Fifteen-year-old Kass is trying to resist her manic-depressive father's attempts to make her try out for "The X Factor" while she also deals with her crush on the same older boy her best friend likes, her distant mother's mysterious comings and goings, and her younger brother's criminal activities.

Sarah and Simon do all they can to help their parents, but when their father, an artist, needs red paint to complete his masterpiece and the art store owner refuses him credit, they do not know where to turn.

A young Negro boy learns the pain of humiliation and anger when his father is given an unjust jail sentence for stealing a ham from a white man. Learning to read and to discover that things do not die but become part of other things brings the youngster new hope.

When Harry Hammer decides to leave Shark Point for better waters, he finds squid-tastic trouble instead in this Shark School (mis)adventure. Instead of a super-cool celebration, Harry Hammer's birthday party turns into a super-colossal embarrassment! Why do his parents always make him feel like a big baby hammerhead in front of his friends -- and his arch rival, Rick Reef? Harry decides he'd be better off alone and leaves Shark Point for faraway waters....

A Vietnam War refugee in Texas partners with a city boy with rodeo dreams to track down the younger brother she was separated from six years before when he was evacuated by American troops during the waning days of the Vietnam War.

The Melendy family moves to a house in the country where a secret room, a cupola, a stable, and a book provide Mona, Rush, Randy, and Oliver with adventures far different from the city life to which they are accustomed.

In a letter to his children, a father recounts memories of the role Steve, the tree in their front yard, has played in their lives.

Beverly Tapinski has run away from home plenty of times, but that was when she was just a kid. By now, she figures, it's not running away. It's leaving. Determined to make it on her own, Beverly finds a job and a place to live and tries to forget about her dog, Buddy, now buried underneath the orange trees back home; her friend Raymie, whom she left without a word; and her mom, Rhonda, who has never cared about anyone but herself. Beverly doesn't...

Seventeen-year-old Camila Hassan, a rising soccer star in Rosario, Argentina, dreams of playing professionally, in defiance of her fathers' wishes and at the risk of her budding romance with Diego. Rosario, Argentina. At home Camila Hassan lives within her mother's narrow expectations, her soccer-star brother's shadow, and under the abusive rule of her short-tempered father. On the field, she is La Furia, a powerhouse of skill and talent. When her...

"At last, it's Jasper John Dooley's turn to be Star of the Week at school. Unfortunately, nothing turns out as planned. His Show and Tell falls flat. A new baby at his friend Ori's house steals his spotlight. And worst of all, the new baby has only-child Jasper wondering if his own family is too small. When Jasper decides to build himself a brother (named Earl) out of wood, Earl's schoolyard shenanigans send Jasper to the principal's office! But with...