Sofia grows up in the close-knit community of the barrio in McAllen, Texas, then finds that her experiences as a scholarship student at an Episcopal boarding school in Austin only strengthen her ties to family and her "comadres."

Jessie is new to her neighborhood, and when she needs to find her way to the library, she asks for help from her neighbor, Sara, who uses a computer to make a map then teaches Jessie how to use it.

Libbie gives a tour of her neighborhood to a boy just about her age whose family is moving in next door.

"In Atlanta, Kenny Bomar is a biochemist-turned-coffee-shop-owner in denial about his divorce and grieving his stillborn daughter. Chemicals killed their child, leaching from a type of plant the government is hiding in Black neighborhoods. Kenny's coping mechanisms are likewise chemical and becoming more baroque--from daily injections of lethal snake venom to manufacturing designer drugs. As his grief turns corrosive, it taints every person he touches....

"A mother and son hop on their bike for a ride through the neighborhood, joining friends and neighbors along the way" --

In rural New Hampshire, sixteen-year-old Clair Taylor and her neighbor, eighteen-year-old Danny Stewart, fall into an unlikely relationship as they work together to save Wally, a loveable but mistreated dog kept chained in a junk-filled yard by Danny's cruel father.

Together Pa and Jelly Bean build a sidewalk pantry right next to their sidewalk library, and as they get more visitors, Jelly Bean comes up with the idea to combine the books and food; so neighbors feel invited to take a meal and a good book.

In 1918 New York City, little Jewish girl Rivka, who lives on the Lower East Side, trades chores with people in her neighborhood for lessons until she can finally attend school.

"This summer, meet your neighbors. The residents of the exclusive cul-de-sac on Alton Road are entangled in a web of secrets and scandal utterly unknown to the outside world, and even to each other. On the night of the annual summer block party, there has been a murder. But, who did it and why takes readers back one year earlier, as rivalries and betrayals unfold--discovering that the real danger lies within their own block and nothing--and no one--is...

"A curious little boy explores his neighborhood, finding out what is new with his friends and neighbors"--