Maribeth Boelts

Jeremy, who longs to have the black high tops that everyone at school seems to have but his grandmother cannot afford, is excited when he sees them for sale in a thrift shop and decides to buy them even though they are the wrong size.

Sixth-graders Russell and Shawn, poor and picked on, work together scooping dog droppings to earn money for a Rottweiler puppy to protect them from bullies, but when they learn the puppies' owner is running an illegal dog-fighting ring, they are torn about how to respond.

Ruben feels like he is the only kid without a bike. His friend Sergio reminds him that his birthday is coming, but Ruben knows that the kinds of birthday gifts he and Sergio receive are not the same. After all, when Ruben's mom sends him to Sonny's corner store for groceries, sometimes she doesn't have enough money for everything on the list. So when Ruben sees a dollar bill fall out of someone's purse, he picks it up and puts it in his pocket. But...

Fairy Godmother teaches young fairies--and Ivy the dog--to become fairy godmothers, but something is missing.

Little Bunny gradually learns to give up his pacifier.

For soccer games Sierra rides a bus out of the city to fields that are nicer than the "lot" in her neighborhood, but so her auntie can be at her last game, she asks Coach Marco if the team might play in her neighborhood on a day her aunt does not work.

Pupunzel is locked in a tower by a witch but the cocker spaniel puppy and her family are determined to set things right in this twist on Rapunzel.

LB spends the summer dreading the first day of preschool, especially after his second-grade cousin makes him worry about what it will really be like.

Todo lo que Jeremy quiere es un par de esos zapatos, como los que llevan puestos los otros chicos de su escuela. Pero su abuela le explica que ellos no están para hablar de <>, sino de <>, y lo que Jeremy necesita son unas botas nuevas para el invierno.

A young boy imagines what his rescued dog's life might have been like before he adopted him.