Because her divorced parents share joint custody of her, nine-year-old Amber suffers from lack of self-esteem and feels that she is a piece of jointly-owned property.

In Justin Time, for example, which opens on the eve of Amber's birthday, she agitates for a watch ("I, Amber Brown, am one very excited six-year, 364-day-old kid"); she also tries to come to terms with her best friend's perpetual tardiness (the friend is Justin Daniels, who moves away in Crayon). In Trip, the Browns and the Daniels vacation together in the Poconos, during the course of which Justin hurts Amber's feelings, a business phone call during...

Amber Brown loves the second grade but wonders if she will ever receive an award from Deskarina, the desk fairy, for keeping her desk clean.

The year that she is in the fourth grade is a difficult one for Amber, as she tries to deal with escalating telephone fights between her divorced parents and her father's impending return to take joint custody of her.

Amber Brown has a big decision -- spend Thanksgiving with Mom and Max in Walla Walla, Washington...or with Dad in New York? She doesn't want to choose -- but her parents are leaving it up to her. To make things worse, Amber Brown isn't the only one in school with a colorful name anymore. Kelly Green is the new girl in her class! Amber Brown doesn't know what to do...and it's making her blue!

Fourth-grader Amber Brown must make some important decisions when her mother and Max move their wedding date up and prepare to buy a house together, while her father makes some bad choices of his own.

Amber's life has changed dramatically: her parents are divorced, her father lives in France, her best friend has moved to another state, and now her mother must decide whether to remarry.