Supremely confident middle school student Nate Wright manages to make getting detention from every one of his teachers in the same day seem like an achievement.

Josie, the seventeen-year-old daughter of a French Quarter prostitute, is striving to escape 1950 New Orleans and enroll at prestigious Smith College when she becomes entangled in a murder investigation.

"Twelve-year-old Amal's dream of becoming a teacher one day is dashed in an instant when she accidentally insults a member of her Pakistani village's ruling family. As punishment for her behavior, she is forced to leave her heartbroken family behind and go work at their estate. Amal is distraught but has faced setbacks before. So she summons her courage and begins navigating the complex rules of life as a servant, with all its attendant jealousies...

Several months after the tragic events set in motion by bully Betty Glengarry, Annabelle McBride is struck by lightning during a powerful summer storm, leaving her with heightened senses that give her a new understanding of animals and help her learn about compassion and forgiveness.

Seventh-grader Jack Reynolds loves making people laugh but he needs help to make his wacky MyTube channel take off, and making friends is not exactly his strong suit.

Spending the summer in Tarrytown, New York, is a lot of fun for ten-year-old Sheila even though her friends make her face up to some self-truths she does not want to admit.

After his quick-tempered father gets in a fight and is sent back to jail, sixth-grader Bryan, known for being quiet and thoughtful, snaps and follows new friend Mike into trouble.

"As his school's centennial is coming up, Big Nate is stuck showing the dorky new kid around"--

The author, a Rhodes scholar and combat veteran, analyzes factors that influenced him as well as another man of the same name and from the same neighborhood who was drawn into a life of drugs and crime and ended up serving life in prison, focusing on the influence of relatives, mentors, and social expectations that could have led either of them on different paths.

In 1970 Queens, New York, Julian Twerski, now in seventh grade, struggles to write an essay as punishment for an act he did not commit, worries about Beverly, the girl he likes, prepares for his bar mitzvah, and tries to cope with the serious illness of one of his closest friends, Quentin.