Betty Hicks

Dez is unusually neat. Her mom and dad are unusually messy. They like Cheez Whiz and swamps. Dez likes elegant food and grand pianos. How can she even be related to them? And how can Dez help her best friend, Jil, who's adopted and who will stop at nothing in order to meet her birth mom? What is it, exactly, that makes a parent "real," anyway? Get Real is about wanting a parent who is very different from the one you have. It's about discovering, "Who...

Rita tries to improve her times and flip turns as she struggles to decide whether to remain the best swimmer on the Dolphins team or the worst on the Sharks team, where she could be with her friends.

Jazz is a born runner who loves being on the school's track team. Her biggest fan is her dad--and that is a problem. He gets over-involved in her training, talks too much to the coach, yells at the track ref, and cheers way too loudly during the meets. How can Jazz tell him to stay away from the track without hurting his feelings?

When Rocky, a talented catcher who was injured during the previous baseball season by an out-of-control runner, develops a reflex that keeps him from tagging the runner out, Rocky's friends--and his dog Chops--help him overcome his fear.

Ellison Ellis Coffey, a lonely fifth-grader, discovers he might have the special gift of talking to bugs and decides to use his ability to win his town's annual Woolly Worm Race.

Basketball Bats Henry and his four friends on Rockford Road are an unbeatable basketball team-on their driveway court. But without team T-shirts or an official name, can they take on the Tigers, a team that plays at the huge YWCA and has a player old enough to shave? Henry feels sure he can lead his friends to victory, but is he really a team player? Or is he a ball hog? Goof-Off Goalie There's nothing Goose wants more than to play goalie for his...