Told from the alternating perspectives of nineteen-year-old Sadie who runs away from her isolated small Colorado town to find her younger sister's killer, and a true crime podcast exploring Sadie's disappearance.

"Marlin, a stutterer, can talk smoothly and freely with the jungle animals that populate his father's zoo in South America--until a mysterious man-eating black jaguar that his father catches and brings back home talks back"--

Billy Plimpton wants to be a famous comedian when he grows up but his stutter is getting in the way, and right now he is so worried about being made fun of by the kids in his new school that he plans on not talking at all, but the plan backfires because his persistent silence only draws attention of the school bully--and Billy realizes that he needs another plan, one that does not depend on him speaking without a stutter.

When a child has a "bad speech day" at school, his father gives him a new perspective on his stuttering.

"Melvin Robinson wants a strong, smooth, He-Man voice that lets him say what he wants, when he wants-especially to his crush Millie Takazawa, and Gary Ratliff, who constantly puts him down. But the thought of starting high school is only making his stutter worse. And Melvin's growing awareness that racism is everywhere-not just in the South where a boy his age has been brutally killed by two white men, but also in his own hometown of Spokane-is making...

Second-grader Mary Marony wants to be something scary for Halloween so she can get back at Marvin, who makes fun of Mary's stuttering.

A second grader is so embarrassed about her stuttering that she almost misses a chance to have lunch with her favorite author who has come to speak at school.

"A coming-of-age novel about a boy whose daily life is difficult because he stutters but who discovers enormous courage when he goes on heart-pounding cave adventures"--

In the summer of 1950, a con man comes to Wetumka, Oklahoma, about his fabulous circus, and although he swindles the townspeople, two young girls grow from the experience.

In 1922, ten-year-old Gim Lew reluctantly leaves his village in China to accompany his father to America, but before they go he must prepare for a grueling test that he must pass--without stuttering--at California's Angel Island, where strict officials strive to keep out unwanted immigrants. Includes facts about immigration from China and the experiences of the author's family.