Martha longs to leave her island home off the Louisiana coast and go to high school where she can learn more than the ways of her midwife grandmother and perhaps someday broaden the lives of the superstitious villagers.
Despite his love of drawing and his feelings of inadequacy as an athlete, sixth-grader Xander "Suitcase" Bingham works to become a basketball and baseball player to win the approval of his father.
As fifth grade comes to an end, Mariah, who idolizes a famous rock star, experiences many misgivings, as does every member of her family, about the arrival of a half sister who is coming to live with them.
Suffering in a family full of females, ten-year-old Justin feels that cleaning and keeping house are women's work until he spends time on his beloved grandfather's ranch.
Describes the struggle for civil rights for African-Americans in Mississippi, from the time of slavery to the signing of the Voting Rights Act in 1965.
Upset because his birthday falls on Christmas and will therefore be eclipsed as usual, and worried that there is less money because his father is out of work, eleven-year-old Chris takes solace in the carvings he is preparing.
