After Shannon accidentally lands a lead role in the summer musical, she realizes she has bigger things to worry about than stage fright in this contemporary middle-school novel about strained friendships, the positive power of theater, and the realities of being a tween with OCD. Shannon Carter never considered herself much of a theater person. Not like her two BFFs, Elise, an actress, and Fatima, a techie. Shannon's always been content to stay backstage,...

Twelve-year-old Lou Montgomery's life has been centered on her mother's terrifying plan to make her a singing star, but a crisis reveals Lou's sensory processing disorder and people determined to help her address it.

"In this empowering deconstruction of the so-called American Dream, a twelve-year-old Japanese American girl grapples with, and ultimately rises above, the racism and trials of middle school she experiences while chasing her dreams. As the daughter of immigrants who came to America for a better life, Annie Inoue was raised to dream big. And at the start of seventh grade, she's channeling that irrepressible hope into becoming the lead in her school...

"Following the sudden deaths of her father and autistic younger brother, Cedar Lee spends the summer working at a Shakespearean theater festival, making a new friend, and coming to terms with her grief."-- Provided by publisher.

"Twelve-year-old Jacky "Ha-Ha" Hart is a class clown with a penchant for pranking--and when she's required to act in the school play to appease her frustrated teachers, she must conquer her stutter"-- Provided by publisher.

Second-grader Freddy hates being the middle one in the family until he gets a part in the school play.

When Ella Mentry School is threatened with closure due to budget cuts, A.J.'s new speech teacher, Miss Laney, comes up with a brilliant, if weird, plan to save the day.

Bright but unenthusiastic middle school student Charlie Joe Jackson signs up for the school play in an attempt to get straight As on his last quarter report card in order to avoid having to go to Camp Rituhbukkee over the summer.

Twelve-year-olds Jack and Louisa tell, in their separate voices, of his reluctant departure from New York City and Broadway stardom to live in Shaker Heights, Ohio, where new neighbor Louisa, a "musical theater nerd," urges him to audition for the local theater's production of "Into the Woods."

In Acton, Oregon, sisters Alex, Stevie, and Joey take turns telling about their lives, including auditioning for the same part in the school musical, baking contest-worthy cupcakes, and becoming obsessed with "Little Women."