Scotty Ocean, a young boy in suburban Iowa in 1969, declares that seven is going to be his year, but things turn out a little differently than he expected when his mother chooses his seventh year to leave her family.

Martin discovers there are many ways to live and helping others find theirs is even a way of life.

The love of family. The heartbreak of war. The triumph of coming home.
1940. Rural Wisconsin. Sixteen-year-old Earl “Earwig” Gunderman is not like other boys his age. Fiercely protected by his older brother, Earwig sees his town and the world around him through the prism of his own unique understanding. He sees his mother’s sadness and his father’s growing solitude. He sees his brother, Jimmy, falling in love with...

"A sumptuous, life-affirming treat." - Orlando Sentinel "Thoroughly engaging ... Owens has beautifully and convincingly captured the lilting rhythms and cadences of a Southern childhood." - Boston Globe "Warm and affirming." - Kirkus Reviews

"K is nice, polite, and always does as he's told. K is also always, always in trouble. No matter what he does or says, it seems there is someone ready to blame him for everything. K is in trouble for going to school. K is in trouble for staying home. K is in trouble for running an errand, getting sick, or just being thirsty. K gets into trouble with imperious crows, persnickety station agents, bombastic teachers, his own classmates...even one nice...

"Jake volunteers at a nursing home because he likes helping people. He likes skating and singing, playing Bingo and Name That Tune, and reading mysteries and comics aloud to his teachers. He also likes avoiding people his own age . . . and the cruelty of mirrors . . . and food. Jake has read about kids like him in books--the weird one, the outsider--and would do anything not to be that kid, including shrink himself down to nothing. But the less he...

While touring the battleship the USS Utah, the ship is attacked by the Japanese, Frank and Stanley find their friendship--and dreams--in jeopardy when Stanley is seen as the "enemy" because his mother is Japanese American.

"August, 1943. Fourteen-year-old Massimo is all alone. Newly orphaned and fleeing from Rome after surviving the American bombing raid that killed his parents, Massimo is attacked by thugs and finds himself bloodied at the base of the Montecassino. It is there in the Benedictine abbey's shadow that a charismatic and cryptic man calling himself Pietro Houdini, the self-proclaimed 'Master Artist and confidante of the Vatican,' rescues Massimo and brings...

From man to gentleman, more tips and discussions for growing up with grace. This follow up to Knust's popular Man Stuff: Things a Young Man Needs to Know is a collection of life lessons - topics selected for their relevance to young men and their potential impact on the journey to maturity. In it, young men will find practical value and can utilize the book as a resource. Parents will discover a catalyst for meaningful conversations with their...

This is a powerful story of survival in a tough, joyless world. Billy Casper is a troubled teenager growing up in a Yorkshire mining town. Beaten by his drunken brother, ignored by his mother and failing at school, he seems destined for a hard, miserable life down the pits. But Billy discovers a new passion in life when he finds Kes, a kestrel hawk. Billy identifies with her silent strength and she inspires in him the trust and love that nothing else...