Schmatz, Pat

For eleven-year-old Tash, Cap'n Jackie isn't just the elderly next-door neighbor---she's family. When she disappears, only Tash holds the key that might bring her back.

Thirteen-year-old Travis, living in cramped quarters with his alcoholic grandfather, longs for his old life in the country, and struggles in school to hide the fact that he cannot read, but a persistent teacher and a special girl open his eyes to a new world.

"Fifteen-year-old bender Kivali has had a rough time in a gender-rigid culture. Abandoned as a baby and raised by Sheila, an ardent nonconformist, Kivali has always been surrounded by uncertainty. Where did she come from? Is it true what Sheila says, that she was deposited on Earth by the mysterious saurians? What are you? people ask, and Kivali isn't sure. Boy/girl? Human/lizard? Both/neither? Now she's in Crop Camp, with all of its schedules and regs, and the first real friends she's ever had. Strange occurrences and complicated relationships raise questions Kivali has never before had to consider. But she has a gift--the power to enter a trancelike state to harness the 'knowings' inside her. She has Lizard Radio. Will it be enough to save her?"--Provided by publisher.

Eighth-grader Orithian "Rith" Haley discovers another world via the staircase in his house and begins to explore questions about God and about the father he never knew.

Thirteen-year-old Travis, living in cramped quarters with his alcoholic grandfather, longs for his old life in the country, and struggles in school to hide the fact that he cannot read, but a persistent teacher and a special girl open his eyes to a new world.

When Maxie's best friend from elementary school returns years later after a horrible act of violence against him, Maxie feels guilty about how she treated him and conflicted over whether or not she wants to befriend him again.