In the wake of his parents' separation, ten-year-old Billy seems to have continual conflicts with his father, who is also his basketball coach, but his quiet, younger brother Ben, a piano prodigy, is having even more trouble adjusting, and only Billy seems to notice.

"Evoking a deep sense of warmth, connection, and compassion, The Bench gives readers a window into shared and enduring moments between a diverse group of fathers and sons--moments of peace and reflection, trust and belief, discovery and learning, and lasting comfort"--

"In the two years since his mother was killed in an automobile crash, Colin has been anticipating further disasters, writing down what to do in the event of an avalanche or mentally practicing the Heimlich maneuver just in case--but the real trouble is that his mathematician father is obsessed with a classic math problem and has a hoarding problems that is spiraling out of control, leaving Colin desperate to hide this chaos from his friends and everyone...

Moving from Iowa to a lighthouse cottage in Maine, ten-year-old Jack struggles to live up to his father's high standards and encounters a young ghost who presents Jack with a 150-year-old unsolved sea mystery.

After being forced to give up his pet fox Pax, a young boy named Peter decides to leave home and get his best friend back. Pax and Peter have been inseparable ever since Peter rescued him as a kit. But one day the unimaginable happens: Peter's dad enlists in the military and makes him return the fox to the wild. At his grandfather's house three hundred miles away from home, Peter knows he isn't where he should be - with Pax. He strikes out on his...

Fourteen-year-old twin basketball stars Josh and Jordan wrestle with highs and lows on and off the court as their father ignores his declining health.

Publisher Annotation: Javier has a secret. On one of his father's fishing trips, still hurting from the loss of his mother, he finds an albatross caught on the hooks-alive, if only barely. Against the orders of his father, who has been distant and disparaging, Javier smuggles the bird to safety and begins nursing it back to health. Every day the albatross accepts a little more food, but she shows no sign of wanting to use her wings. And if Javier's...