When friends Jack and Jill are injured in a sledding accident, their family and friends rally around them to help in their recovery.

"Dickens' tale of Scrooge's discovery of the true Christmas spirit is presented with Rackham's famous pictorial interpretations." --

Thirteen-year-old Sal, traveling with her grandparents from Ohio to Idaho in search of her missing mother, entertains them with the story of her friend Phoebe whose mother also left, unwittingly revealing the truth about her own relationship with her mom.

Seventh-grader John "Crash" Coogan has always been comfortable with his tough, aggressive behavior, until his relationship with an unusual Quaker boy and his grandfather's stroke make him consider the meaning of friendship and the importance of family.

"It's fun to be a Baby-sitters Little Sister. No fair! Karen is having a bad-luck day. Her favorite jeans are missing. There's no prize in the Crunch-O cereal box. And Boo-Boo the cat runs away from her! Karen tries everything to make her day better. But her bad luck just won't go away. She even gets punished and sent to her room! Poor Karen--will this be her worst day ever?" --

"When Papa doesn't return from a nocturnal honey-gathering expedition, Cress holds out hope, but her mother assumes the worst. It's a dangerous world for rabbits, after all. Mama moves what's left of the Watercress family to the basement unit of the Broken Arms, a run-down apartment oak with a suspect owl landlord, a nosy mouse super, a rowdy family of squirrels, and a pair of songbirds who broadcast everyone's business. Can a dead tree full of annoying...

Amy and Dan travel to a distant land to follow in the footsteps of their most formidable ancestor yet, a military leader who teaches them the art of ancient warfare.

Violet is smart, funny and biracial. Her African American father died before she was born, and she has grown up with just her white mother and white older sister. Now that she is eleven, she feels it is time to learn about her African American heritage, so she seeks out her paternal grandmother.

Dubbed a "reluctant reader" by his teacher, twelve-year-old Derek spends summer vacation learning important lessons even though he does not complete his summer reading list.

Introverted, daydream-prone Zoe is afraid her real life will never be as exciting as her imaginary one.