Seventh-grader Zoey Albro focuses on caring for three younger siblings and avoiding rich classmates at school until her fascination with octopuses gets her on the debate team and she begins to speak out.

"When six students are chosen to participate in a weekly talk with no adults allowed, they discover that when they're together, it's safe to share the hopes and fears they have to hide from the rest of the world"--

Hospitalized in Brooklyn, New York, fourteen-year-old Michelle recalls being raised in Philadelphia by a loving grandfather and drug-addicted mother before running away and getting lured into prostitution.

Unable to cope with her father's alcoholism, thirteen-year-old Sam corresponds with an older student, sharing her family problems and asking for advice.

"Samantha and Rachel used to be friends. But then Rachel betrayed Samantha . . . and Samantha decided to make her life a living nightmare. Then one day, Sam and Rachel found themselves in a fight by a lake. Samantha pushed Rachel . . . and watched as Rachel fell back. And back. Into the water. And gone. No way to save her. No way she could be alive. The next day, Rachel shows up to school as if nothing happened. And now she's the one who wants to...

Ben and his friends, the Core Four Plus One, are so excited to play in their town's All-Star Baseball league. But in the first game of the season Ben gets hit by a pitch. It's never happened to him before and it shakes him up. Another player on Ben's team, Justin, is acting really weirdly. Ben has known Justin for a while and they're friendly but he's not one of Ben's closest "boys." Justin is the team's best hitter but his behavior on and off the...

When twelve-year-old Boomerang Broom discovers a wish-granting baby mermaid, he takes her home and his little sister begs to keep her, with unexpected consequences.

"While learning about September 11th, fifth grader Dèja (born after the attacks) realizes how much the events still color her world"-- For fifth grader Dèja, it's tough enough starting school in a new neighborhood. Projects about her home and family only highlight how different she is from her classmates. Does her teacher reallly want an essay about living in a shelter? When Miss Garcia suggests that all her assignments have something to do with...

In small-town Australia, teens Jasper and Charlie form an unlikely friendship when one asks the other to help him cover up a murder until they can prove who is responsible.

Living in the family car in their small North Carolina town after their father leaves them virtually penniless, Georgina, desperate to improve their situation and unwilling to accept her overworked mother's calls for patience, persuades her younger brother to help her in an elaborate scheme to get money by stealing a dog and then claiming the reward that the owners are bound to offer.