From Sharon Creech, the Newbery Medal winning author of Walk Two Moons , comes a heartwarming adventure about finding family, and a home, when you least expect it. Ruby Holler is a Carnegie Medal-winning novel, and with its quirky protagonists and exciting journey, captures the imaginations of readers of all ages.   Brother and sister Dallas and Florida are the “trouble twins.” In their short thirteen years, they’ve passed through countless foster homes, only to return to their dreary orphanage, Boxton Creek Home. Run by the Trepids, a greedy and strict couple, Boxton Creek seems impossible to escape. When Mr. Trepid informs the twins that they’ll be helping old Tiller and Sairy Morey go on separate adventures, Dallas and Florida are suspicious. As the twins adjust to the natural beauty of the outdoors, help the Tillers prepare for their adventures, and foil a robbery, their ultimate search for freedom leads them home to Ruby Holler. “An altogether engaging outing.” - Kirkus Reviews (starred review) “This poignant story evokes a feeling as welcoming as fresh-baked bread.” - Publishers Weekly (starred review) “Lively and descriptive with an authentic, rural ambience.” - School Library Journal (starred review) "You are now entering Ruby Holler, the one and only Ruby Holler! Your lives are never going to be the same—" "Trouble twins" Dallas and Florida are orphans who have given up believing there is such a thing as a loving home. Tiller and Sairy are an eccentric older couple who live in the beautiful, mysterious Ruby Holler, but they’re restless for one more big adventure. When they invite the twins to join them on their journeys, they first must all stay together in the Holler, and the magic of the place takes over. Two pairs of lives grow closer and are changed forever. Sharon Creech has written twenty-one books for young people and is published in over twenty languages. Her books have received awards in both the U.S. and abroad, including the Newbery Medal for Walk Two Moons , the Newbery Honor for The Wanderer , and Great Britain’s Carnegie Medal for Ruby Holler . Before beginning her writing career, Sharon Creech taught English for fifteen years in England and Switzerland. She lives in Maine, “lured there by my grandchildren,” Creech says. www.sharoncreech.com Excerpt Chapter One The Silver Bird Dallas leaned far out of the window, his eyes fixed on a bird flying lazily in the distance. Sun slanted through the clouds above, as if a spotlight were aimed on the bird. A silver bird, Dallas thought. A magical silver bird. The bird turned suddenly, veering south over the small town of Boxton, toward the faded yellow building and the window from which Dallas leaned. Dallas stretched his arm out. ?Here!? he called. ?Over here!? The bird swooped toward him and then rose up over the building, high, high into the air, over the alley and the train tracks and the dried-up creek. Dallas watched it rise on the air currents over one brown hill and then another, until it disappeared. He tried to follow it in his mind. He imagined it flying on until it spied a narrow green valley, a scooped-out basin with a creek looping and winding its way through the center. He pictured it swooping down from the sky into this basin in the hills, to this place where cool breezes drifted through the trees, and where the creek was so clear that every stone on its bottom was visible. Maybe the silver bird had flown home. ?Get out of that window!? a voice shouted from below. ?No leaning out of windows!? Dallas leaned a little farther out and called down to Mr. Trepid. ?Did you see that silver bird?? ?Get out of that window, or you're going to join your sister down here pulling weeds,? Mr. Trepid threatened. Dallas spotted his sister, Florida, inching her way along the sidewalk, wrenching clumps of weeds and grass and dirt from the ground. ?Putrid weeds,? Florida snarled, heaving a clod of dirt over her shoulder. Dallas watched as the clod landed on Mr. Trepid's back and as the man scuttled over to Florida and whacked her on the head. Dallas wished the silver bird would return and snare Mr. Trepid and carry him high up over the town and then drop him, splat, in the middle... (Continues...) Excerpted from Ruby Holler by Creech, Sharon Excerpted by permission. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher. Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site. Copyright © 2003 Melissa Nathan All right reserved.