A traumatic event in the lives of seventeen-year-old Stephen and his fourteen-year-old sister helps them to understand and accept themselves and each other.
Five-year-old Elisa has an older brother and a new baby brother, but her elderly neighbor says the middle is the best, just like the filling in a sandwich.
Nine-year-old Aldo discovers the pleasures of doing volunteer work to help the older citizens of the community and the satisfactions of earning his first money on his own for unselfish reasons.
Because he suffers from asthma, six-year-old Monty is nervous about starting first grade but he soon learns to cope with his illness and use his special talents to make friends.
Happy to spend his summer vacation at home in the city, eight-year-old Jay is horrified by his parents' plan to spend two weeks in the Vermont woods sharing a house with another family.
Because Adam hopes that the "big surprise" awaiting him at home has two wheels and pedals, he is unprepared for the unusual addition to his Vermont family.
