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.

"Casey Black -- a seventeen-year-old butch lesbian -- lives a quiet life with her grandfather in a small, central-Illinois town. When not at school or working at the Wise Owl Café, she spends her time at home in her grandfather's subsidized apartment complex, Sky Court. But when seven-year-old Patricia Dale goes missing, Casey joins the search for the girl, despite the objections of her grandfather and her laid-back boss. Fellow Sky Court residents...

"A Chinese American girl's Auntie Yang discovers soybeans-a favorite Chinese food-growing in Illinois, leading her family to a soybean picnic tradition that grows into an annual community event. Includes author's note and glossary"--Provided by publisher.

In a lonely Illinois cemetery one cold October night, teen ghosts recount the stories of their deaths in different time periods, from 1870 to the present, to sixteen-year-old Mike, who unknowingly picked up a phantom hitchhiker.

Told from two viewpoints, Derek Fitzpatrick, kicked out of boarding school, must move with his stepmother to her childhood home in Illinois, where he meets Ashtyn Parker, who may be able to achieve her dream of a football scholarship with bad boy Derek's help.

"The night little Madison disappears from her crib, Luce sees a pair of eyes-two points of gold deep in the forest behind her house-and feels certain they belong to a wolf. Her town, Picnic, Illinois, is the kind of place where everyone knows one another and no one locks their doors. It's not the kind of place where a toddler goes missing without a trace, where wolves lurk in the shadows. In town, people are quick to blame Madison's mom. But when...

Told from his point of view, continues the love story of Bennett, a time traveler from 2012 San Francisco, and Anna, sixteen, of 1995 Evanston, Illinois, as they try to make their relationship work despite his fear that it is not meant to be.

Young Jethro Creighton grows from a boy to a man when he is left to take care of the family farm in Illinois during the difficult years of the Civil War.

"When FBI agents swarm twelve-year-old Mavis Callahan's downtown Chicago home, her mom goes on the run. With the family's house and bank accounts seized, Mavis's dad takes her and her siblings to seek refuge with his sister just south of rural Somewhere, Illinois-a far cry from the big city lifestyle Mavis is used to. As Mavis grapples with her sudden turn in fortune, she learns to make new friends and starts a babysitting business to bring in some...

"In an alternate 1991, the authoritarian US government keeps tabs on everybody and everything. It censors which books can be read, what music can be listened to, and which plays can be performed. When her best friend is killed by the authorities and her theater teacher disappears without a trace, Gigi decides to organize her fellow Champaign High School thespians to put on a production of Henry VI. But at what cost?" -- Publisher's description.