What is stargazer, skateboarder, chess champ, pepperoni pizza eater, older brother, sister hater, best friend, first kisser, science geek, control freak Will Tuppence so afraid of in this great big universe?

Jerry Spinelli knows.

Over the course of an amazingly prolific literary career during which she penned hundreds of short stories, novels, essays, and screenplays, author Nina Wilcox Putnam developed a knack for creating indelibly unique characters. In the novel It Pays to Smile, patrician spinster Freedom Talbot is forced by worsening financial circumstances to seek gainful employment. She stumbles across a job offer that seems tailor-made for her—but is

British author Arnold Bennett returns to his native stomping grounds—the Potteries district of England's West Midlands region—with this collection of insightful, darkly witty stories about the denizens of the fictionalized "Five Towns." From love gone wrong to mischief and misadventure, these sharply drawn tales run the gamut.

Nathan T. Riggins panicked as he hurried from one empty building to the next. Where was everyone? How could everybody in a whole town just disappear?
In the deserted Post Office, bags of unopened mail lay everywhere. With increasing dread, he looked through the stacks of letters. There it was—his own letter to his parents telling them he was coming. No wonder they hadn't waited for him here in Willow Creek. Now what should he do?

For young Kay, growing up in middle class America during World War II is a confusing and sometimes painful experience. Her stepmother, Amazing Grace, is a selfish woman who takes her unhappiness out on those around her. And for a little girl so concerned with pleasing others and doing the honorable thing, life with Amazing Grace is nearly unbearable. But Kay is also a believer. She's determined to "keep smiling through," as the song says, knowing