she is among her own kind.
Enter Carlotta Jones, billed as the world’s smallest girl, whose elephant act leaves much to be desired. At thirty inches tall, Carlotta is beautiful, spoiled, and demanding and has very little talent—Egypt, her elephant, dances better than she does.
How can a giant like Babe and a dwarf like Carlotta ever see eye to eye? They don’t at first, but soon they understand that a common enemy can bring anyone together—even a giant and a dwarf.
"Platt proves again she is unafraid to tackle intensely emotional issues for young readers in this beautifully written piece. Like its title, it inspires both curiosity and delight.” —Booklist

Professor Renoir’s Collection of Oddities, Curiosities, and Delights

Children's Books

Platt, Randall

Arts, Music & Photography

Harpercollins

In the summer of 1944, much of the world is at war. Fourteen-year-old Teddy is waging her own private war against herself, her brother, and especially her perfect, and perfectly despised, mother. Forced to spend the summer at the beach with a grandmother she'd never met, Teddy faces her enemies with arrogance and a sharp anger. But as the summer unfolds, she begins to learn the answers to some painful questions about the past--a past that destroyed her family and left her mother and grandmother bitterly divided. This story of a family beginning to make peace is a powerful coming-of-age novel that explores the relationships of three generations of women.

Honor Bright

Teen & Young Adult

Literature & Fiction

Delacorte Books for Young Readers

The Likes of Me

Cordelia Lu Hankins is half Caucasian, half Chinese—and all albino. She's grown up isolated from the world, with her cold father and a giant stepmother named Babe (after Paul Bunyan's blue ox) in a remote lumber town in the Pacific Northwest. But in the summer of 1918, when she is 14, she meets the dashing Squirl. Squirl is charming, easygoing, and good-looking, and Cordy falls desperately in love with him. Her father forbids Cordy to go near Squirl—which only makes him more attractive. One day they meet on the mountain and Cordy receives her first kiss, as well as a wild ride down a log flume that gets Squirl fired. Determined to follow Squirl, Cordy runs away and begins an exciting adventure that takes her to the sideshows of Seattle's Luna Park, where her unusual looks bring her fame. But her journey also brings tragedy, in this entertaining and thought-provoking coming-of-age novel.

Historical Fiction

In 1944, while much of the world is at war, 14-year-old Teddy wages her own war against herself, her brother, and her perfect, and perfectly despised, mother. Forced to spend the summer at the beach with a grandmother she'd never met, Teddy faces her enemies with arrogance and anger. But as the summer unfolds, she begins learning the answers to some painful questions about the past that destroyed her family and left her mother and grandmother bitterly divided.

Honor Bright (Laurel-Leaf Books)

Growing Up & Facts of Life

Laurel-Leaf

Cordelia Lu Hankins is half Caucasian, half Chinese--and all albino. She has grown up isolated from the world, with her distant father and a giant stepmother named Babe (after Paul Bunyan's blue ox) in a remote lumber town in the Pacific Northwest. But in the summer of 1918, she meets Squirl. Squirl is charming, easygoing, and good looking, and Cordy falls desperately in love with him. One day they meet on the mountain and Cordy receives her first kiss, as well as a wild ride down a log flume that gets Squirl fired.Determined to follow Squirl, Cordy runs away and begins an exciting adventure that takes her to the sideshows of Seattle's Luna Park, where her unusual looks bring her fame. But her journey also brings tragedy in this fast-paced coming-of-age novel with a remarkable, original heroine.

