In the historic town of Norvelt, Pennsylvania, twelve-year-old Jack Gantos spends the summer of 1962 grounded for various offenses until he is assigned to help an elderly neighbor with a most unusual chore involving the newly dead, molten wax, twisted promises, Girl Scout cookies, underage driving, lessons from history, typewriting, and countless bloody noses.

When Rafe Kane enters middle school, he teams up with his best friend, "Leo the Silent," to create a game to make school more fun by trying to break every rule in the school's code of conduct.

Peter describes the highs ad lows of life with his younger brother Fudge.

Sixth-grader and self-proclaimed genius Nate Wright faces his all-time enemy, Gina, when they are paired to work on a research paper together and she also gets a position on his intramural team.

Each of five children lucky enough to discover an entry ticket into Mr. Willy Wonka's mysterious chocolate factory takes advantage of the situation in his own way.

The noisy fifth grade boys of Laketon Elementary School challenge the equally loud fifth grade girls to a "no talking" contest.

At Christmas, Amelia and her friends in the G.A.S.P.--Gathering of Awesome Super Pals--are determined to discover the truth behind Santa Claus.

Seven families are helped out by Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle's magic cures when they are faced with thought-you-saiders, tattletales, bad table manners, interrupters, heedless breakers, never-want-to-go-to-schoolers, and wadde-I-doers.

Led by new student Caitlyn, seventh-graders at a tiny rural school in Vermont create a reality-show inspired competition to determine who will replace the school's legendary class clown, Paulie Fink.

When Ellen meets Ned, a beautiful colt who hurt his leg on his way to becoming a racehorse, she becomes determined to behave at school and at home so she can have more time at the ranch.