Every Little Thing is a collection of interrelated short stories that begins with a young boy at a pet shop buying a "defected" stag beetle, an incident that serves as a springboard for various other interconnections that ripple through the lives of the book's characters. They include a junior high school girl who is secretly ashamed that she lives a much less privileged life than her best friend; a pair of shy high school students trying to improve their image in the eyes of their classmates; a college student who works nights as a bartender and finds herself at a crossroads in life; and a career-driven woman who is beginning to question the professional choices she has made. In this life-affirming book, there are no characters with unfortunate lives, only characters with unfortunate outlooks. Personal handicaps-such as relative poverty, cripplingly introverted personalities, and physical disabilities-are not obstacles that need to be overcome, but qualities that give each character their unique identity. As each character grows through the pages of this book, you will realize that their stories are interwoven with each other and find yourself delving more deeply into the world of Every Little Thing. Listen to a free audio reading of the first story, "The Boy and the Beetles," here: http: //www.youtube.com/watch?v=JnBXMUOcSoo