"When scientist-in-the-making Madeline Little starts sixth grade, she soon learns that middle school is nothing like a perfect lab experiment--and that she now has to find the cure for her newly messed-up life"--

"Life in middle school is finally starting to seem bearable-until Rafe spots his grandmother standing on the free-meal line at the local soup kitchen. In order to help bring in more money, Rafe concocts a brilliant plan-a dog-walking business that soon turns into a huge money-making neighborhood empire"--

When the popular girls club takes interest in Mia, she has to decide between being popular and her new cupcake club friends.

Jacky Hart tries to turn over a new leaf and end her reign as class clown, even though being funny helps distract her from her mother's deployment and her father's increased absence from home.

Best friends Fonda, Drew, and Ruthie make a pact to have their first kisses on the same night.

Eighth-grader Jack Lerner relies on pitching fast balls until a young college coach teaches him that throwing the heat may not be the best way to win games.

"Fifth grader Sammy Hayes-Rodriguez has to find a solution when his robot 'brother' has repeated malfunctions at school and a newer model robot steps in as competition--and his mother's job is in jeopardy as a result"--

When his habitual sloppiness gets a friend into trouble, the "sixth-grade detention king" decides to clean up his act and his hazardous waste zone of a locker, causing everyone around him to think that Nate has lost his mind.

Although Mia feels fairly satisfied with her life, she worries about who should attend parent-teacher night and her failing grade in Spanish.

When on the first day of middle school Principal Kim announces a Contraption Convention, young inventor Rube Goldberg must conquer his anxieties and a ghostly mystery to come up with something brilliant for the judges and his friends.