Georgia Khatchadorian plans to excel at Hills Village Middle School, in all the places her troublemaking brother failed.

Best friends Lydia Goldblatt and Julie Graham-Chang are as ready as they'll ever be to start junior high. But before they can try out the lessons they've learned about friendship and popularity, tragedy strikes: Lydia's mom is moving her family to London for six months. Separated for the first time, each of the girls must face bullies, secrets, and the challenge of standing up for herself. With the help of their trusty notebook, they try to keep...

Madison is busy as a bee - and she has the jam-packed school schedule to prove it. The only problem is: whatever Madison does comes back to bug her. Even and ordinary science class trip to a nature preserve turns into a major emergency. And when Mom decides to start dating, Madison gets a case of the real creepy-crawlies.

When Laura Dyson's seventh grade history teacher schedules a class trip to the slave shack on her grandmother's Texas farm, Laura is forced to come to terms with her family's past and what it means for her future.

During a summer visit, twelve-year-old Lucy must come to terms with both her grandmother's failing memory and how her mentally-challenged neighbor will impact her popularity when both enter the same middle school in the fall.

Ten-year-old Beanie struggles with the start of a new school year, being excluded from the fifth grade in-crowd, and the extra burdens her mother's Chronic Fatigue Syndrome places on her.

Shy, awkward fourteen-year-old Anna is thrust into the spotlight when her father becomes engaged to a very popular actress, leading to both popularity and problems at school.

Marley Sandelski has always felt invisible at school when he is not facing bullies, but a series of unexpected events gives him a taste of popularity and insights into some classmates, well-liked or greatly-feared.