Gary Paulsen

The author recalls his experiences as a migrant laborer and carnival worker after he ran away from home at age sixteen.

Amos is crazy in love with a girl named Melissa, but his friend Dunc thinks Melissa is not being totally honest about her feelings.

Dunc and Amos have their hands full when their school principal asks them to coach a local T-ball team and they are threatened by a gangster.

"Thirteen-year-old Ryan Swanner and his mom have just moved to the resort of Black Water Lake. The lake is as dark as its name, and locals say that beneath its calm surface a giant, ancient creature lives. Ryan's not sure whether to believe them, until the day he sees a small animal fall from a tree branch into the lake--and never surface again. Something is in the lake. And it's alive"--Cover.

Fourteen-year-old Kevin is very good at lying and doing so makes life easier, but when he finds himself in big trouble with his friends, family, and teachers, he must find a way to end his lies forever.

As winter progresses, the strange man in the worn flight jacket dances frequently on the ice of the rink, expressing more with his movements than most people do with words.