When four kids are taken out of their crowded fifth-grade classrooms and put together in a new class with an unusual new teacher, they don't know what to expect. Destiny is thrilled to be reunited with her best friend. Max just wants to be left alone to read, so he can forget his family's past. Giovanni doesn't want the new teacher to know that he can't read, at least not nearly as well as he should. Willie misses his grandma's house in Jamaica. When Ms. Hill inspires them to write about their lives, and shows them how to do it, their lives change in ways they never expected.