Detective Bixby picked her son up from school, waving him quickly into the car. “We just got an anonymous tip,” Carol Bixby said as she pulled away from the curb. “The Diamond Expo is going to be robbed today.” Jonah had been looking forward to going home to his usual after-school snack, but this was…

It was Saturday, and for Jonah that meant a visit to Crazy Kate. Every Saturday, his mother would put together a few bags of groceries and have Jonah and his friends deliver them to the old woman who lived in the shack across from the park. “At least once a week I know she gets…

For Jonah and his friends, the one sure sign of spring was the opening of the tree house. It had been built in the fork of a huge oak in the Smiths’ backyard. For the past four summers, Sally Smith, Bill Tollbar, Lisa Valdez, and Jonah had convened there almost daily to play games and…