Jeffrey Lionel "Maniac" Magee might have lived a normal life if a freak accident hadn't made him an orphan. After living with his unhappy and uptight aunt and uncle for eight years, he decides to run--and not just run away, but run. This is where the myth of Maniac Magee begins, as he changes the lives of a racially divided small town with his amazing and legendary feats.

Kristy, Mary Anne, Claudia, and Stacey are best friends and founding members of The Baby-sitters Club. Whatever comes up -- cranky toddlers, huge dogs, scary neighbors, prank calls -- you can count on them to save the day. Baby-sitting isn't always easy, and neither is dealing with strict parents, new families, fashion emergencies, and mysterious secrets. But no matter what, the BSC have what they need most: friendship.

Cody's home life is a messy, too-often terrifying story of neglect and abuse. Cody himself is a smart kid, a survivor with a great sense of humor that helps him see past his circumstances and begin to try to get himself out. Autumn is a wealthy girl from an indigenous family, who has found herself in with the popular crowd even though it's hard for her to want to keep up. But one night, while returning home from a movie, Autumn comes across Cody, face down in the laneway behind her house. All Cody knows is that he can't take another encounter with his father like the one he just narrowly escaped. He can't go home. 

Stanley Yelnats is under a curse. A curse that began with his no-good-dirty-rotten-pig-stealing-great-great-grandfather and has since followed generations of Yelnatses. Now Stanley has been unjustly sent to a boys' detention center, Camp Green Lake, where the boys build character by spending all day, every day digging holes exactly five feet wide and five feet deep. There is no lake at Camp Green Lake. But there are an awful lot of holes.

The first time Melanie Ross meets April Hall, she’s not sure they have anything in common. But she soon discovers that they both love anything to do with ancient Egypt. When they stumble upon a deserted storage yard, Melanie and April decide it’s the perfect spot for the Egypt Game. Before long there are six Egyptians, and they all meet to wear costumes, hold ceremonies, and work on their secret code. Everyone thinks it’s just a game until strange things start happening. Has the Egypt Game gone too far?

Millicent Min is having a bad summer. Her fellow high school students hate her for setting the curve. Her fellow eleven-year-olds hate her for going to high school. Her grandmother Maddie is moving away. And in an effort to give Millicent a more "normal" childhood, her mom has not only signed her up for volleyball, she's also arranged for her to tutor Stanford Wong -- jock, jerk, and poster boy for Chinese geekdom. But when Millicent meets Emily, things start to look up. Emily doesn't know Millicent's IQ score. She actually thinks Millicent is cool. And if Millicent can hide her awards, ignore her grandmother's advice, blackmail Stanford into silence, learn to serve a volleyball over the net, stop her parents from embarrassing her forever, and keep all her lies straight, she just might make her first friend.

Welcome to the Brooklyn School of Magic, where seeds of enchantment are planted and magic sprouts in every corner. And where each fall, fifth years must pass the Equinox Test if they want to move up to Middle Magic. Rose is worried. She's never been the best student. And if she doesn't pass with flying colors, Principal Ivy says she may have to transfer to a boring, non-magical school. Amethyst knows she's got the skills to ace the test. But to really impress her mom, she's got her eye on the school's top prize. Lavender just wants to fit in. Even after a few years in the States, he still feels homesick. 

Percy Jackson is a twelve-year-old boy with dyslexia and ADHD from New York City. While on a school trip to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, one of the chaperons, Mrs. Dodds, turns into a Fury and attacks him. Percy's favorite teacher, Mr. Brunner, later revealed as Chiron, lends Percy a magical sword-pen to defeat her. After the school year ends, Percy's mother, Sally, takes him to Long Island. Percy's friend from school, Grover, reveals himself to be a satyr and warns him of danger.

The book centers August "Auggie" Pullman, a 10-year-old living in North Riverside Heights in Lower Manhattan. He has Treacher Collins syndrome, which has disfigured his face and required many surgeries and special care. Due to his condition, August has been homeschooled by his mother for several years; however, wanting him to experience the world, his parents enroll him into Beecher Prep, a private school, for the start of fifth grade. Auggie has an older sister, Olivia "Via" Pullman, who is entering her first year of high school.

 Brian Robeson is the 13-year-old son of divorced parents. As he travels from Hampton on a Cessna bush plane to visit his father in the oil fields of Northern Canada for the summer, the pilot suddenly suffers a massive heart attack and dies. Brian tries to land the plane, but he runs out of fuel and sees nowhere to go, so he ends up crash-landing into an L-shaped lake in the middle of a vast forest. Brian survives the crash with only a few minor to severe injuries.