Betsy Cromer Byars

Ten-year-old Kate begins a communication exchange on a computer with someone purporting to be from outer space, who says he is going to pay a visit to Earth soon.

Herculeah Jones and her best friend Meat set out to crack the case of the mysterious note which she finds in the lining of a second-hand coat.

While describing her humorous adventures with a blacksnake, Betsy Byars recounts childhood anecdotes and explains how she writes a book.

A sixth-grade boy deals with the prospect of a new baby brother and a long-distance love relationship.

When Junior Blossom wakes up in the hospital, his last memory is of crouching on the barn roof with cloth wings tied to his arms, and of Maggie and Vern in the yard below, urging him to fly. That had been just before Junior spotted a police car approaching the farm in a cloud of dust.

Convinced that Mud is responsible for the disappearance of the school hamster that was his responsibility for the weekend, Junior Blossom is determined that the dog should be tried for his "crime."

After attempting to save his ex-babysitter from wife abuse, Cracker Jackson gains an adult insight into the sadness of failed heroics.

The students in Mr. Magro's class submit stories for the SOS file about their biggest emergencies, and then they read them aloud for extra credit.

Bingo Brown's work on his definitive "Guide to Romance" hits a snag when his long-distance girlfriend Melissa returns unexpectedly from Oklahoma.

Herculeah stumbles onto the trail of her friend Meat's long-lost father while she and Meat are investigating the disappearance of a dead body from the men's room of a comedy club.