Cottonwood's novels for younger readers have been commended by educators for their content and tone and by youngsters for their plot and characters: "Quake!" about the 1989 World Series earthquake; "The San Puerco Trilogy" of novels about three scrappy boys in the small town of San Puerco, California (which bears a remarkable resemblance to La Honda, California); and the most recent, "Four Dog Riot", published in 2011.