Eleven-year-old Toby Steiner wants to do normal things on his vacation. He wants to hike and race his bike down the hill. He wants to learn to fish out on the lake. He doesn't want to return to the children's hospital where his painful cancer treatment finally ended. When Toby starts spending time with Pearl, a spunky old woman who lives on a nearby farm, and Blossom, her broken-down cow, he sees all the more reason to keep the new lump on his side a secret from his parents. From Pearl he discovers the beauty of poetry, and from Blossom he just might uncover the meaning of life.

The sheep closed in around him like a big, woolly blanket. The puppy had never been so scared or so excited in his life. Soon he was racing, feinting, dodging--learning what it means to be one of the proud breed of Border collies, the finest sheepherders in the world. Then, almost overnight, his life is turned upside down. He finds himself in a series of strange places, with no sheep, his family gone. With nothing but the courage he was born with and a dream, he searches for the life he once knew, gathering names and adventures as he goes. For a short time, he's called Blackie. To the Goat...

Maggie is always full of questions. But a young maid in a fine lady's house isn't supposed to wonder so much, so one day Maggie is thrown out into the street with only a tiny heart-shaped locket for a keepsake. Who is the lady in the locket?

A little dog named Oliver is pushing his nose along an icy sidewalk searching for his lost mistress, or at least something to eat. No matter how hard he looks he can't find either one, but he does see a girl with round blue eyes and a golden locket. The girl calls him "Lucky."

And perhaps Lucky is the right name after all, for the little dog soon...

Minnie McClary is the new girl and knows that she doesn't quite fit in, especially not after she lost it one day in language arts. In art, Minnie has to paint a self portrait--but how can she do this when she doesn't even know who she is anymore? Things aren't great at home, either. Her uncle Bill is building a huge replica of the Apache helicopter he flew in Iraq, and her father has blown some sort of whistle and has to start over in a new job.
Then Miss Marks takes over Minnie's language class and encourages students to think critically about everything. They write their thoughts and...

Jack has finally found a home and a purpose on a farm, where he keeps a flock of sheep safe from coyotes and helps train young pups to do the same. But when two sheep disappear in broad daylight, Jack doesn't know what happened to them. Was it his fault? Is he just getting too old for this job? Still, he's determined not to disappoint his boy, Luke, who thinks that Jack is the smartest and fastest dog around. Then Jack and Luke discover that the animal threatening their farm is far more dangerous than any coyote: it's a rabid wolf. Jack knows that he must gather the courage and strength to...