Ruby Holler
Sharon Creech
 The novel starts in the Boxton Creek Home, an orphanage run by a strict couple, George and Marjorie Trepid. Thirteen-year-old Dallas Carter, an imaginative young teenager, and his twin sister Florida Carter, a sassy and bold girl, are long-time residents of the Home, and they have been punished many times for their breaking of the rules that the Trepids post all over the House. They've been adopted many times and then returned for various reasons, often by fault of the adopters. Because of this, they have been dubbed the "trouble twins." They have a plan to run away and board a train. Outside of Boxton, in a plot of land called Ruby Holler, Tiller and Sairy Morey, a very old couple whose children have grown up and left, are sitting and discussing about their plain lives, that they want a new adventure. The two decide to foster care for children, and they adopt Dallas and Florida. Although Sairy, a very kind and trusting old lady, is very excited about the idea, Tiller, a "crotchety old boot", is doubtful of the kids in Ruby Holler. Even though the twins enjoy the freedom and adventure in the holler, they're still suspicious and think that Tiller and Sairy will mistreat them like others before, although their suspicions are soon proven false. Tiller and Sairy tell Dallas and Florida that they are planning on each going on separate trips, and they want the twins to come on each: Dallas with Sairy onto an island, and Florida with Tiller on a rafting trip. All of them are uneasy about leaving their partner, but they don't reveal it. Tiller and Sairy use their "understone funds," underground savings that they've kept for years, for the trips. Elsewhere, Mr. Trepid, who has heard about the understone funds from Dallas and Florida as they ran into each other in Boxton while getting supplies for the trips, asks a shady man called Z, Tiller and Sairy's neighbor, to map out Ruby Holler, but doesn't say why. Z feels uneasy doing so because he likes Tiller and Sairy, but does so anyway, stalling with the assistance, as well as helping with the Ruby Holler family prepare for their trips. Dallas and Florida, however, still think that Tiller and Sairy are still trouble, so they take the supplies for the trips and run away, but don't go far from their cabin. Sairy and Tiller think that the twins did so because they were testing the supplies, and they suggest practice trips closer to home. While on the trips, Tiller and Sairy learn about the twins' past and realize that the Trepids were horrible people. While on their trips, Z continues to stall with production of Mr. Trepid's map, as he probably feels more protective of the Moreys because he believes that Dallas and Florida are his biological children because the Dallas' mother named on his birth certificate was his wife. Eventually he gives Mr Trepid a map with possible hiding places, but takes the understone funds to prevent them from being stolen from Mr. Trepid. On Tiller and Florida's small trip while rafting down a river, their boat capsizes and Tiller suffers a heart attack. Luckily, Dallas, Sairy, and Z find them and Tiller is taken to a hospital where he recovers. Z starts bonding with the twins and they set up traps for Mr. Trepid while he looks for the understone funds and fails to find them. In the end, two of Tiller and Sairy's biological children visit the holler to check on Tiller's health and suggest they send the twins back to the Boxton Creek Home. Dallas and Florida hear their conversation and run away again before hearing Tiller and Sairy's denial. In the morning, Dallas and Florida smell food from the cabin and return to Ruby Holler.