Embarrassed about gathering watercress from a roadside ditch, a girl learns to appreciate her Chinese heritage after learning why the plant is so important to her parents.

Sent with her mother to the safety of a relative's home in Cincinnati when her Syrian hometown is overshadowed by violence, Jude worries for the family members who were left behind as she adjusts to a new life with unexpected surprises.

A young girl describes how her school friend made over a million dollars by creating and marketing a cheaper and better toothpaste.

"I've seen him on the news. Followed the stories about what happened in Ohio. John Smith, out there, on the run. To the world, he's a mystery. But to me ... he's one of us. Nine of us came here, but sometimes I wonder if time has changed us -- if we all still believe in our mission. How can I know?" -- inside front cover book jacket.

"Jake is just starting to enjoy life as his school's first openly gay kid. While his family and friends are accepting and supportive, the same can't be said about everyone in their small town of Barton Springs, Ohio. When Jake's dad hangs a comically large pride flag in their front yard in an overblown show of love, the mayor begins to receive complaints. A few people are even concerned the flag will lead to something truly outlandish: a pride parade....

Times are tough in the small town of Cliffs Donnelly, Ohio (sarcastically called If Only) especially for some of the kids at Rod Serling Middle School, but then an old dry well suddenly begins to grant wishes, or so it seems--three of the students, Ernest Wilmette, Ryan Hardy, and Lizzy MacComber, know what is happening (but do they really?), because sometimes a good deed can make magic happen.

Twelve-year-old Anna's friend Andee spearheads a campaign to bring Fan from China to Cincinnati on a year-long cultural exchange, but before Fan even arrives Anna's concerned that Andee and Fan are too different to get along.

Seventeen-year-old Aiden has been living like a ghost since his mother tried to stop a family curse by causing him to forget his psychic experiences but when Jarrod, a childhood friend, returns, so do the memories and Aiden is compelled to seek the truth and release them all from the story that has trapped them.

As a slag heap, the result of strip mining, creeps closer to his house in the Ohio hills, fifteen-year-old M.C. is torn between trying to get his family away and fighting for the home they love.