Jennifer K. Mann

So far second grade is not living up to Audrey Locke's hopes, because she is not really the best at anything, the other girls leave her out, and even her Diego, her best friend from first grade, is hanging out with the other boys; but things may be getting worse, because starting Monday she will not even be the only Audrey in second grade--to Audrey L (as she must now be known) this is looking like a disaster, but just maybe she has more in common...

"Frances adores horses and knows everything about them--at least she thinks she does. But when she arrives at her friend Mae's house for her first horseback-riding lesson...Frances quickly discovers that she might not know as much as she thought she did. Barns are actually a little stinky, and it takes a lot of time to brush a horse and tack it up...Not to mention that horses are much bigger in real life, and being so far off the ground can be a little...

It's Ginger's birthday, and she has to invite all the girls in her class to her party, including Lyla Browning. Even though she doesn't want to! Lyla isn't like the other girls: she smells like old leaves, doesn't talk much, and once brought a tarantula to school for show-and-tell.

"A boy and his family's hike to the peak of Oregon's South Sister volcano is narrated in a series of haikus"-- Provided by publisher.