With real wit and heart, Gary Soto takes readers into the lives of young people in ten funny, heartbreaking tales. Â Â Â Â Meet Carolina, who writes to Miss Manners for help not just with etiquette but with bigger messes in her life; Javier, who knows the stories his friend Veronica tells him are lies, but can't find a way to prove it--and many other kids, each caught up in the difficulties of figuring out what it means to be alive.