Kimberly Willis Holt

Fifth-grader Piper and her sisters are thrilled about their first-ever camping trip until they learn it will be at Halloween, but other Navy families join them, including an annoying new member of the Gypsy Club.

Piper is sad about leaving her home and friends behind when her father, a Navy aircraft mechanic, is transferred yet again, but with help from her often-annoying sisters and a surprise from their parents, she finds happiness in their new home in Pensacola, Florida.

After the sudden death of her parents, Stevie, thirteen, is sent to live at a rundown motel, where she charms everyone except her estranged grandfather.

Ten-year-old Piper moves yet again when her father, who is a Chief Petty Officer in the Navy, gets assigned to Norfolk, Virginia, and although the move takes a bit of adjustment, she soon makes friends with the girl next door and catches up with old friends too.

Piper's dad, a Navy Chief, might be gone again, but Piper's got plenty to keep her busy at thome: new neighbors, a spaceship beach house, a trip to New Orleans, and, most important, the upcoming Gypsy Club pet show. Piper is determined to win, but teaching tricks to her dog, Bruna, seems nearly impossible!

In Rippling Creek, Louisiana, in 1948, eleven-year-old Tate writes letters to her favorite country singer, sharing her dreams of becoming a singer and revealing that her mother is in prison.

In 2001, seventh-grader Rylee Wilson and new student Joe, whose father was a New York City first responder on 9/11, decide to find Zachary Beaver and reunite him with Rylee's father, Toby.

While her father, a Navy Chief, is on ship duty for six months, nine-year-old Piper stays busy with new neighbors, Christmas at a spaceship beach house, a trip to New Orleans, and especially the upcoming Gypsy Club pet show.

Ten stories trace the connections between four generations of one Louisiana family from 1939 when a young girl leaves school to help support her family to 2006 when an eighty-year-old woman embarks on a book tour.

The first time a friend invites Bernard to dinner, his mother gives him a long list of rules to follow, such as keeping his elbows off the table and not speaking with his mouth full, but he soon sees that being well-to-do does not mean one has the best manners.