It's 1948 in Rippling Creek, Louisiana, and Tate P. Ellerbee's new teacher has just given her class an assignment--learning the art of letter writing. Luckily, Tate has the perfect pen pal in mind: Hank Williams, a country music singer whose star has just begun to rise. Tate and her great aunt and uncle listen to him on the radio every Saturday night, and Tate just knows that she and Hank are kindred spirits.

Newspaper copyboy Victor Vollmer sets out from Memphis to spread the ashes of Mr. Spiro, his friend and mentor, at the mouth of the Mississippi River, and with the help of new friend Philomene he may meet the challenge.

Antonio Willie Giroux lived in a hotel his mother ran on the edge of a lake. He loved to explore the woods and look for animals, but they always remained hidden away. One hot, dry summer, when Antonio was almost five, disaster struck: a fire rushed through the forest. Everyone ran to the lake-the only safe place in town-and stood knee-deep in water as they watched the fire. Then, slowly, animals emerged from their forest home and joined the people...

In 1986 Malaysia, as she worries about her parents' constant fighting, ardent soccer fan Maya, age eleven, trains herself and pulls together a team at her girls' school, despite soccer being a "boys' game.".

The arrival of the Soviet army in Germany at the end of World War II sends sixteen-year-old Katja and her family into turmoil. With their father gone and few resources available to them, Katja and her sister flee their home, reassured by their mother that if they can just reach a distant friend in a town far away, things will get better. Their harrowing journey brings danger and violence, and Katja needs to summon all her strength to build a new life,...

In 1950s California, grieving Mildred Clausen tries to have her son, who was killed in World War II, cloned but instead, a Japanese man emerges and her niece, Ella Mae, befriends him, in spite of the town's intense prejudice and her aunt's conviction that he is her son's killer.

When modern baseball fans think of African American players, they may think of Ken Griffey Jr., Derek Jeter, or Jason Heyward. But what about the black stars who didn't play Major League Baseball? In the early 1900s, professional baseball was mostly segregated - black players were not allowed in the Major Leagues. The Negro Leagues provided an alternative for African American players for decades before MLB began to integrate in 1947.

"Nine-year-old Maria Singh learns to play softball just like her heroes in the All-American Girls' League, while her parents and neighbors are struggling through World War II, working for India's independence, and trying to stay on their farmland"--

Twelve-year-old Trip Westbrook lives in Jackson, Mississippi, in 1964 and discovers the underlying racism in his family and neighborhood when he invites his maid's son Dee to play football in the yard.

In 1957, inspired by what she is learning about civil rights and armed with knowledge of female ball players, ten-year-old Katy Gordon fights to be allowed to play Little League baseball.