With his friend Erin's help, Max works to get out of the clutches of the three ruthless criminals stealing from the South Ridge Middle School.

Twelve-year-old Ben Ripley leaves his public middle school to attend the CIA's highly secretive Espionage Academy, which everyone is told is an elite science school.

Middle-schooler Greg Heffley is the prime suspect when it is discovered that school property has been damaged, but when a surprise blizzard hits and school is closed, Greg is stuck indoors with his family, unable to prove his innocence.

Middle-school drama queen Nikki Maxwell worries about asking a boy to her school's "sweetheart dance."

Kelsey is the best reader in her third grade class, and she is determined to lead her class to victory in the alll-school reading contest.

Two best friends embark on a project to study the behavior and taste of the popular girls at their elementary school so that by the time they get to middle school they too will be in the right crowd.

Determined to be brave, six-year-old Ramona Quimby has to deal with starting first grade, her mother's new job, and a teacher who does not understand how hard it is for Ramona to grow up.

Seventh-grader Zoe, who comes from a big family where she's never had anything all to herself, desperately wants CJ for a best friend, but when CJ reveals that she likes the boy Zoe likes, she must make a choice.

Follows fifth-grader Genie Kunkle through a tumultuous year at Hopkins Country Day School, as a new girl tries to take Genie's place as Sarah's best friend, and Genie learns that expressing her opinion in public can be scary when she is elected class blogger.

When Lucy overhears the headmaster of Overworld Academy make plans to take over Overworld, she has trouble convincing her friends to take a stand against the evil rising in their world.