Shreve, Susan Richards

Ben's troubles at school get progressively worse when he starts hanging around Trout, a new boy in his fifth grade class, who is also labeled as learning disabled.

After moving to a new town, Jonah, an eleven-year-old with a big imagination, reinvents himself as a talk show host, hoping this will somehow bring his absent father back.

Eleven-year-old Peter and his three younger siblings rediscover their lost closeness when the ghosts of their dead pet cats begin to return mysteriously.

Two friends, one of whom is deaf, help each other when tryouts are held for a seventh-grade production of "Annie.".

Franny, embarrassed by a birth defect that causes her right foot to curl in, and by her beautiful, flamboyant mother, Margaret, has a life-changing experience when Margaret announces she is taking Franny to Italy to have Salvatore Ferragamo sculpt her a special pair of shoes.

When a family tragedy occurs, ten-year-old Alyssa "Blister" Reed changes schools, moves to an apartment with her depressed mother while her father gets his own place, and tries to believe her grandmother, who tells her she is "elastic" and can handle it all.

After finally being promoted to fourth grade in the middle of the year, Joshua is so worried about the bully who rules the fourth grade boys that he makes some unwise decisions.

Thirteen-year-old Amanda Bates goes from goody-two-shoes to goth troublemaker to fit into the most exclusive clique at school, and attract the attention of Slade, a ninth-grader with a bad reputation.

Twelve-year-old Ellie's boring summer becomes exciting when she develops a crush on her new next-door neighbor, an older boy with a troubled past, whom her parents have forbidden her to see.

When a family tragedy occurs, ten-year-old Alyssa "Blister" Reed changes schools, moves to an apartment with her depressed mother while her father gets his own place, and tries to believe her grandmother, who tells her she is "elastic" and can handle it all.