Will is the only round kid in a school full of string beans. So he hides in baggy jeans and oversized hoodies, in the back row during class, and anywhere but the cafeteria during lunch. But shame isn't the only feeling that dominates Will's life. He's also got a crush on a girl named Jules who knows he doesn't have a chance with, string beans only date string beans, but he can't help wondering what if? Will's best shot at attracting Jules's attention...

Forced to participate in an extra credit project in the middle of nowhere, classmates Baxter, Abigail, Turner and Emerson must survive the wilderness with only a survival handbook and each other after their instructor goes missing.

Fifth grader Penny, who doodles to cope with anxiety, worries that her best friend is drifting away.

"Iris opens her eyes to hard truths and the power of her voice when her father dies of AIDS in 1987"-- 1987. Iris tries to act normal at school, going through the motions and joking around with her friends, but it feels like she'll never laugh again. How can she, when her dad is dying of a virus that is off-limits to talk about? When she knows that soon all she will have left of her kind, loving dad are memories, photos, and a binder full of the...