Hughes, Dean

Norma Hayes has always tried to make Christmas special forher family, but Christmas 1944 is especially difficult with her soldier son Glen away in Europe, and rationing and lack of money don't help. Teenage Dennis tries to buy his mother a special gift for Christmas as a symbol of times gone by and hope for the future, while Glen is reminded of home by the scent of lavender on a battlefield.

Original title: Family pose. David runs away from an unhappy foster homw. He hides out at a hotel until he is found out! Will he have to go back to a foster home, or can he work something out at the hotel?.

Having been hit in the face by a ball during a previous game, Tracy tries to deal with her fear of its happening again as the Scrappers approach the baseball championship.

After finding mysterious plans in their hotel bathroom, Nutty and his friends must avoid both imposters who want the papers and danger on the ski slopes.

After finding mysterious plans in their hotel bathroom, Nutty and his friends must avoid impostors who want the papers while tangling with danger on the ski slopes.

Eleven-year-old Nutty, hoping to improve his image with his fellow fifth graders, finds his popularity unexpectedly boosted when he gets a small part in a Hollywood movie.

Two boys, one German and one American, are eager to join their respective armies during World War II, and their paths cross at the Battle of the Bulge.

Called "rookie star" by the town paper, third-grader Kenny Sandoval, talented first baseman for the Angel Park Dodgers, is determined to prove that the name has not gone to his head.

It's the Scrappers' last regular season game. If they beat the Mustangs today, they'll win the championship for the second half of the season. After that they'll get a second shot at the Mustangs to decide the championship for the entire year. But the Mustangs are really tough. Can the Scrappers expect to beat them twice in a row? If Thurlow Coates has anything to do with it, the answer is yes! Distant and uninterested earlier in the season, Thurlow has pulled himself together and finally come around as a solid member of the team. He has proven to be the Scrappers' most gifted player -- capable, it seems, of hitting the ball out of the park whenever he wants to. And the Scrappers have come around, too, from an unseasoned bunch of kids to a team that demands and deserves the respect of every opponent. But can Thurlow carry the team by himself when everything the Scrappers have worked so hard to achieve is about to unravel? How could the team meet the challenges to come if Thurlow was injured? What would Thurlow himself do? Grand Slam, the ninth book in the acclaimed Scrappers series, brings the Scrappers' dynamic, come-from-behind season to a white-knuckle, edge-of-your-seat conclusion. In some ways, this conclusion does depend on one player -- but in other ways, it depends on everyone.