To a thirteen-year-old Vermont farm boy whose father slaughters pigs for a living, maturity comes early as he learns "doing what's got to be done," especially regarding his pet pig who cannot produce a litter.

Rob manages Soup's campaign for class president in their small Vermont town.

In 1938, with the help of a lady doctor and an aging, card-cheating, dice-rolling horse thief, a seventeen-year-old orphan steals thirteen horses from Chickalookee, Florida's doomed rodeo, and finds a family in the process.

Growing up without a mother and with an aloof father on a cattle ranch in Florida in the first part of the 1900s has made Titus very close to his older brother, Micah, and determined to make Micah proud of him when the two go on their first cattle drive together.

The further adventures and misadventures of Rob and Soup, two boys growing up in a small Vermont town.

Rob and Soup set in motion a wild scheme to catch the eye of the Hollywood talent scout visiting their small Vermont town.

After a tragic airplane crash that claims the lives of most of his family, sixteen-year-old Tate goes to live with his wealthy great-grandfather and his adopted black great-aunt Vidalia and he finds unexpected solace in the stories of her childhood spent travelling with a Depression-era Negro baseball team.

Rob and Soup engineer an incredible appearance by Santa and his sleigh in their small Vermont town.

Soup's crazy plan to help his town's basketball team to victory includes constructing a musical instrument called a spitzentootle and snaring the evil Janice Riker in an unpleasant trap.