In a small Iowa town in 1952, eleven-year-old Charlie Nebraska, whose father died in the Korean War, learns the meaning of both racism and heroism when he befriends Luther Peale, a young man who once played for the old Negro Baseball League.
More than anything Ned wants to be a football player, and although his size and a bully stand in the way, Ned's athletic ability along with his eccentric Grandpa Ike may give him his chance.
Lily is moving into her grandmother's farm in Iowa, and she is sad about all the changes necessary in her life--but on the long drive her grandmother challenges her to find ten beautiful things that they can share together.
While researching a rumored-to-be-haunted grave for a local history project, twelve-year-old Lincoln Crenshaw unearths some startling truths about his own family.
As sixteen-year-old Ellie pursues her two goals--growing the biggest pumpkin in Iowa and losing twenty pounds herself--she strengthens her relationship with her father and meets a young man with interests similar to her own.
Seventeen-year-olds Fix, a natural mechanic, and Cleo, a gifted tactician, must find a way to cooperate in a near-future Iowa or they and the group they lead may die at the hands of armed bands rumored to be making their way down from the north.
