The three-time Newbery Honor-winning author of Hatchet shares the story of his turbulent childhood, his escape into military service and the life-changing impact of an encouraging librarian who handed him his first book.

Twelve-year-old Henry's grand adventures spell disaster for best chums Riley and Reed, who always seems to land in a pile of "smelly goo."

Fourteen-year-old Kevin is a hard worker, so when his income is cut off he begins a series of businesses, from poker games to selling snacks, earning money to take a girl to a dance, but his partners soon tire of his methods.

When a little boy spends Christmas with his dying cousin, they discover that Santa really does exist

"'I'm the greatest family member you'll ever meet.' Kevin Spencer has a history of big ideas going completely awry. This time around, it's personal--suddenly he's kind of in charge of a double wedding in his backyard, and a whole tribe of wacky relatives is crowding him out of his own house"--

The author describes his motorcycle journey through Minnesota and the Rockies to the Alaskan Highway, recalling the events in his life that have made him the man he is today.

A Miami dentist, who has an aversion to snow and dogs, inherits a rundown house and a sled dog team in Alaska. His first thought is to sell them and return to Miami, but a local woman acquaints him with Alaskan life. After being named in his birth mother's will, Miami dentist Ted Brooks travels to Alaska to claim the inheritance, her team of sled dogs. Now he must learn how to race them or give them up to a crusty mountain man who wants the dogs...