"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...

Ty is very proud of his father's accomplishments as a U.S. Army sargeant, but when a brain injury and partial paralysis send his father home from Afghanistan in a wheelchair, Ty finds it hard to balance schoolwork, basketball, a girlfriend, and friends with the time and effort required to care for him.

"Lenny loves baseball. And not just playing baseball -- he loves reading about it, too. Lenny thinks the more he knows, the better he'll play ... and he needs all the help he can get! But it's not until he comes across some interesting information in his Big Book of Baseball Facts -- Babe Ruth and Hank Aaron, two of the best hitters in baseball history, failed most of the time! -- that Lenny realizes his odds are pretty good! With renewed determination...

While preparing for a role in the school play, twelve-year-old Leo finds an autobiography that his father wrote as a teenager and ponders the ways people change as they grow up. Includes the text for the play, "Rumpopo's Porch."