"Hey, Mike, what're we gonna do today?" It's 1960, and Mike is ten again, at least in his mind. Looking back on his final year of elementary school, he reflects on the many challenges that confronted him then. Junior high and the opposite sex loom on the horizon-his mini-version of the New Frontier. From the neighborhood baseball field to the local movie theatre, from Halloween to Christmas morning, and from Bozo buckets to a once-in-a-lifetime trip across the country to Disneyland, Mike is constantly in motion-and often in trouble. But he has his younger brother Tommy and a few close friends...

John Belson is lonely. This one word sums up his entire being as he enters the massive junior high school building on his first day of eighth grade. More than anything else, John wants a friend, a buddy with whom to share the joys and sorrows of life. And, like any normal boy his age, he also wants a girlfriend, an innocent beauty who looks like Haley Mills or Natalie Wood. But his desires are just wishes, and nothing short of a miracle can possibly change John's sad social standing. At least that's what he thinks. But real-life miracles do happen, even in the suburbs. Set to the backdrop of...