A heart of steel can’t be stolen—unless the thief is Hellie Jondoe.It’s 1918. A war of nations is ending and a worldwide flu epidemic just heating up, but to thirteen-year-old Hellie, the only battle that counts is her own survival.An orphan by four, a beggar by six, Hellie—as apprentice pickpocket to her brother Harry—is now “the best dang cannon of moveable property between Satan’s Circus and Hell’s Kitchen.” She’s as tough as she is resourceful . . . on her own turf.But after a gang shootout coerces Hellie to head west on an orphan train, her plans to jump track are quickly derailed. Landing in the Hidden Hills, a ranch outside Pendleton, Oregon, Hellie meets her match in the domineering Scholastica Gorence, an elderly ranch woman to whom she is indentured for three years. To make matters worse, Hellie becomes the unwilling caretaker of Lizzie, a nearly blind girl, and Joey, a crippled toddler. The last thing Hellie wants is a family, but she is strapped with one now.There’s a time to cut and run, a time to stay and fight. Choosing which is right takes savvy, guts, and heart . . . all compelling Hellie to dig down deep.

Hellie Jondoe

Texas Tech University Press

Like most everybody else in the middle of the Great Depression, sixteen-year-old Liberty Justice Jones is, well, stuck. But living smack-dab in the Lost Pines of Texas, where anyone can walk into the forest and chop a tree for free, with a debt-burdened mom who's trying to make a go of a newfangled idea called a Christmas tree farm--that's stuck bad. Especially if your dream is college. Liberty's only hope is her own wits. But if she's so smart, she wonders, why can't she figure out a way to help their family and get off this wreck of a farm? Learning of the five-hundred-dollar prize for the most beautiful Christmas tree delivered to the state capitol in Austin, Liberty hatches a plot. With the aid of their aging draft horse, Quiller, their derelict tractor, Stella, and Rudy, a kid pulled between America and Mexico and fresh off the rails, she's determined to take home the honors. With the sparkling dialogue and spunky humor that fans have come to love in her heroines, and a perceptive eye and ear for historical detail, award-winning author Randall Platt takes readers young and old on a spirited adventure set in a time when dreams were all many folks had. Also 04 Activeable in e-book formats, 978-0-89672-774-8

Liberty’s Christmas

It’s 1939 in Poland, and Arab knows that standing up for anyone—especially her Jewish family—only paints a target on her back. So she plans to survive the Nazi occupation the way she always has: disguise herself as an Aryan boy, lead her street gang, and sell whatever she can steal. But though Arab starts the war with the one goal of staying alive, others have different ideas for her. When a stranger asks for her help with a covert rescue mission, Arab has to make a choice. Trying to be a hero is a surefire way to get killed. But if she doesn’t do it, who will? Hard-hitting and unforgettable, The Girl Who Wouldn’t Die is a story about survival, the necessity of resistance, and the hope that can be found when the world is at its darkest.

The Girl Who Wouldn't Die

Sky Pony

Just about everyone is incommunicado in the small, sleepy Oregon coastal town of Sea Park during the winter of 1941. That is, until Pearl Harbor is attacked. Then Sea Park springs to patriotic life. But is Ruby Opal Pearl (aka Jewels) Stokes the only person to see what’s really happening here? Tommy Kaye, the one person in her life who has provided security, shelter, and a smidgeon of respect—and who owns the biggest resort on the coast—is now the cause of the town’s rage. Tommy’s Japanese ancestry makes him the prime target of an angry mob, not to mention he’s also rich, has a shady past (which includes Jewels’s eccentric mother), and everyone in town owes him money. As the town’s patriotism blossoms into paranoia and turns violent, Jewels has to do something to protect Tommy from internment (or worse), even if that something is going up against the town and the government, not to mention the FBI. Thus begins a twelve-year-old girl’s war within a war.

Incommunicado

Girl Who Wouldn't Die

Sky Pony Press

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Platt, Randall. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Platt, Randall

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Platt, Randall. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Professor Renoir’s Collection of Oddities, Curiosities, and Delights

Honor Bright

The Likes of Me

Honor Bright (Laurel-Leaf Books)

The Likes of Me

Hellie Jondoe

Liberty’s Christmas

The Girl Who Wouldn't Die

Incommunicado

Girl Who Wouldn't Die