It is 1983 and Vanessa Martin, a thirteen-year-old African American girl in Newark's public housing, dreams of following in the footsteps of the first black Miss America, Vanessa Williams; but with a dysfunctional family (mother in jail, father withdrawn, drunken grandfather, gay cousin) the odds are against her--until a new teacher at school organizes a beauty pageant and encourages Vanessa to enter.

Five white teenage cousins struggle with how they perceive the racial ignorance of their dysfunctional parents and their wealthy grandparents affect their lives.

Six students are trapped in their school after a bomb. They couldn't be more different, but now they have something in common: survival. When they hear that the bomber is trapped inside the school, the question is: is it one of them?

Seventh-grader Zoey has her hands full as she takes care of her much younger siblings after school every day while her mom works her shift at the pizza parlor. At school, Zoey tries to stay under the radar. Her only friend Fuchsia has her own issues, and since they're in an entirely different world than the rich kids, it's best if no one notices them. Unfortunately, she's not totally invisible, and one of her teachers forces her to join the debate...

While confined to a mental hospital, thirteen-year-old Callie slowly comes to understand some of the reasons behind her self-mutilation, and gradually starts to get better.

Sunny, the Defenders' best runner, only runs for his father, who blames Sunny for his mother's death, but with his coach's help Sunny finds a way to combine track and field with his true passion, dancing.

Committed to a mental hospital against her will for something she claims she did not do, Cassie O'Malley signs herself out against medical advice when she turns eighteen and tries to start over at college, until her estranged mother appears, throwing everything Cassie believes about herself into question.

Told from both viewpoints, after Jenny and Chance, a bookworm and a popular heartthrob, pretend friendship to save a doomed assignment, they are shocked to find a real friendship--and more--developing.

When eighteen-year-old Mallory begrudgingly agrees to return to chess in one last charity tournament, her surprise upset against Nolan Sawyer, the reigning world champ and bad boy of the chess world, sets her on an worldwin adventure as she rediscovers her passion for the game.

"Toby and Luke are best friends, bound by a goal of leaving their hometown for Luke's wrestling scholarship, but a series of events during their senior year will test their resolve"--