Sixth-grader Carly Cameron has an easy life, although she does not believe that until she compares her life with classmate Dustin Groat's life. She lives on a farm with both her parents, her high school-age brother who is also her good friend, and a cute younger brother she adores. Carly has two equally-best friends. The threesome has been together since the girls started school, but lately there has been some distance between them as they find different interests.

Both her friends are athletic, and Carly is more academically inclined.

Carly is an excellent reader and wants to be a writer. She has suffered the angst of a poet and struggles to put her words exactly right on paper. In the barn's hay loft, she has set up an official poetry studio. It is her place to think and choose each special word.

She is...