In alternating chapters, two teenagers describe how their feelings about themselves, each other, and their families have changed over the years.

Alvin Bixby: Hulking, knuckles of steel, hideous breath, foul temper. Kids call him: Bubba.
Nolan Byrd: Puny, power walker, math genius, can’t keep shoes tied. Kids call him: Nerd.
Bubba has been the bane of Nolan’s existence for five long years. So when Mr. Green asks the class to become reporters, Nolan decides he’ll write an exposé—on Bubba. He doesn’t want to sign his name to it (that’d be suicidal),...

Thirteen-year-old Dave and his sidekick, a talking gecko named Sticky, try to retrieve an ancient Aztec powerband and its magic ingots from the evil villain, Damien Black.

Gravity becomes a very personal problem for Leda as she stumbles and tumbles through a long day.

"Wendelin Van Draanen didn't grow up wanting to be a writer, but thirty books later, she's convinced that writing saved her life. Or, at least, saved her from a life of bitterness and despair. Writing helped her sort out what she thought and felt and wanted. And digging deep into fictional characters helped her understand the real people in her life better as well"--Amazon.com.

Twelve-year-old Carolyn, who has always wished she were a boy, begins to see things in a new light when her sister is born.

When cats begin to mysteriously disappear in Santa Martina, thirteen-year-old friends Sammy and Holly start snooping around town to find out what is happening.

A Hollywood actress, who had been competing with Sammy's mother for an important role, is murdered, but thirteen-year-old Sammy and her friend Marissa are on the case.

Seventh-grade sleuth Sammy Keyes investigates mysterious happenings at a local art gallery.

When thirteen-year-old Sammy finds herself with an abandoned baby on her hands, she sets out to find the young mother, who may belong to a gang, and accidentally jeopardizes her position on the softball team.