In 1960s New York, fifth-grader Ruthie, a Cuban-Jewish immigrant, must rely on books, art, her family, and friends in her multicultural neighborhood when an accident puts her in a body cast.

As the last day of third grade looms, Doug learns that Harry is moving to a new town and wonders how he'll survive fourth grade without him, while Harry wonders about the new neighbors across the street and what they could mean for their friendship.

Relates the surprising gifts bestowed on twelve-year-old Bob Barnhart and his family, who have recently moved to a small Illinois town in 1958, by their larger-than-life neighbor, Mrs. Dowdel.

"Bea Garcia loves art, especially when she gets to draw pictures of her dog, Sophie. When Sophie runs away after an encounter with the neighbor's cat, Bea has to find a way to bring her home again"--

When twelve-year-old Angie Wallace and her friends embark on a quest to "love thy neighbor," they notice something strange about the return of a man that they just cannot appear to trust.

"While new father Joe Grey is overjoyed to teach his three young kittens about the world, he misses his cop work--secretly helping solve crimes alongside his human friends at Molena Point P.D. But when beautician Barbara Conley and one of her customers are found dead in the salon, Joe makes an exception, he heads for the crime scene. He has no idea that the kittens are following him, or how they will complicate the investigation. But this is not the...

Third-grader Zeke Meeks already has two sisters, so he is bitterly disappointed when his new neighbor proves to be a girl--can Charlie change his mind and prove to him that boys and girls can play together?

"Pay a visit to the charming Swiss Miss gift shop in the village of Sugercreek, known as the Little Switzerland of Ohio. You'll get to know Cheryl Cooper, a newly arrived "Englisher," who with her Siamese cat, Beau, is settling into the routine of running the store and adjusting to life in Amish community. But it isn't the laid-back country living that Cheryl expects. She befriends Naomi Miller, an Amish farmers wife, and together they lend a helping...

At forty, May Attaway is more at home with plants than people. Over the years, she's turned inward, finding pleasure in language, her work as a gardener, and keeping her neighbors at arm's length while keenly observing them. But when she is unexpectedly granted some leave from her job, May is inspired to reconnect with four once close friends. She knows they will never have a proper reunion, so she goes, one-by-one, to each of them. A student of the...