Maverick Falconer is just starting middle school and he wishes he were a hero like his father because maybe then he could deal with his mother's drinking and series of abusive boyfriends, not to mention the kids who bully him in middle school (pretty much the same ones who bullied him in elementary school)--but as the year passes he begins to realize that other kids have problems too, and maybe if they can all survive sixth-grade things will get better.

Alex Issacson's life has never been normal. His mother got into bed the day his father left, and never got back out again. Hugely over-weight, she is known to the viewing public as Starbright the phone-in-psychic. Although she spends her time consulting the stars and offering advice to others, she won't answer the questions that consume Alex. Why did his father leave, and where is he now? So Alex has turned his search to the internet. When he starts receiving strange emails riddled with bad puns, Alex thinks he might be on the right track -- but what on earth do they mean? More clues come when a "saxophone incident" leads Alex on a dangerous cross-country adventure. After dodging the barrel of a hermit's shotgun, hooking up with a band on tour, and hitching a ride with a weak-bladdered truck driver, Alex may have found out more than he ever wanted to know. And the truth may just leave him seeing stars. Shortlisted for CLA Book of the Year for Children Award 2002 Shortlisted for The Arthur Ellis Award (Juvenile) 2002 Canadian Children's Book Centre, 2002 Our Choice Starred Selection