Unsure of himself and annoyed at having to spend a day climbing a Montana mountain with his bossy father, twelve-year-old Sam must become the guide on their perilous journey down when his carelessness temporarily blinds his father.
Nell is told by her BIG sisters and her mother that she is too small to help out, but everyone, including Nell, feels differently after her forest friends give her the confidence to build a large snowman.
A suggestion from her mother leads Sophie to befriend the new girl at school and an elderly, grouchy woman, and helps her overcome the feeling that she is not good at anything.
Jessie returns to the magical world where her grandmother was born, where she deals with some griffins, dances with fairies, and borrows something to help her dance in her school concert.
Jackie, who has always had trouble in school, begins to develop more self-confidence under the guidance of her fourth-grade teacher and is crushed when Ms. Sugarman is promoted to principal in the middle of the school year.
Happy to spend his summer vacation at home in the city, eight-year-old Jay is horrified by his parent's plan to spend two weeks in the Vermont woods sharing a house with another family.
