On a visit to her grandmother Ola, who is dying of cancer in her house in the desert, fourteen-year-old Emmie hears many stories about the past and her family history.
In 1865, members of a family start their day as slaves, working in a Texas cotton field, and end it celebrating their freedom on what came to be known as Juneteenth.
A balloon dreams of doing more than flying in a local parade, and one day gets a chance to reach for the sky and fly free, but the results are not what Ray expected.
Fourteen-year-old Marley's seemingly perfect life in the small town of Heaven is disrupted when she discovers that her father and mother are not her real parents.
When Scotty feels responsible for a terrible accident, she cannot tell what is a dream and what is real, her friends have a hard time getting through to her, and her family is preoccupied with their own trauma.
In the summertime Charlie goes fishing with her friends, investigates the mysterious disappearance of the entire Carter family, meets new neighbors, and finds that she and her older brother can be friends.
