Say Curtis describes his meeting with Pinkus Aylee, an African-American soldier, during the Civil War and their capture by Southern troops.

The author remembers the summer when she was ten years old and staying with her father in Michigan where she took riding lessons and became best friends with a perfect horse.

The villagers are afraid of her, so the legendary Baba Yaga disguises herself as an old woman in order to know the joys of being a grandmother.

A young girl describes the family reunion at her grandmother's house, from the food and baseball and photos to the flickering fireflies on the lawn.

When Mr. Lincoln, "the coolest principal in the whole world," discovers that Eugene, the school bully, knows a lot about birds, he uses this interest to help Eugene overcome his intolerance.

Richie and his younger sister Trisha face off in a contest to see whose hobby is more challenging.

Animals make many different noises, but when they make too much noise their mommies quiet them down.

After being initiated into a neighbor's family by a solemn backyard ceremony, a young Russian American girl and her African American brothers' determine to buy their gramma Eula a beautiful Easter hat. But their good intentions are misunderstood, until they discover just the right way to pay for the hat that Eula's had her eye on. A loving family story woven from the author's childhood.

When the spooky Graves family moves to town and tries to fit in with the "normal" residents of Union City, everyone is in for a few surprises.

During a scarlet fever epidemic one winter in Michigan, a Jewish family helps make Christmas special for their sick neighbors by making their own Hanukkah miracle.