Kevin Henkes

When Billy Miller has a mishap at the statue of the Jolly Green Giant at the end of summer vacation, he ends up with a big lump on his head. What a way to start second grade, with a lump on your head! As the year goes by, though, Billy figures out how to navigate elementary school, how to appreciate his little sister, and how to be a more grown up and responsible member of the family and a help to his busy working mom and stay-at-home dad.

Newbery honor book : 2004 On a summer visit to her grandmother's cottage by the ocean, twelve-year-old Martha gains perspective on the death of a classmate, on her relationship with her grandmother, on her feelings for an older boy, and on her plans to be a writer.

Chrysanthemum loves her name, until she starts going to school and the other children make fun of it.

Lilly loves everything about school, especially her teacher, but when he asks her to wait a while before showing her new purse, she does something for which she is very sorry later.

"After an eventful spring break, seventh-grader Amelia Albright's life changes forever"--

There is only one way for Chester to do things-his own way. "You definitely have a mind of your own," said Chester's mother. "That's one way to put it," said Chester's father. Luckily, Chester's best friend, Wilson, likes doing things just the same way as Chester. When they cut their sandwiches, it's always diagonally. When they ride their bikes, they always use hand signals. If Chester is hungry, Wilson is too. They're two of a kind-until indomitable...

Penny comes home from school eager to share her very own song, but must wait until the time is right to teach it to her parents and the babies.

The week of her tenth birthday, Alice and her parents go to Sanibel Island, Florida, just as they do every year, but this time some of the people who are always there are missing and some new people have come, which unsettles Alice, who wants things to be exactly the same as they alway are.

A mouse named Wemberly, who worries about everything, finds that she has a whole list of things to be anxious about when she faces the first day of nursery school.

After the death of his grandmother, ten-year-old Spoon observes the changes in his grandfather and tries to find the perfect artifact to preserve his memories of her.