Akron Public Library

Gary W. Boone knows he was born to be a stand-up comedian. He daydreams about making beautiful starlets fall in love with him on late-night talk shows. Meanwhile, most of the kids in his class think he's a total dork.

Despite her scabby knees and dirty fingernails, Geraldine knows that she is a princess inside and shows it through her behavior at home and in school.

In alternating chapters, two teenagers describe how their feelings about themselves, each other, and their families have changed over the years. You never forget your first love.

A fourteen-year-old Eskimo boy who feels assailed by the modernity of his life takes a 1400-mile journey by dog sled across ice, tundra, and mountains seeking his own "song" of himself.

Eight-year-old Clementine, convinced that she has no talents, tries to find a way to avoid participating in the class talent show.

After she dies in a car crash, teenage Samantha relives the day of her death over and over again until, on the seventh day, she finally discovers a way to save herself.

"Harvey Cheyne, the pampered fifteen-year-old son of an American millionaire, is sailing to Europe when he falls overboard. Saved from drowning by a New England fishing schooner, he finds his rough new companions unimpressed by his wealth and shocked by his ignorance. He will have to prove his worth in the only way the captain and crew will accept: through the slow and arduous mastery of skills upon which their common survival depends."--Back cover....

Timid and small for her age, nine-year-old Elizabeth Ann discovers her own abilities and gains a new perception of the world around her when she goes to live with relatives on a farm in Vermont.

A young boy describes himself as "loud as a lion," "quiet as a clam," "tough as a rhino," and "gentle as a lamb."

Thirteen-year-old Meg envys her sister's beauty and popularity. Her feelings don't make it any easier for her to cope with Molly's strange illness and eventual death.