Twelve-year-old Nella Sabatini's life is changing too soon, too fast. Her best friend, Clem, doesn't seem concerned; she's busy figuring out the best way to spend the "leap second" -- an extra second about to be added to the world's official clock. The only person who might understand how Nella feels is Angela, but the two of them have gone from being "secret sisters" to not talking at all. Then Angela's idolized big brother makes a terrible, fatal...

"Cody’s best friend, Spencer, and his parents are moving in with his grandmother right around the corner, and Cody can’t wait. For one thing, Cody needs Spencer to help solve the mystery of the never-seen Mr. Meen, who lives on the other side of the porch with a skull-and-crossbones sign in the window and an extermination truck out front. How’s Cody to know that a yellow jacket would sting her, making her scream "Ow! Ow!" just as they start...

"In Cody's experience, some people keep you on your toes--just like Mother Nature, who is warm one day and snowy the next. Cody's brother, Wyatt, is wearing collared shirts because his girlfriend likes them. Pearl has joined the soccer team, and it's all she can talk about. Spencer is creating a mysterious museum under GG's porch and is never around to play. And Spencer's mom is going to have a baby! Everything around Cody--from seasons to friendships--is...

Khalil lives in the upstairs apartment with his family, which is big and busy and noisy. Downstairs lives Mr. Hagerty, who is quiet. Khalil and Mr. Hagerty don't appear to have a lot in common, but hot summer days have a way of bringing people together. As Khalil looks for buried treasure in the yard, Mr. Hagerty tends to his garden. Both help each other navigate language -- whether it be learning new words or remembering those seemingly forgotten....

When eleven-year-old Mo's mother dies in an accident and Mo's devastated father deals with the loss by moving the family to a new town and starting a new life as the owner of a sports bar, Mo must leave her much loved neighborhood on Fox Street to live in an apartment above the "cursed" Corky's Tavern.