Robyn

Herc Beal knows who he's named after—a mythical hero—but he's no superhero. He's the smallest kid in his class. So when his homeroom teacher at his new middle school gives him the assignment of duplicating the mythical Hercules's amazing feats in real life, he's skeptical. After all, there are no Nemean Lions on Cape Cod—and not a single Hydra in sight.

In 1954, 63-year-old Maine farmer Annie Wilkins embarked on an impossible journey. She had no money and no family, she had just lost her farm, and her doctor had given her only two years to live. But Annie wanted to see the Pacific Ocean before she died. She ignored her doctor’s advice to move into the county charity home. Instead, she bought a cast-off brown gelding named Tarzan, donned men’s dungarees, and headed south in mid-November, hoping to beat the snow.

Even if Nico-the-Mosquito didn't remind Spencer every day at school that he's a big, fat loser, there's no way Spencer could forget. For starters, there's the big game he blew for the whole team last Saturday. Darn his stupid leg that can't grow muscle! It's hard to make even the easiest tackle on the planet when you run like a three-legged dog. He'll never be a football star like his big brother, Chase. Not in a million years. And since the only kids who matter at school are the athletes, Spencer's more than just a loser - he's a nobody. His skinny leg has seen to that.

It's 1962, and young Sam Andrews just moved to Utah from Arizona. A tall, overweight, semi-clumsy outsider, he's still trying to fit in with the neighborhood boys. When discussion about sledding down the infamous Mill Street begins, Sam pipes in and says he'll do it. The problem is, he has seen snow only in pictures and has never ridden a sled. And to top it all off, Mill Street is practically a vertical drop, with two deadly curves.