The visit of the traveling Preacher Man to his small North Carolina town gives new impetus to thirteen-year-old Peter's struggle to reconcile his own deeply felt religious belief with the beliefs and non-beliefs of his family and friends.

When her mother gets a new boyfriend, sixth-grader Annabelle gets to cope with a new town, a new school, and a new puppy and, while training her puppy, she decides to apply some of the same techniques to tame the unruly boys that are making her middle-school life miserable.

Kaitlin has given up a lot--even attending school--to pursue her dream of being a champion figure skater, but after she throws a tantrum at a major competition, she is dropped by her coach and prestigious skating club and can only get a spot in the much-ridiculed Fallton Club.

"In a future where the law limits a family to only two children, third-born Luke has been in hiding for the entire twelve years of his life, until he enters boarding school under an assumed name and is forced to face his fears"--Title verso page.

Five urban middle school students, their teacher, and other community members relate how a school project to build the world's largest tetrahedron affects the lives of everyone involved.

Humphrey, the pet hamster of Longfellow School's Room 26, relates the ups and downs experienced by his human classmates as they begin a project to create a model town complete with houses and community services.

Sixth-grader Jackson has a rough start in middle school, with bullies on the bus, few classes with his friends, and changes at home but some good teachers, meeting a girl, joining a club, and playing football soon turn things around.

When Neptune tells Emily and her merman father and human mother to return to Brightport to try to make merpeople and humans work more closely together, Emily faces problems with old enemies, her new, half-merfolk friend Aaron, and a mystery related to a group of legendary lost sirens.

Seven fifth-graders at Snow Hill School in Connecticut relate how their lives are changed for the better by "rookie teacher" Mr. Terupt. Features seven narrators, each with a unique story, and each with a different perspective on what makes their teacher so special. It's the start of fifth grade for seven kids at Snow Hill School. There's...Jessica, the new girl, smart and perceptive, who's having a hard time fitting in; Alexia, a bully, your friend...

At the beginning of seventh grade, Mackenzie is worried--her best friend has moved to France, someone steals her diary, she alienates her two new friends, and it looks like she has lost her chance to win the Teen Sing contest.