Sherry Garland

In the journal she receives for her twelfth birthday in 1835, Lucinda Lawrence describes the hardships her family and other residents of the "Texas colonies" endure when they decide to face the Mexicans in a fight for their freedom.

From the 1500s to the present, different voices and perspectives of men and women--Indian, Mexican, Spanish, Texan, and American--recount the history of the Alamo and its region.

Realizing that his future lies in owning land, not just being free, a young man raised as a slave becomes a buffalo soldier--a member of an all-black cavalry regiment formed to protect white settlers from Indians, bandits, and outlaws, and that later fought in the Spanish American War. Includes historical note.

A Vietnamese-American boy spends a day with his father on his shrimp boat, listening as he describes how his own father fishes on the South China Sea.

After a winter storm destroys the sand dunes that provide a home for plants and animals, a beach community bands together to restore the dunes.