Twelve-year-old Foster knows in his gut that Dax, his mother's boyfriend, is a bad seed. Then a mysterious man arrives at their Alabama farm and Foster thinks that he may have found an ally against Dax.

Alberto, the town's coffin maker, and Tito, a runaway boy, both lonely after suffering tragic losses, learn the power of friendship as they try to escape the shadows of their pasts.

When nine-year-old Eleanor's beloved babysitter Bibi moves away to care for her ailing father, Eleanor must spend the summer adjusting to a new babysitter while mourning the loss of her old one.

Ok Lee knows it's his responsibility to help pay the bills. With his father gone and his mother working three jobs and still barely making ends meet, there's really no other choice. If only he could win the cash prize at the school talent contest! But he can't sing or dance, and has no magic up his sleeves, so he tries the next best thing: a hair braiding business. It's too bad the girls at school can't pay him much, and he's being befriended against...

When someone claiming to be her horse's original owner shows up and wants the horse back, fourth-grader Ellie prays for a miracle.

Four youngsters, ages nine to fifteen, narrate one side of the story of their newly blended family's adjustment, interwoven with grief and loss.

"Told from different viewpoints, five eighth-graders who have challenges at home and at school also experience a sad loss as a group and welcome a new addition to their extended family"--

Eleven-year-old Binny struggles to cope with her father's death and the loss of her beloved dog while she adjusts to a new home that might be haunted by her horrible Aunt Violet.

"Following a tragedy that further alters the course of her life, twelve-year-old Lucy Everhart decides to continue the shark research her marine biologist mother left unfinished when she died years earlier"--

After a busy summer training Sprocket, the service dog she has been raising, Nicki's school year gets off to a rough start as she works on reconciling her two best friends, accepting that Sprocket will soon leave for placement with someone who needs him, and awaiting the birth of the twins her mother is expecting. Includes essay on service dogs.