After her mother leaves home suddenly, thirteen-year-old Sal and her grandparents take a car trip retracing her mother's route. Along the way, Sal recounts the story of her friend Phoebe, whose mother also left.
The death of high school basketball star Rob Washington in an automobile accident affects the lives of his close friend Andy, who was driving the car, and many others in the school.
Thirteen-year-old Mary Lou grows up considerably during the summer while learning about romance, homesickness, death, and her cousin's search for his biological father.
The life of a ten-year-old boy in rural Virginia expands when he becomes friends with a newcomer who subsequently meets an untimely death trying to reach their hideaway, Terabithia, during a storm.
Nicki's teacher-brother assigns her a term paper on the topic of a death in their family, in hopes that she will release long-suppressed emotion about the event.
Only sixteen when his father dies, Don runs away from the domination of his hated older brother and crosses paths with a murderer high in the Rocky Mountains, where he is faced with the choice between freedom and family loyalty.
