Kathryn Erskine

Nine-year-old Julian almost died when he was born, and he believes that he has a special connection to the universe because of that. He wants to make his two moms and his sister (who turned into a black hole of discontentment when she turned fourteen) happy because he's convinced that soon he'll die and travel to the dog star--but now they've moved to Maine and he resolves to also use his "uni-sense" ability to help Mr. X, their neighbor, who's in...

National Book Award winner Kathryn Erskine delivers a powerful story of family, friendship, and race relations in the South.Life will never be the same for Red Porter. He's a kid growing up around black car grease, white fence paint, and the backward attitudes of the folks who live in his hometown, Rocky Gap, Virginia. Red's daddy, his idol, has just died, leaving Red and Mama with some hard decisions and a whole lot of doubt. Should they sell the...

In The Absolute Value of Mike, a young man grows up during an unlikely adventure. Despite his best efforts, Mike has a hard time communicating with his calculus-loving father and having a math learning disability certainly doesn't help. But when Mike is sent to Pennsylvania to work on an engineering project, the young man learns valuable lessons from the colorful characters he meets.

Ten-year-old Caitlin, who has Asperger's Syndrome, struggles to understand emotions, show empathy, and make friends at school, while at home she seeks closure by working on a project with her father.