During her thirteenth summer, the "eventually internationally recognized writer" Lily Blennerhassett struggles to cope with life in her tremendously "uncool" family after meeting a much better one.
With the threat of further violence from pro-slavery border ruffians ever-present, nine-year-old Bill must run the farm, even after his father comes home to recuperate from his knife wound, and go to school.
When aspiring actress Phoebe and her best friend, the brainy Harper, enter middle school, their friendship is briefly tested by Phoebe's admiration of some of the drama club students and the intensity of her first crush, but ultimately they find that their relationship can withstand the stresses of their expanding lives.
On her first day of boarding school, a thirteen-year-old girl who feels boring and invisible decides to change her personality to match her unusual name.
On Career Day, a young girl entertains the class with a description of her father's exciting job as light bulb changer at the top of the Empire State Building.
Kat accompanies her best friend Jac to a musicians' conference at the Whispering Pines Mountain House, where she works to free the spirit of a dead medium and helps Jac resolve a serious conflict.
"The eventually internationally recognized writer Lily Blennerhassett" spends her thirteenth summer missing her best friend and keeping a journal of her boring life at home and exciting newly-discovered relatives.
The eventually internationally recognized writer Lily Blennerhassett" spends her thirteenth summer missing her best friend and keeping a journal of her boring life at home and exciting newly-discovered relatives.
Examines the lives and achievements of approximately forty explorers from throughout history, looking at excursions to the Americas, Africa, Asia, Australia and the Pacific, the Arctic and Antarctica, outer space, and the deep sea.
