A novice wood carver is momentarily defeated when people laugh at the result of a winter of work.

"Everyone in Blackberry Falls knows that Tabitha Stolfus is heir to her daed's wood carving company. To find a man who values more than her purse, Tabitha creates an ad and sends it far from home. But from her first meeting with handsome would-be groom Matthew King, Tabitha realizes this may not be the uncomplicated arrangement she expected. Matthew's true desire is an apprenticeship, not a frau. A talented woodworker, he longs to study with the great...

Frederick, a peasant farmer's son who dreams of earning a living using his God-given talent as a woodcarver, falls in love with Adela, a duke's daughter who yearns to prove herself as an artist. Includes discussion questions. Adela, youngest daughter of Duke Wilhelm of Hagenheim, is never allowed outside of the castle walls. She sneaks away one day to the market disguised as a peasant, and meets a poor farmer with a kind heart. Frederick earns the...

"Abbas is just seventeen years old when he leaves his family to serve in the court of Tipu Sultan, a volatile and unpredictable ruler. An inspired woodcarver, Abbas is apprenticed to a master toy maker in order to build a massive tiger automaton, a gift to celebrate the return of the Sultan's sons from British captivity. Working alongside the legendary French clockmaker Monsieur du Leze, Abbas hones his craft and learns to read French and then meets...