Erin Dionne

Excited to give his report on explorer Ernest Shackleton in school, and frustrated by a monstrous snowstorm that has left his family and city snowbound, a boy imagines himself on a voyage where he and his crew (his family) are trapped by the ice, just like his favorite explorer and the ship, Endurance.

Eighth-grader Hester Greene suffers from Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, plus anxiety, which is why she loves making movies where she is behind the camera and in complete control of the action--but if she cannot improve her language arts grade she will not be allowed to enter her video in The Hoot (a showcase of student work) and write a satisfactory ending to her middle school career.

French horn virtuoso Elsie Wyatt resents having to join her high school's marching band playing a melliphone, but finally finds a sense of belonging that transcends the pressure she has always felt to be as good as her father, principal french horn player in the Boston Symphony Orchestra.

While spending two weeks at Wilderness Camp on the Boston Harbor Islands, thirteen-year-old Ollie, short, half Vietnamese, asthmatic, and overweight, must find and protect hidden pirate treasure from those who would steal it for themselves.