When their mother has to go into the hospital, two brothers are sent to a church home, where Tommy not only feels responsible for his younger brother but also is drawn to a boy who is dying of tuberculosis.
Eleven-year-old Tucker likes his life with his divorced father, until the nine-year-old sister he has not seen in years moves back in with them and claims that their mother wants them to become one family again.
Lizzie's family is suffering hard times during the Depression until long-lost Grandpa Jake appears on their doorstep and generates some needed changes.
The summer before she enters the seventh grade becomes the summer of Alice's first boyfriend, and she discovers that love is about the most mixed-up thing that can possibly happen to you, especially since she has no mother to go to for advice.
When their mother starts to date the mystery man on the fifth floor who has been instructed by his agent to "eliminate the children" by the first of May, eleven-year-old Caroline and her older brother figure they're targeted to be the victims of a savage crime.
Calamity stalks a seventh grader in the form of social disasters, and throughout it all, to her great embarrassment, she keeps running into the most attractive boy in school.
While trying to survive seventh grade, Alice discovers that turning thirteen will make her the woman of the house at home, so she starts a campaign to get more appreciation for taking care of her father and older brother.
When their mother starts to date the mystery man on the fifth floor who has been instructed by his agent to "eliminate the children" by the first of May, eleven-year-old Caroline and her older brother figure they're targeted to be the victims of a savage crime.
