Thirteen-year-old Alex Landry is determined to recruit the new boy at Wisconsin's Kingsford Middle School, Miles Vaughn, to the snowboard team, because his skill is awesome. The trouble is that Miles is taking care of his younger siblings while his mother works two jobs, and finding the time to attend practice is difficult--so Alex sets out to show him being a part of a team means you always have someone to share the load.

Fourth-grader Ida B spends happy hours being home-schooled and playing in her family's apple orchard, until circumstances force her parents to sell part of the orchard and send her to public school.

Since all available men are fighting for the Allies overseas, Fannie O'Brien bears the weight of her Wisconsin family farm on her shoulders. Her mother enlists the only help she can--German Prisoners of War shipped to the Heartland from the front lines. Fannie cannot imagine working alongside men who might have been shooting at her brothers and killing her friends. Days of doing hard manual labor side by side, however, cause her to realize the gap...