Deza Malone, the smartest girl in her class in Gary, Indiana, accompanies her mother and older brother on a trip to find her father, an African American man who left to find work after the Great Depression hit. They end up in a Hooverville outside of Flint, Michigan, and her brother attempts to be a performer while Deza and her mother search for a home.

"Omar must contend with being treated like a second-class citizen when he gets a scholarship to an elite boarding school"--

Despite their own poverty since Daddy died, Mama tells nine-year-old James Otis they need to help Sarah, whose family lost everything in a fire.

Todo lo que Jeremy quiere es un par de esos zapatos, como los que llevan puestos los otros chicos de su escuela. Pero su abuela le explica que ellos no están para hablar de "quiero", sino de "necesito", y lo que Jeremy necesita son unas botas nuevas para el invierno. All Jeremy wants is a pair of those shoes, the ones everyone at school seems to be wearing. Though Jeremy's grandma says they don't have room for "want," just "need," when his old shoes...