When eleven-year-old Ivy Blake leaves the nice farm family where she has been living in upstate New York and moves back in with her mother she is finally forced to face up to the fact that her alcoholic, dysfunctional parent will never be able to provide her with a stable home--and if she wants to achieve her dreams she is going to have to take charge of her own future.

In the Chinese Year of the Rat, a young Taiwanese American girl faces many challenges: her best friend moves to California and a new boy comes to her school, she must find the courage to forge ahead with her dream of becoming a writer and illustrator, and she must learn to find the beauty in change.

"Ten-year-old Prairie is happy being home-schooled and raising her flock of chickens, so transferring to regular school is a big change, but fortunately she meets a wonderful friend"--

"Five teens starring in a documentary film series about their ordinary lives must grapple with questions of change and identity under the scrutiny of the camera"--

When her brother Rob, a Navy cook, goes missing in action during World War II, Jayna, desperate for family, leaves upstate New York and their cranky landlady, accompanied by a turtle and a ghost, to seek their grandmother, who Rob believes may live in Brooklyn. Includes soup recipes.

Fifth-grader Annie writes lists to keep track of changes in her life when her family moves from Brooklyn to the small town of Clover Gap.

Soon after his mother's death, Matt takes a job at a funeral home in his tough Brooklyn neighborhood and, while attending and assisting with funerals, begins to accept her death and his responsibilities as a man.

Told in their separate voices, fifth-graders Sylvan, whose parents' divorce causes him stress, and Charity, who lived in Kenya for the past five years, both strive for normalcy at school and start a petition to keep their teacher, Mr. In, from being fired.

In 1812, ten-year-old Caroline becomes frustrated that her friend Rhonda and cousin Lydia are suddenly acting too grown up to enjoy winter fun with her, and her hurt feelings lead to dangerous decisions. Includes historical notes about growing up in the early nineteenth century.

"Eleven-year-old Carolina's summer -- and life as she knows it -- is upended when Papi loses his job, and she and her family must move from Puerto Rico to her Tía Cuca and Uncle Porter's house in upstate New York. Now Carolina must attend Silver Meadows camp, where her bossy older cousin Gabriela rules the social scene. Just as Carolina worries she'll have to spend the entire summer in Gabriela's shadow, she makes a friend of her own in Jennifer,...