A summer in Tarrytown, N.Y., is a lot of fun for ten-year-old Sheila even though her friends make her face up to some self-truths she doesn't want to admit.
In a small seaside town during the summer before sixth grade, Indie Lee Chickory tries to follow her older sister's popularity advice by working backstage on the upcoming community theater musical and by not revealing that she is looking for her beloved pet lobster and becoming friends with "loser" Owen Stone.
When her parents decide to move their family to the English countryside, homeschool their children, and raise chickens, Becca tries to make friends with her new neighbors by hiding her diabetes and throwing a twelfth birthday party for herself.
Ralph and Sylvia Nebula and their friend Mavis Goldfarb are bitter at being sent to a bogus weight-loss camp, so they decide to escape and find a way to take revenge on those responsible for promoting the idea that thin is better.
When twelve-year-old Ben visits his uncle in Oregon, he feels caught in the strained relationship between his mother and her brother while he also begins to accept himself as an artist.
Thistle Howl desperately wants to grow, but drinking purple pickle juice doesn't help and her aunt's magic makes Thistle think that maybe she's content just as she is.
Twelve-year-old Julius has his hands full over the summer when his mother attempts to improve his grades and teach him responsibility by signing him up for a French class and getting him a job babysitting.
