"Seventeen-year-old 'Hank,' who can't remember his identity, finds himself in Penn Station with a copy of Thoreau's Walden as his only possession and must figure out where he's from and why he ran away."
"In 1845, Sammy, a Chinese American girl, and Annamae, an African American slave girl, disguise themselves as boys and travel on the Oregon Trail to California from Missouri"--
After running away from an abusive home, Nick becomes the apprentice to wizard Zachariah Smallbone, the owner of a bookstore whose snarky books teach Nick the magic he will need to defeat Smallbone's nemesis, werewolf Fidelou.
Alberto, the town's coffin maker, and Tito, a runaway boy, both lonely after suffering tragic losses, learn the power of friendship as they try to escape the shadows of their pasts.