Four youngsters, ages nine to fifteen, narrate one side of the story of their newly blended family's adjustment, interwoven with grief and loss.

Believing her new home to actually be alive, especially when her brother almost dies, Marigold and her new blended family won't be safe until she brings the truth to light once and for all. The phantoms of her old life keep haunting Marigold, but a move with her newly blended family from their California beach town to the Midwestern city of Cedarville might be the fresh start she needs. Her mom has accepted a new job with the Sterling Foundation...

"When Kristy Thomas has the great idea to form a baby-sitters club--a chance to earn money and spend time with her friends, all while doing something they each love to do--she has no idea how much the club will change everything. Crank calls, uncontrollable toddlers, wild pets, untruthful clients . . . running a business is hard work! Kristy and her co-founders, Mary Anne, Claudia, and Stacey, are sure they can handle anything. But only if they stick...

"The house seemed to sit apart from the others on Katydid Street, silent and alone, like it didn't fit among them. For Violet Hart-whose family is about to move into the house on Katydid Street-very little felt like it fit anymore. Like their old home, suddenly too small since her mother remarried and the new baby arrived. Or Violet's group of friends, which, since they started middle school, isn't enough for Violet's best friend, Paige. Everything...

Maren has been very close to her mother, so she is not happy when she discovers that she will soon have a new stepfather, and when she meets his twin children she is not sure that even her three friends, Delaney, Ashley, and Willow, can pull her through--especially after the twins shave Ashley's dog Coco during a particularly disastrous sleepover.

"When Rex finds out he needs glasses, he's beyond miserable. Dealing with the bullies at school, his family being broke, and an embarrassing lack of friends, he has way too much on his plate already"-- Provided by publisher.