"If there's one thing Lily Hong can't stand, it's being second best. That's why she and Max Zhang have been bitter rivals ever since he swooped into town as the new kid with the cool clothes and his fancy downtown Chinese school and showed her up in the fifth-grade reading challenge. She had wanted to be the one to win the pizza party for their class. Okay, so that was two years ago. Her best friends Kelli and Lauren didn't totally get it, but they...

During the summer before fifth grade, Ferris Wilkey has her hands full with her little sister terrorizing the town, her Aunt Shirley moving into their basement and her grandmother seeing a ghost--one who has wild, impractical and illuminating plans.

"Natalie has a secret. She's a gamer. By day, she is an average eighth grade student at Golden Trails Middle. At night, she's Gnat112, super awesome gamer! Living a double life is hard... and keeping a secret from your friends is even harder. When a new girl moves in next door, Natalie is shocked to find out that she's a gamer, too. What happens when her two worlds collide? If only Natalie could battle middle school like video game aliens!"--Back...

"New Rotterdam is no place for a kid and that's what Emrys Houtman likes about it. Emrys obsessively documents his town's urban legends and cryptid sightings in a Wiki, along with his neighbors and fellow horror fans Hazel and Serena. It's all in good fun until one day, the trio stumbles upon the Doomsday Archives, a collection of relics with dazzling powers and dangerous consequences. When a mysterious blood-red hourglass begins appearing around...

The kids in these humorous short stories each have a minor superpower they're learning to live with. One can shape-shift--but only part of her body, and only on Mondays. Another can always tell whether an avocado is perfectly ripe. One can even hear the thoughts of the animals in the pet store! But what these stories are really about is their young protagonists "owning" a power that contributes to their individuality, that allows them to find their...

"No magic. No sketchbook. No friends. Again?! Dany's magical sketchbook has steered most of her middle-school life so far -- it even helped create her best friend, Madison. But now that the sketchbook is gone, and Madison with it, Dany's back to being a loner. Then one day, Dany tunes in to the new hit TV show My Magical Best Friend, and it's starring her magical best friend, Madison! The show is clearly based on Dany's life, and she watches it regularly...

"Top-secret training continues into summer for aspiring spy Ben Ripley--and so does the danger"--

"Valeria Winters has an easier time finding trouble than making friends. A fantasy-obsessed nerd with the legendary confidence--and temper--of a Valkyrie, Val promises her mom that things will be different at her new school. "No more fighting!" As if by fate, she meets the Table Titans right away--Alan, Andrew, and Darius, who run the school's tabletop gaming club. Finally, Val has found her own adventuring party! And even better . . . a place where...