Welcome to -This is the world that many people, including the characters in this collection of short stories, think is real, when it is actually a world they create themselves. In "Summer Jobs, The Agony and the Ecstasy," a boy who believes the summer is traditionally for fun realizes the hard way that sometimes this assumption is not necessarily true. Steve believes the world-the restricting world he has created for himself-will come to an end after he delivers a mediocre oral report in "Freedom." Sammy is a 9-year old boy in "Cotton Candy Circus" who is just beginning to learn an illusion he will later create for himself when he is older. Sammy, now a high school student, in "The Bet $$$$," lives in a world where he is popular when in reality, he is actually offensive. In "Shake-Speared," Freddie the football player thinks he will lose his reputation and whatever chance he has of gaining friends if he is cast in a Shakespearian play. Freddie again faces the thought of losing everything in "The Mistake" when he fumbles the ball in a football game. Throughout , author J. F. Mattaino explores the consequences of the shortsightedness and shortcomings of these very ordinary characters.