When Raymie enters the Little Miss Central Florida Tire competition in hopes of catching her father?s attention, she doesn?t expect to become friends with her sassy and eccentric fellow contestants, Louisiana and Beverly. But as time goes by, these three girls become allies and soon learn that even your biggest rivals can turn out to be your closest friends.

Beverly Tapinski has run away from home plenty of times, but that was when she was just a kid. By now, she figures, it?s not running away. It?s leaving. Determined to make it on her own, Beverly finds a job and a place to live and tries to forget about her dog, Buddy, now buried underneath the orange trees back home; her friend Raymie, whom she left without a word; and her mom, Rhonda, who has never cared about anyone but herself. Beverly doesn?t...

"Teen sleuth Sammy Keyes solves a classic locked-room mystery aboard a cruise ship"--Provided by publisher.

Thirteen-year-old Genesis tries again and again to lighten her black skin, thinking it is the root of her family's troubles, before discovering reasons to love herself as is.

Twelve-year-old Jewel was born on the day her brother Bird died and lives in a house of silence and secrets, but a new boy in her Iowa town may help find the answers Jewel wants despite her Jamaican grandfather's warning that he is a "duppy," a malevolent spirit.

Maverick Falconer is just starting middle school and he wishes he were a hero like his father because maybe then he could deal with his mother's drinking and series of abusive boyfriends, not to mention the kids who bully him in middle school (pretty much the same ones who bullied him in elementary school)--but as the year passes he begins to realize that other kids have problems too, and maybe if they can all survive sixth-grade things will get better....

After Astra Primm arrives at Minnesota's Base Ripley, eleven-year-old Jameson O'Malley begins to discover that people are hiding plenty from him about his father and the Mars colony where he lives, and about the strain between Jameson's parents.

Twelve-year-old Cal and her new classmate Rosine, an immigrant from the Central Africa, go on an adventure to the top of Mt. Meteorite where they learn about each other, themselves, and the magic friendship can bring.

Middle schooler Natalie's year-long assignment to answer a question using the scientific process leads to truths about her mother's depression and her own cultural identity.

Publisher Annotation: Mary O’Malley is tired of keeping secrets. Secrets like her older brother, Jonny’s, drug use. Starting seventh grade is tough enough without the upheaval her brother is bringing to their family. It seems the only person who might understand is Griffen Connolly, whose older sister runs with Jonny in the wrong crowd. Mary thought Griff was too cool, too popular for her. But now he wants to hang out with her, and listen. When...