"Herc Beal knows who he's named after - a mythical hero - but he's no superhero. He's the smallest kid in his class. So when his homeroom teacher at his new middle school gives him the assignment of duplicating the mythical Hercules's amazing feats in real life, he's skeptical. After all, there are no Nemean Lions on Cape Cod, and not a single Hydra in sight. Missing his parents terribly and wishing his older brother wasn't working all the time, Herc...

Resolving to become the world's greatest stand-up comedian despite less-than-funny challenges in his life, wheelchair-bound middle school student Jamie Grimm endures bullying from his mean-spirited cousin and hopes he will be fairly judged when he enters a local comedy contest.

When her crush Brandon reveals that the animal shelter where he volunteers is in danger of being closed, Nikki and her friends enter an ice skating competition to help raise money, an effort that is compromised by an interfering Mackenzie.

While in mandatory counseling to avoid being expelled from Gold Country Middle School for bullying, Kilie Steppe, twelve, focuses on getting revenge against Tory, who took her place as "queen bee," while revealing details that might explain why she preys on her peers.

Seventh-grader Elsa moves to a new town and starts a new school where, with the help of her recently deceased mother and a magic locket that allows her to redo the last ten seconds in any situation, she attempts to become popular.

"Twelve-year-old Jacky "Ha-Ha" Hart is a class clown with a penchant for pranking--and when she's required to act in the school play to appease her frustrated teachers, she must conquer her stutter"--

Rafe Khatchadorian is horrified that because of a missed science assignment he has to go to summer school; but instead of three weeks in a school room, he finds himself as a volunteer at BushyTail animal refuge, which is really hard, smelly work--and somehow he needs to use the experience (and the help of a girl he meets there) to produce a first-class science report.

Told in text messages, middle-schooler Ava is having a really bad day: her parents are getting divorced, she has had a big argument with her best friends, and the charge on her cellphone is getting low; but things are about to get a lot worse because thelockdown alarm has just gone off, and there is an intruder in the school building.

Warlord cat Klawde continues to suffer in exile as Raj faces starting a new school, but a further complication arises when both are unexpectedly confronted by figures from their pasts.

"For more than a decade, Brian Urlacher was the face of the Chicago Bears, one of the NFLs most storied franchises. An eight-time Pro Bowl middle linebacker, Urlacher established himself as one of the leagues preeminent defenders with his athleticism, intelligence and ferocity. He is widely expected to gain entrance into the Pro Football Hall of Fame when he is eligible in a few years which is not bad for an athlete from Lovington, New Mexico, where...