When an eleven-year-old boy takes over a friend's newspaper route in July, 1959, in Memphis, his debilitating stutter makes for a memorable month.

"Twelve-year-old Maggie's stutter causes her much heartache and only her menagerie of pets, whom she can speak with fluidly, provide her comfort, but when she finds Rumpus, an abandoned snow leopard, in a forest in Cornwall, their chance encounter will change their lives forever."--

"Twelve-year-old Jacky "Ha-Ha" Hart is a class clown with a penchant for pranking--and when she's required to act in the school play to appease her frustrated teachers, she must conquer her stutter"-- Jacky Ha-Ha loves to make people laugh, and cracking wise helps distract her from thinking about not-so-funny things in her life, like her mom serving in a dangerous, faraway war, and a dad who's hardly ever home. When she's required to act in the school...

After discovering tainted water in the creek near his grandmother's cabin in the Kentucky hills, senior Roy Linden slowly uncovers a connection between his high school team's new star quarterback, his own football future, and the source of the pollution.

"Jacky Hart has found a hidden talent in the performing arts, and she's a triple threat onstage! She wants nothing more than to act and sing all summer--but her parents have other plans for her"--

"Self-conscious of her stutter, Charlotte says nothing as her best friend is bullied, but as the school year goes on she realizes some things are worth speaking up for." --

Music entwines Kira, a thirteen-year-old singer who hates that her father makes her perform for money on New York City subway platforms; Eugene, the class clown; and Jake, who longs to sing and to approach Kira, but feels held back by his stuttering.

"Billy Plimpton wants to be a famous comedian when he grows up but his stutter is getting in the way, and right now he is so worried about being made fun of by the kids in his new school that he plans on not talking at all, but the plan backfires because his persistent silence only draws attention of the school bully--and Billy realizes that he needs another plan, one that does not depend on him speaking without a stutter."--

"Melvin Robinson wants a strong, smooth, He-Man voice that lets him say what he wants, when he wants-especially to his crush Millie Takazawa, and Gary Ratliff, who constantly puts him down. But the thought of starting high school is only making his stutter worse. And Melvin's growing awareness that racism is everywhere--not just in the South where a boy his age has been brutally killed by two white men, but also in his own hometown of Spokane--is...

"Twelve-year-old Matt Baker is the best all-rounder on his baseball team, but can he help Big Ben Roberson improve his hitting and stand up to his father?" --