"2011 National Book Award FinalistAs a fourteen-year-old who just moved to a new town, with no friends and a louse for an older brother, Doug Swieteck has all the stats stacked against him. So begins a coming-of-age masterwork full of equal parts comedy and tragedy from Newbery Honor winner Gary D. Schmidt. As Doug struggles to be more than the "skinny thug" that his teachers and the police think him to be, he finds an unlikely ally in Lil Spicer--a...

"Macy's little sister has wings that are too small, so Eva's class decides to raise money to buy her a flying chair, and half the class opens a bakery, and the other half opens a candy store--but soon competition between the two stores becomes more important than their goal, and Eva needs to convince the other owls that they will collect more money if everyone works as a team"--Title verso page.

Most people would say there is nothing good about trudging to school on a rainy day. Most people would say that being carried away by the wind and dropped into the middle of a tumultuous sea is a very bad sort of situation. No, most people wouldn't like that at all. But, Sunny isn't most people. Sunny likes to look on the bright side. And when things get exceedingly bleak? Well, isn't that what friends are for?--