family life

While his father is out of work because of a back injury, Anthony decides to try to earn money and his first job is watching a huge tarantula named Norman.

Sam is able to help his sister Anastasia with the poem she is writing for their mother's birthday, but his own efforts to create a special perfume are disastrous.

Thirteen-year-old Karen Sossi encounters bad luck when she ignores her schoolwork for cooking and baby-sitting.

The adventures of five-year-old Elisa as she attends her brother's recital, gets new eye glasses, moves with her family to a new apartment, and welcomes the new baby.

Four-year-old Elisa gets her picture taken, starts learning to read, breaks her arm, and experiences other exciting aspects of growing up.

As a slag heap, the result of strip mining, creeps closer to his house in the Ohio hills, fifteen-year-old M. C. is torn between trying to get his family away and fighting for the home they love.

When twelve-year-old Ben moves with his family to a town on the shore of Lake Ontario he finds a friend who seems to be a witch and who helps him meet the problems associated with his moving and with his stormy relationships with his father and big sister.

An eleven-year-old adopted child realizes that being an only child has its advantages when her mother becomes pregnant after years of sterility.

An elderly uncle given to occasional bouts of confusion causes the Andersons to wonder if they are able to care for him or if he should be sent to a nursing home.

The author describes her family life and daily activities from the ages of three to nine and celebrates the experience of growing up in a traditional African-American community in Washington, D.C.