Setting: End of Summer, Michigan, School
Characters: Trisha, Dad, Grandmother, Mom, Kay, Mrs. Peterson, Thom, Gibbie, Jody, Ravanne
Theme: Being different is alright, Be yourself
Trisha wanted to stay with her dad and grandmother for school rather than going back to California with her mom. Her parents talked about it and decided that she could stay there for one year. Where she went to school in California she was always teased because she just learned to read and was in special classes. In her new school, no one would know her, and she even made a new friend named Kay. When Trisha arrived for her first day of school, Kay didn't wave to here and other girls stared at her. They told her she was in Mrs. Peterson's class. Trisha's new teacher welcomed her new class to the "Junkyard." Later Trisha asked Thom, one of her fellow classmates, why their class was called the junkyard, and Thom told her it was because everyone was different. Trisha went home that night and cried to her father. He said that if things didn't get better in a month, she could go back to California. The next day Mrs. Peterson gave each child a vial with a scent inside of it. With that scent they had to find others with that scent and that would be their tribe for the year. Trisha's tribe turned out to be her, Gibbie, Thom, Jody, and Ravanne. They all became best friends very fast. People picked on them at school, but Jody would defend them. One day the class took a trip to the junkyard. Each tribe had to find things and make them into something new. Trisha's tribe founder a broken model airplane, and Gibbie decided they would try to fly it to the moon. All the tribes worked on their creations in class, and they showed them off to each other. Trisha's tribe's plane needed a motor, and the whole class decided that they would raise money for it. Finally they got the motor and Jody wanted to name the plane "Junkyard Wonder." Tragically, Jody dies because his body grew too big for his hear to handle. In his honor they named the plane what he wanted and were going to fly the plane of the roof of the school. The principal heard of this news and said they couldn't do it and that the janitor was to take the plane away. Finally they convinced the principal to let them fly the plane if Gibbie's dad was there. The plane flew off the roof and up into the sky out of sight. Nowadays Thom is an artistic director of ballet, Ravanne is working in the fashion industry, Gibbie works for NASA, and Trisha writes children's books.
