"In the two years since his mother was killed in an automobile crash, Colin has been anticipating further disasters, writing down what to do in the event of an avalanche or mentally practicing the Heimlich maneuver just in case--but the real trouble is that his mathematician father is obsessed with a classic math problem and has a hoarding problem that is spiraling out of control, leaving Colin desperate to hide this chaos from his friends and everyone...

After tragedy strikes her family, Vera runs away to a small desert town where she tries unsuccessfully to forget her grief and sorrow.

"In this novel in blank verse, twelve-year-old Cass struggles to cope with her father's recurring cancers that have dominated her whole life, with the knowledge that he is likely to die soon because the latest recurrence is worse--and with the possibility that she may have inherited the genetic disease, Li-Fraumeni Syndrome, that causes the cancers"--

"Walker shouldn't have been so surprised to find Jesus standing in the middle of his bedroom. After all, he'd prayed for whoever was up there to help him, and to help his mom, who hadn't stopped crying since Noah died two months ago. But since when have prayers actually been answered? And since when has Jesus been so irreverent?" - Amazon.com