Veera Hiranandani

When Sonia's father loses his job and she must move from her small, supportive private school to a public middle school, the half-Jewish half-Indian sixth-grader experiences culture shock as she tries to navigate the school's unfamiliar social scene, and after her father is diagnosed with clinical depression, she finds herself becoming even more confused about herself and her family.

Olivia and Ian are playing in the park when they leave they notice that a mother duck and her ducklings are following them home.

When Camille, a tall French girl, arrives at school with unusual lunches, third-grader Phoebe neglects her best friend Sage to get invited to Camille's house for dinner to see what other mysterious food Camille eats.

When third-grader Phoebe and her family are invited to visit Paris and her new friend Camille's family, she is thrilled--but when she is put off by snails on the menu, Phoebe starts to wonder if she is really as adventurous as she thought she was.

"From platonic and romantic love to grief and heartbreak, these stories explore navigating life at the intersection of identities, and what it means to grow up surrounded by a multitude of traditions, languages, cultures, and interpersonal dynamics"--