There is no American writer alive who is funnier, more inquisitive, or more surprising than Julie Hecht. The Unprofessionals, her first novel, whose narrator also told the stories in the author's bestselling collection Do the Windows Open?, is a triumph of tragicomedy. The book follows the odd friendship between the narrator -- a photographer in her late forties -- and a precocious raconteur, identified only as The Boy, whom she has known since his...

In this story about the perils of popularity, the courage of nonconformity, and the thrill of first love, an eccentric student named Stargirl changes Mica High School forever.

Jake, a budding juvenile delinquent, is sent for home schooling to the arty and eccentric Applewhite family's Creative Academy, where he discovers talents and interests he never knew he had.

Reluctantly inviting the class misfit to her birthday party, Ginger bonds with Lyla when the latter arrives early, supports her party choices, and gives her a unique gift, an encounter that compels Ginger to reconsider earlier notions.

The McCready sisters have just settled into their new home on Pine Island when they get word that an unwelcome houseguest is coming to visit for months.

Having explored every part of the fantastical Whippet Hotel, Leo discovers that it hides even more amazing secrets beneath its foundation, in an adventure that puts the hotel's fate in Leo's hands.

McQuarrie Middle School's students miss Origami Yoda when Dwight leaves for Tippett Academy, but he sends Sara a paper Fortune Wookiee that seems to give advice just as good as Yoda's--even if, in the hands of girls, it seems preoccupied with romance.

A twelve-year-old girl keeps silent after witnessing a crime near her home on Cape Cod during the summer of 1972 as her parents struggle with running a campaign.