Margaret Willey

Through journal entries required by their social worker at a juvenile detention center, middle-schoolers Katie, Nate, and Renata relate how they came to kidnap their tormentor, Chase, a star athlete from the town's most prominent family, who surprisingly became their willing victim.

When his mother walked out on the family, seven-year-old Charlie comforted his inconsolable father by sharing the silly beetle boy stories his mother told him. Years later, these stolen stories still haunt Charlie's dreams.