Private Matt Duffy wakes up with pain in his head while an army doctor is taking notes on a clipboard. The doctor checks his reflexes and memory. Shortly after, he diagnoses Matt with a traumatic brain injury. With this brain injury, Matt can't remember common words and especially why he is given the highest medal in the country, a Purple Heart. All Matt can remember is being alone in a filthy alley, like most of the alleys in Baghdad. Though dirty, a little Iraqi boy is there. In a quick second, the boy is dead. The scene terrorizes Matt because he thinks he killed the boy.
Do you have a problem? Did you lose something? Mudshark will help you find it. Mudshark, besides being the coolest kid in school, has a photographic memory, so he can solve any problem. Once someone lost their shoe and went directly to Mudshark. Mudshark remembered that the student lost their shoe right next to locker seventy-four on the right side of the hallway. Because Mudshark was so good at solving problems, he made his own detective agency. Then, a parrot shows up in the library and seems to outwit Mudshark.
The small, Greek town of Amphissa was fearful. To the kids in the town, the war was a game. To the adults, it was inevitable. The adults just didn't know when they would get there. To Petros and his older brother, Zola, the war sounded exciting. They heard the stories of their cousin, Lambros, who climbed the tallest mountain in Greece and defeated the Germans. The stories always ended the same way; the Germans are coming to Amphissa. Most people in the town left out of fear, but Petros and Zola's family hid all their belongings that may be dangerous.
