"My disease is as rare as it is famous. Basically, I'm allergic to the world. I don't leave my house, have not left my house in seventeen years. The only people I ever see are my mom and my nurse, Carla. But then one day, a moving truck arrives next door. I look out my window, and I see him. He's tall, lean and wearing all black -- black T-shirt, black jeans, black sneakers, and a black knit cap that covers his hair completely. He catches me looking...

Winnie Friedman has been waiting for the world to catch on to what she already knows: she's hilarious. It might be a long wait, though. After bombing a stand-up set at her own bat mitzvah, Winnie has kept her jokes to herself. Well, to herself and her dad, a former comedian and her inspiration. Then, on the second day of tenth grade, the funniest guy in school actually laughs at a comment she makes in the lunch line and asks her to join the improv...

"Dr. Kate Blunt will do anything for her son, Jasper, who has cystic fibrosis ... except get him a dog. The daily medical routine that keeps Jasper alive is complicated enough, though her decision runs contrary to her work as the veterinarian in charge of a Cape Cod animal shelter. Then a scarred, mistreated wreck of a dog turns up. Whistler is too old, too ugly for anyone to adopt. But the dog forms an instantaneous bond with Jasper. He never makes...