Told in alternating voices, the teacher and students in room 117 find their lives changed over the course of a school year.

Self-proclaimed middle school expert and life coach Max Corrigan offers advice and practical tips on such topics as how and why to join cliques, how to deal with gym class, pretending to be sick, and acing tests without being caught cheating. Includes comic-style illustrations.

Eleven-year-old Liv fights to change the middle school dress code requiring girls to wear a skirt and, along the way, finds the courage to tell his moms he is meant to be a boy.

The Dunwiddle Magic School (fifth to eighth grade) is intended for children whose magic is "upside-down" like Dory (who turns into a combination of a kitten and dragon) and Pepper (whose uncontrollable "fiercing" terrifies everyone around her)--so the Show Off, where fifth grade students are supposed to showcase their skills, does not really seem like a good idea.

Sixth grader Abigail, assigned a different homeroom than her two best friends and made only the alternate on the pom-pom squad, learns a lot about popularity and true friendship when paired with unpopular Gabby for a year-long "Friendly Letter Assignment."

Twelve-year-old Fisher Bas, a science-loving bully magnet, clones himself, only to discover that his double is infinitely cooler than himself.

Eighth-grader Kara McAllister chronicles her efforts when she tries to use the scientific method to transform her social blunders into romantic victories.

Due to an administrative mix-up, troublemaker Donovan Curtis is sent to the Academy of Scholastic Distinction, a special program for gifted and talented students, after pulling a major prank at middle school.

Griffin Bing is in big trouble when a Super Bowl ring disappears from his middle school's display case, replaced by Griffin's retainer, and the more he and his friends investigate, the worse his situation becomes.