Tess Medina is still dealing with the loss of her father when she starts at a new school, but she stays close to him by doing what she does best: baking. He taught her everything she knows. When tasting her creations causes a deep stabbing pain, Tess tries to power through and be strong.

Tess assembles a ragtag team to taste-test her creations in preparation for the Jubilee Flour Junior Baker West Coast competition. After just missing out on star baker three years ago, this is her chance to redeem herself and, above all, make her dad proud.

Wizard West was dead for nearly an entire day before he noticed.

And it is up to Faye, the daughter of West’s groundskeeper, to inform the wizard that he is a ghost who has lost all of his magical powers. (But not before the wizard tries transforming her into a cat!) To make matters worse, the enchanted castle of Celurdur—the only home that Faye has ever known—will fall apart at the next full moon if its foundation spells can’t be renewed.

In the opulent, sinking city of Dantessa, the Great Game rules all. Pia Paro believes that so long as you follow the rules, you always have a chance at winning. But after her beloved Gramps is sentenced to a life of servitude, Pia accepts a dangerous offer and joins a team of players seeking to win the most perilous game of all: Noctis.

The creepiest place in Barret Eloise's small town is the abandoned Raithfield Manor, a decrepit house surrounded by rumors of ghosts and kids going missing. So she certainly never planned on stepping foot inside. But when her history teacher gives her a group project to research a local landmark, the manor is the location her group chooses.

Thirteen-year-old Ingrid’s been living a double life. At school, she’s the Girl With Dead Parents, her popular friend Rachel’s charity case. In her online fandoms, she can be her own person: one who’s constantly talking to her long-distance BFF Lorren, crushing it at her favorite MMORPG, and geeking out over her favorite book series. But when Ingrid stands up to Rachel and “starts drama” at school, it suddenly feels like she has no life at all (and nowhere to sit at lunch).

Until she gets a wrong-number text from another gamer. . . and everything starts to go right.

Reese is a seventh-grader in rural North Carolina who loves drawing, basketball, his hardworking mom, and his charming, charismatic dad. But then one day, he comes home from school to his worst nightmare – his dad unconscious on the bathroom floor, lips turning blue. He’s overdosed on opioids. Again. Reese calls 911 and gets his dad out of danger, and he expects to go on as before. But for his mom, this is the breaking point, and she declares that she and Reese are leaving until Reese’s dad gets real help with his addiction.

Win "Coal" Keegan has just landed in his latest foster home, with a big, noisy, slightly nosy family named the McKays. They seem eager to welcome Coal, but he's wary of trusting them. So, he doesn't tell them that he went for a walk with chalk in his pocket to cover a nearby street with his art. He doesn't tell them that a neighbor found Coal drawing, pulled a gun on him, and fired it. He doesn't tell them the police chased him. And he definitely doesn't tell them that when everything went down, Coal somehow turned invisible.

But he did.

Isaiah “Ice” Abernathy has always worshiped his older brother, Seth. For years they’ve been not just brothers but best friends—and as Seth starts his senior year, Ice is eager to spend as much time with his brother as he can, making memories before Seth goes to college.

But when Seth announces he’s leaving much earlier than expected, and then he misses an important event—one he’d promised to attend—it causes a major fight.

Dale Donavan has heard the same lecture over and over Art will get you nowhere in life. A kid with a creative streak, Dale wants nothing more than to doodle, play video games, and create comics forever—maybe even as a full-time job one day. But between his grandfather pushing him to focus on his studies and a school with zero interest in funding arts programs, Dale feels like his future has already been decided for him. 
 

Joe Oak is used to living on unsteady ground. His mom can’t be depended on as she never stays around long once she gets “the itch,” and now he and his beloved grandmother find themselves without a home. Fortunately, Joe has an outlet in his journals and drawings and takes comfort from the lessons of comic books—superheroes have a lot of “and then, boom” moments, where everything threatens to go bust but somehow they land on their feet. And that seems to happen a lot to Joe too, as in this crisis his friend Nick helps them find a home in his trailer park.