An inquisitive young boy who lives with his mother and younger sister in a rough housing project in New Haven, Connecticut, approaches his tenth birthday with a mixture of anticipation and worry.

Alice McKinley comes home on the first day of junior high with a list of seven things about seventh grade that stink. Just about the only good thing she can think of is that she's friends with everyone. Maybe that's how to survive seventh grade-make it through the entire year with everyone liking her. That turns out to be easier said than done, when Alice gets on the wrong side of the school bully, Denise 'Mack Truck' Whitlock. But Alice's problems...

Lizzie's family is suffering hard times during the Depression until long-lost Grandpa Jake appears on their doorstep and generates some needed changes.

Fourteen-year-old Lincoln Mendoza, an aspiring basketball player, must come to terms with his divided loyalties when he moves from the Hispanic inner city to a white suburban neighborhood. Lincoln Mendoza remains loyal to his former school's basketball team, even after he moves from the barrio to the suburbs and plays for his new school's team.

A month before eighth grade begins, Alice realizes she is going to have to face something she's been afraid of forever. Everybody, she knows, is afraid of something: elevators, dogs, planes, spiders ... but her fear is worse. It's going to bring absolute disaster to the rest of her summer, maybe to the rest of her life. The truth is she's afraid of deep water! It's a hot August, and everyone in Alice's gang goes to Mark Stedmeister's swimming pool...

When their mother starts to date the mystery man on the fifth floor, who has been instructed by his agent to "eliminate the children" by the first of May, 11-year old Caroline and her older brother figure they're targeted to be the victims of a savage crime.

Joey, who lives with his eccentric grandmother, is mystified by his uncontrollable manic behavior until it is found he has attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). "They say I'm wired bad, or wired sad, but there's no doubt about it -- I'm wired." Joey Pigza's got heart, he's got a mom who loves him, and he's got "dud meds," which is what he calls the Ritalin pills that are supposed to even out his wild mood swings. Sometimes Joey makes bad...

Nanny McPhee can tame even the most unruly children with a tap of her magic walking stick. Her latest challenge is the bratty brood of a recent widower, Mr. Brown. He is under pressure to find a new wife or lose his much-needed allowance from wealthy Aunt Adelaide. His love for scullery maid Evangeline remains unspoken as he wincingly woos the eagerly merry widow Mrs. Quickly; but Brown's raucous rugrats have a plan to make things right, especially...