After losing his hand in an accident in his father's butcher shop in 1946, sixth-grader Norman uses hard work and humor to learn to live with his disability and to succeed at baseball, art, and other activities.
When a terrible accident partially disables Kevin and makes his mother overprotective of him, his best friends Ryan and Mooch decide that the only way to liberate him is to kidnap him.
Twelve-year-old Grady Flood and his mother Lila find themselves stranded in rural Pennsylvania, were Lila begins working for bird enthusiast Charlie Fernwald, whom Grady quickly befriends, until tragedy strikes and Grady fears nothing will ever be the same.
Kelly's involvement in helping design a production of her junior high school's drama club, spurred on by encouragement from her artistic grandmother, helps her discover her own artistic identity.
In 1817, after her mother has died and her father abandoned his children, thirteen-year-old Mem searches for a new home for Joshua, herself, and their little sister.
Twelve-year-old Mem's new life in the wilderness of western New York becomes even more difficult in the cold summer of 1816 when her mother fails to recover from the birth of a new baby.
Branded the class loser, twelve-year-old Basil reluctantly becomes friends with a bossy new girl who, like Basil, has synesthesia and comes to Basil's aid when his estranged mother returns and turns his life upside down.
