Vada Sultenfuss has a holiday coming up, and an assignment: to do an essay on someone she admires and has never met. She decides she wants to do an assignment on her mother, but quickly realizes she knows very little about her. She manages to get her father to agree to let her go to LA to stay with her Uncle Phil and do some research on her mother. Once in LA, she finds herself under the protection of Nick, the son of Phil's girlfriend, who at first is very annoyed at losing his holidays to escort a hick *girl* around town. However, he soon becomes more involved in the difficult search.

When your Dad's an undertaker, your Mom's in heaven, and your Grandma's got a screw loose... it's good to have a friend who understands you. Even if he is a boy. Thomas J. is Vada's best friend. They live near enough to each other to bike ride over and play, or even just hang out. The two are always together, sharing their afternoons, their adventures in the lake, and "all" of their secrets. Then something terrible happens to Thomas J. and Vada has to learn to fill her days without her best friend around.

In 1957, when second-graders Bryce Loski and Julianna "Juli" Baker first meet, Juli knows it's love, but Bryce isn't so sure and tries to avoid Juli. By the sixth grade, in 1961, Bryce tries to get rid of Juli by dating Sherry Stalls, whom Juli despises. However, Bryce's best friend, Garrett, takes an interest in Sherry and eventually tells her the truth about Bryce asking her out; she doesn't take it well. From Juli's perspective, Bryce returned her feelings, but was shy. After finding out Bryce and Sherry broke up, she thought she could have Bryce back. But then they reconsider their decisions as time goes on. In 1962, Bryce's grandfather Chet Duncan moves in with the family. Chet has different views about Juli. There's a large, old sycamore tree that Juli loves which no one else understands. One day, it's cut down by a group of landscapers so a house can be built there, despite Juli's opposition. She becomes very depressed afterwards, as the tree let her see the world in a more enlightened way. Her father gives her a painting of the tree.

Four childhood friends, now in their thirties, are having a reunion. Their lives have gone separate and very different ways. Together again they reminisce about their younger years, especially the eventful period when they were 12 years old.

In Urbania, Ohio, snobby ex-football star Kevin O'Shea conducts try-outs for the town's Peewee football team, the Urbania Cowboys, which will compete for a chance at the state Peewee football playoffs. Kevin slights his younger brother Danny O'Shea by rejecting Danny's daughter Becky "Icebox" O'Shea, who is a good player. Kevin rejected her simply because she's a girl. Becky and some of her friends, boys who were also rejected, get the idea to start up their own team, to be coached by Danny. After Kevin tries to put a stop to that plan, Danny gets Kevin to agree to a game to decide which team will represent Urbania, because each town is allowed only one team. Danny and Becky scour the town in search of willing players, and they gather a crew of kids who have limited skills and no team spirit. They luck out when Becky discovers Junior Floyd expertly passing rolls of toilet paper right into a shopping cart at the supermarket, as though he's passing a football. With Becky and Junior on board, the new team, the Giants, has a chance to make a good showing, and they begin their training. But low morale continually threatens to break up the team. A chance visit by former NFL football coach John Madden and four NFL football stars -- Steve Entman, Bruce Smith, Emmitt Smith, and Tim Brown -- leaves the team with several tips on how to create an advantage. Becky develops a crush on Junior Floyd, and she's jealous when her cheerleader cousin Debbie flirts with Junior. Becky decides to compete for Junior on equal terms, so she puts on make-up and a cheerleader outfit, joining the cheerleaders and abandoning the team. But the Cowboys will be coming into the game with a vicious new player named Spike Hammersmith. Will Becky be there for the team if they need her?

Another Disney underdog sports team of misfit kids (soccer this time) learns to play a new sport and become champions, while building self-esteem, making friends and solving a variety of dramatic family crises, through the able assistance of a foreign exchange teacher and a former local sports hero as coaches.

1995 film directed by Holly Goldberg Sloan

In the 12-years-since comedic sequel to 1993's The Sandlot, a new group of kids have moved into the sandlot: David Durango (

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