Twelve-year-old Lulu, burdened with caring for her sister, Serena, since their father disappeared, must learn to trust her new friends and community when secrets and lies catch up with her.

"After being abandoned by her mother in an amusement park, twelve-year-old Mouse is determined to secretly live in the park on her own, even though getting caught could mean saving her life"--

"When Eleven-year-old Sol arrives at the Ash House, desperate for a cure for his complex pain syndrome, he finds a community of strange children long abandoned by their mysterious Headmaster. The children at the Ash House want the new boy to love their home as much as they do. They give him a name like theirs. They show him the dorms and tell him about the wonderful oasis that the Headmaster has created for them. But the new boy already has a name....

"Thirteen-year-old Eli likes baggy clothes, baseball caps, and one girl in particular. Her seventeen-year-old sister Anna is more traditionally feminine; she loves boys and staying out late. They are sisters . . . Their dad has long been out of the picture, and their mom lives at the mercy of her next drink. When their mom lands herself in enforced rehab, Anna and Eli are left to fend for themselves. Eli and Anna have each gotten used to telling lies...

During the month of June, Petal, one of the eight Huit octuplets, gets her power, which she uses to great advantage when Crazy Aunt Serena tries to kidnap Rebecca and throw her off the Eiffel Tower while the rest of the family attends a wedding.

When fifteen-year-old Cathy decides to carpool from Norwalk to tony Greenwich, Connecticut, to study Latin in summer school, she does not expect the shocking events that occured five years earlier to suddenly come flooding back into her relatively settled life.

The Huit octuplets discover Marcia's special power--the ability to see through things--which helps when their evil neighbor calls Social Services to report that they are living alone because their parents have not returned from wherever they disappeared to.

One month after their parents' disappearance, the third-grade Huit octuplets deal with a malfunctioning refrigerator and try to win the love of the only boy in their class at Valentine's Day, while Dorinda discovers her special power and gift.

April Fools' Day is long and hard for the third-grade Huit octuplets, but it is nothing compared to the challenges of Tax Day, through which Jackie discovers her special power and gift and learns more about their parents' mysterious disappearance.

With the arrival of August, Zinnia, the youngest of the Huit octuplets, eagerly anticipates getting her power and gift, both of which hold big surprises that are revealed to the sisters on their eighth birthday.