Fourteen-year-old Kevin Boland, poet and first baseman, is torn between his cute girlfriend Mira and Amy, who is funny, plays Chopin on the piano, and is also a poet.

When a fourteen-year-old baseball player catches mononucleosis, he discovers that keeping a journal and experimenting with poetry not only helps fill the time, it also helps him deal with life, love, and loss.

Margaux, known as a "tough chick" at her Los Angeles high school, makes a connection with Danny, who, like her, struggles with the emotional impact of family violence and abuse.

Sixteen-year-old Ted's parents just died in a fiery car crash, and now he's stuck with a set of semi-psycho foster parents, two foster brothers, and an inner-city school full of delinquents sure to eat him alive. He's having the worst year of his life.

Fifteen-year-old Gabriel is continually embarrassed by his teacher/writer father, but when he goes to live with him in Los Angeles in an apartment complex full of unusual characters, Gabriel gains new insights into himself and his father.

Free-verse reveals true stories behind well-known fairy tales, some reset in modern times, as a strung-out match girl sells CDs to drug users, Little Red Riding Hood admits that she wanted to know what it is like to be swallowed whole, and Cinderella's stepsisters are duped.

Collects fifteen short stories about keeping, telling, and learning secrets.