Jacob and Megan Brandeis have gotten jobs with the mega-successful, ultra-secretive Store. Seems perfect. Seems safe. But their lives are about to become anything but perfect, anything but safe. ALWAYS WATCHING. Especially since Jacob and Megan have a dark secret of their own. They're writing a book that will expose the Store--a forbidden book, a dangerous book. ALWAYS. And if the Store finds out, there's only one thing Jacob, Megan and their kids...

Thirteen-year-old Drew starts the summer of 1986 helping in her mother's cheese shop and dreaming about co-worker Nick, but when her widowed mother begins dating, Drew's father's book of lists, her pet rat, and Emmett, a boy on a quest, help her cope.

On a trip to the grocery store with her father, Carly notices the various signs that help them, including those that show where to find certain items, what they cost, and which checkout line is open.

Illustrations and rhyming text invite the reader to explore a store that provides everything a privateer, mutineer, or buccaneer might want in the way of high-quality pirate gear, from clothing to classes in smuggling molasses.

Told from three viewpoints, teens Doris, Nell, and Grant find friendship and the possibility of love while working in Unclaimed Baggage, a store that sells items that went missing during airline travel.

Buzz takes a job at the toy store, but his experiments start to go a little too far.

"From choosing the perfect cart to navigating the produce section, expert extraordinaire Max explains all there is to know about going to the grocery store"--

Discusses the development of stores from supply rooms to general stores to specialized stores in larger cities.

"A clever pup ends up in a cozy home, and she'll do anything to stay there. She impersonates everything the lonely homeowner needs--a pillow, a footstool, a jacket. But in the end, being herself works best"--