Kile, almost thirteen, spends much of the summer yearning to explore a nearby island, striving to be a good brother, fishing with an elderly neighbor, and fuming at his parents over their separation that is forcing his mother to sell the family's cabin on a Michigan lake.

Blue Bird the bookmobile provides shelter on a snowy Christmas eve night.

A young Afro-American girl describes her favorite playground--the front steps of her home on which she and her friends play and experience the changing seasons.