At cheerleading camp, Hermione is drugged and raped, but she is not sure whether it was one of her teammates or a boy on another team--and in the aftermath she has to deal with the rumors in her small Ontario town, the often awkward reaction of her classmates, the rejection of her boyfriend, the discovery that her best friend, Polly, is gay, and above all the need to remember what happened so that the guilty boy can be brought to justice.

Wherever Rain Boy goes, rain follows, and when he is invited to Sun Kidd's birthday party the other children complain that his presence is ruining their fun; now Sun Kidd is hiding in her room because she is upset by her friends' behavior, and an apparently an endless storm has descended on the world--until they all discover that something wonderful happens when rain and sun finally get together.

In a story told in letters, when Claire's best friend moves away just before the start of fifth grade, Claire becomes the only girl in her tiny island elementary school--and suddenly boys she has been friends with her whole life turn into resentful, bullying strangers.

"In this collection of literary slice-of-life horror, five stories explore what happens when one is desperate enough to seek solace and connection in the world of monsters and darkness"--

A traumatic event near the end of the summer has a devastating effect on Melinda's freshman year in high school.

Like everyone else, twelve-year-old Cleo and her parents are sealed in an apartment without windows or doors. They never leave. They never get visitors. Their food is dropped off by drones. So they're safe. Safe from the disease that nearly wiped humans from the earth. Safe from everything. The trade-off? They're alone. Thus, when they receive a package clearly meant for someone else--a package containing a substance critical for a stranger's survival--Cleo...

"A day at the playground starts out with a chalk wall to draw on, a water wall to splash in, a climbing wall to clamber up, and a wall of kids playing an all-in-good-fun game. But it isn't long before one child is excluded, as another child leads the rest in building a castle wall that comes between them and the child they are leaving out. There are other unkindnesses, and of course, hurt feelings. But when the bully bellows "MINE," declaring the...

The story of Cathy and Chris continues. In the joy of their new life the family try to forget the anguish of their loveless inheritance. But the hidden secrets of their past - their parents' black heritage - begin to haunt them again. The rage and hatred returns to torment the next generation.

When her drug-addict mother can no longer care for her, twelve-year-old Molly comes to stay with her great-aunt and slowly begins to realize that others in the small town also feel as if they don't belong.

"Day breaks over the town. Get up, everybody! It's time to go to school. For the old man too, it's time to wake up. The night was icy and he's hungry. His name? He doesn't know . . ." --