In the first story, "Should Wizard Hit Mommy?" by John Updike, a three-year-old from a comfortable family can be lulled to sleep only by her father's bedtime stories, which aren't always as innocent as they seem. In "Too Much His Father's Son," Genaro Gonzalez depicts a nine-year-old boy from a poor, rural family who is struggling to do right by both his parents, and by himself, as a marriage breaks apart and everyone takes sides. In stories of the early teenage years, issues of sexuality and social life arise: Toni Cade Bambara's "A Girl's Story" concerns the onset of menstruation; Melanie Rae Thon's character Iona Moon experiences the injustice of sexual double standards; and Richard McCann offers a perceptive portrait of a young man coming to terms with his homosexuality.