In 1944, while her brother is overseas fighting in World War II, eleven-year-old Margaret gets a new view of the school bully Gordy when she finds him hiding his own brother, an army deserter, and decides to help him.

Roy, who is new to his small Florida community, becomes involved in another boy's attempt to save a colony of burrowing owls from a proposed construction site.

Mean Jean is the biggest bully on the school playground until a new girl arrives and challenges Jean's status as the Recess Queen.

"Ren is tired of being bullied, but he thinks the bullies are right--he is small and weak. But when his eyes turn golden, and his skin turns scaly, Ren thinks he can finally get revenge on the boys who tormented him. What will he do when he sees what fear looks like?"--P. [4] of cover.

"In one day, four lives weave together in unexpected ways. Virgil Salinas is shy and kindhearted and feels out of place in his crazy-about-sports family. Valencia Somerset, who is deaf, is smart, brave, and secretly lonely, and she loves everything about nature. Kaori Tanaka is a self-proclaimed psychic, whose little sister, Gen, is always following her around. And Chet Bullens wishes the weird kids would just stop being so different so he can concentrate...