Ailin's life takes a different turn when she defies the traditions of upper class Chinese society by refusing to have her feet bound.

Winnie is worried when her best friends Zoe and Vanessa enroll her in ballet classes with them, since she would rather go to the library and read like they always do.

Lizzie, who has always been considered a nerd by the other kids, begins the seventh grade determined to change her image so that she can blend in better with the popular crowd.

Twelve-year-old identical twins Jay and Ray have long resented that everyone treats them as one person, and so they hatch a plot to take advantage of a clerical error at their new school and pretend they are just one.

Willa, who wants to feel extraordinary, thinks that she's in love with the father of the boy next door until she realized that her "ordinary" true love is for the boy himself.

Thirteen-year-old Bethany's parents have always been overprotective, but when they suddenly drop out of sight with no explanation, leaving her with an aunt she never knew existed, Bethany uncovers shocking secrets that make her question everything she thought she knew about herself and her family.

Twelve-year-olds Duncan Dorfman, April Blunt, and Nate Saviano meet at the Youth Scrabble Tournament where, although each has a different reason for attending and for needing to win, they realize that something more important is at stake than the grand prize.

Laura Horton has always been an outsider, more interested in writing, drawing, or spending time with her free-spirited family than in her fellow teens, but she is drawn to Leon, a new student, as together they explore the mysteries of her eccentric old house.

Fourth-grader Bobby is hurt when he hears his father, a former pro-football player, say that the two of them are nothing alike, but finally summons the courage to talk about it after his public asthma attack proves how right his father is.

April is looking for an escape from the sixth-grade lunch hour, which has become a social-scene nightmare, so she signs up to be a "buddy bench monitor" for the fourth graders' recess. Joey Byrd is a boy on the fringes, who wanders the playground alone, dragging his foot through the dirt. But over time, April realizes that Joey isn't just making random circles. When you look at his designs from above, a story emerges... Joey's "bird's eye" drawings...