Zeus takes his job as the service dog for diabetic Madden very seriously. All Madden wants to do is blend in with other middle-schoolers, but that's hard to do with a big German Shepard by your side. Madden also has musical talent and dreams of winning the state band competition. But because of its ability to draw attention to Madden, Zeus decides that music is the enemy which leads to a series of misguided attempts to help him.

Depending on an older sister who protected her when their mother went to prison and their mother's boyfriend committed a terrible act, ten-year-old Della tries to figure out what to do when her older sister attempts suicide.

After cell phones are banned at Branton Middle School, Frost, Deedee, Wolf, and Bench decide to start communicating with each other through sticky-notes, replacing text messages. It quickly catches on in the rest of the school, but for every nice note there is a mean, bullying one. Then, when new girl Rose sits down at Frost's lunch table, her presence threatens to unravel Frost's circle of friends, and the sticky-note war escalates.

"Sunny's just made it to middle school . . . and it's making her life very confusing. All her best friend Deb wants to talk about is fashion, boys, makeup, boys, and being cool. Sunny's not against any of these things, but she also doesn't understand why suddenly everything revolves around them. She's much more comfortable when she's in her basement, playing Dungeons & Dragons with a bunch of new friends. Because when you're swordfighting and spider-slaying,...

Griffin Bing is in big trouble when a Super Bowl ring disappears from his middle school's display case, replaced by Griffin's retainer, and the more he and his friends investigate, the worse his situation becomes.

Sixth-grader Emilia Torres struggles with ADHD, her controlling abuela, her mother's work commitments, her father's distance after returning from deployment, evolving friendships, and a conflict over school redistricting.

When thirteen-year-old David Greenberg's best friend makes the start of middle school even worse than he feared it could be, David becomes friends with Sophie, who shares his love of television shows and posts one of their skits on YouTube, making them wildly popular--online, at least.

Nate has serious problems to deal with after his fight with Randy Bentancourt was reported in "Weekly Bugle," but he'd rather focus his attention on the cute new girl named Ruby. And with the annual Mud Bowl around the corner, Nate's team will be taking on the biggest opponents they've seen yet.

"Twelve-year-old June Harper, shocked when her parents go on a campaign to clear the Dogwood Middle School library of objectionable books, starts a secret banned books library in an empty locker"--Provided by publisher.

On the day of the school talent show, the lives of shy Bri and dreamer Izzy converge to create an event even more dramatic than either could even imagine.