Andrew Clements

Principal Vance warns Alec to pay attention in class, or else--but Alec loves reading too much. So, he starts the Losers Club, intending to be the only member, just to have free reading time to himself. Astonishingly, other kids join the club, and Alec begins to realize that his life could be just as interesting as the stories he loves.

Grace and Ellie have been best friends since second grade. Ellie's always right in the center of everything--and Grace is usually happy to be Ellie's sidekick. But what happens when everything changes? This time it's Grace who suddenly has everyone's attention when she accidentally starts a new fad at school. It's a fad that has first her class, then her grade, and then the entire school collecting and trading and even fighting over . . . buttons?!...

As letters flow back and forth--between the prairies of Illinois and the mountains of Afghanistan, across cultural and religious divides--sixth-grader Abby, ten-year-old Amira, and eleven-year-old Sadeed begin to speak and listen to each other.