Maleeka Madison is a child with very low self-esteem due to the fact that she is darker skinned than most other black girls. In her new teacher, Miss Saunders, she encounters someone who, she feels, is worse off than she is, as Miss Saunders' skin is blotched with a rare skin condition. The teacher withstands the snickers and shouts from the students but can Maleeka accept friendship and accept…
Thirteen year old Salamanca Tree Hiddle, known as Sal, is travelling from Ohio to Idaho with her grandparents, in search of her mother. Along the way, she tells them the story of Phoebe Winterbottom, who received myterious messages, met a 'potential lunatic' and whose mother disappeared. Beneath Phoebe's story is Sal's story and that of her mother, who left one day for Idaho and has not returne…
At school, Pearl is a group of one, and at home her beloved granny is fading. A poignant gem of a tale about independence, grief, and finding your place. Pearl likes to write poems, but despite the insistence of her teacher, Ms. Bruff, Pearl's poems don't rhyme, and neither does she. She wishes she could grow gills so she could stay underwater in swim class without drowning. And she hasn't a…
On a car trip to the beach, the O'Malley family children compete by playing games together'
As Maddie cleans up her room, she learns how to compare the weight of various objects.'