A year after Lacey Mann’s father dies, her family continues its downward spiral. Her older brother drinks, her younger brother shuts down, and her mother becomes a workaholic. To counteract, Lacey earns good grades and helps her best friend weather typical high-school dramas. Enter new student Sam Stone, who asks Lacey out. Unfortunately, Lacey cannot tolerate another person, even cute Sam, who has “heard about her dad” and “knows how she feels.” Consumed with guilt and disgusted by insincere classmates, Lacey begins a support group for students who have lost a parent. Grades 7-10
Theodore Honey is a scientist with an interest in the paranormal and a job testing metal fatigue in aircraft. When a new transatlantic plane, the Reindeer, is found to have crashed in Labrador, Theodore believes he knows why. The scientist is sent to the scene of the crash. En route to Canada Theodore learns he is flying in a Reindeer and is in danger.
The girls of the BSC are in a huge fight, and Mary Anne feels caught in the middle. She isn't usually a leader in their group, but when the club leaves her alone to deal with a sick child, Mary Anne knows it's time to take charge.
A Californian high-school student is murdered, and the obvious suspect is her fellow student, Chris Whitman. But Sergeant Pete Decker knows that the case has not been exhaustively investigated, even when Whitman confesses to the crime.
The first day of third grade puts Judy Moody in a mad-face mood. She just knows everyone will come back from summer vacation with word T-shirts, like "Disney World" or "Jamestown: Home of Pocahontas." All Judy has is a plain old no-words T-shirt. She'll have to go to a new classroom, with a new desk, and she won't have an armadillo sticker with her name on it like she did last year. And knowing her luck, she'll end up sitting next to Frank, the boy who eats paste. For breakfast her dad makes eggs with the yellow middle broken, and her younger "bother," Stink, thinks he knows everything now that he's starting second grade.
