"Sixteen-year-old, not-so-openly-gay Simon Spier is blackmailed into playing wingman for his classmate or else his sexual identity--and that of his pen pal--will be revealed"--

As letters flow back and forth--between the prairies of Illinois and the mountains of Afghanistan, across cultural and religious divides--sixth-grader Abby, ten-year-old Amira, and eleven-year-old Sadeed begin to speak and listen to each other.

When a group of children learns that fire destroyed their pen pals' school, thirteen-year-old Dawn organizes a fundraiser and then rewards the contributors with a sleepover.

Pen pals Tulsi and Vanessa discover that even though life in their countries--Tanzania and America--is very different, they still have a lot in common.

"This summer, Elsie is finally going to confess her feelings to her longtime--and long-distance--crush. They may be separated by an ocean, but Elsie feels fluttery every time Ada's name pops up on her phone. Ada gets her like no one else. That is, until Joan, Elsie's childhood best friend, literally walks back ito her life. Joan, who disappeared into radio silence after moving away to Hong Kong years ago, and never replied to any of Elsie's letters...