The pressure's really piling up on Greg Heffley. His mom thinks video games are turning his brain to mush, so she wants her son to put down the controller and explore his creative side. As if that s not scary enough, Halloween's just around the corner and the frights are coming at Greg from every angle. When Greg discovers a bag of gummy worms, it sparks an idea. Can he get his mom off his back by making a movie . . . and will he become rich and famous...

In a future Chicago, sixteen-year-old Beatrice Prior must choose among five predetermined factions to define her identity for the rest of her life, a decision made more difficult when she discovers that she is an anomoly who does not fit into any one group, and that the society she lives in is not perfect after all.

"It's fun to be a Baby-sitters Little Sister. No fair! Karen is having a bad-luck day. Her favorite jeans are missing. There's no prize in the Crunch-O cereal box. And Boo-Boo the cat runs away from her! Karen tries everything to make her day better. But her bad luck just won't go away. She even gets punished and sent to her room! Poor Karen--will this be her worst day ever?"--

"Is Mrs. Porter ...a witch? Karen lives next door to an old lady named Mrs. Porter. Mrs. Porter wears long black robes and has wild gray hair. Her black cat is named Midnight. No wonder Karen thinks Mrs. Porter is a witch! Mrs. Porter is having a meeting at her house. Karen is sure the meeting is for witches. Are the witches going to cast a spell on Karen? Or will she be brave enough to send them away-once and for all?"--

Catrina and her family have moved to the coast of Northern California for the sake of her little sister, Maya, who has cystic fibrosis--and Cat is even less happy about the move when she is told that her new town is inhabited by ghosts, and Maya sets her heart on meeting one.

"Mia Tang has a lot of secrets. Number 1: She lives in a motel, not a big house. Every day, while her immigrant parents clean the rooms, ten-year-old Mia manages the front desk of the Calivista Motel and tends to its guests. Number 2: Her parents hide immigrants. And if the mean motel owner, Mr. Yao, finds out they've been letting them stay in the empty rooms for free, the Tangs will be doomed. Number 3: She wants to be a writer. But how can she when...

"At home, Maggie is the odd one out. Her parents are preoccupied with the new baby they're expecting, and her younger brothers are twins and always in their own world. Maggie thinks a new puppy is the answer, but when she goes to select one on her birthday, she breaks out in hives and rashes. She's severely allergic to anything with fur! Can Maggie outsmart her allergies and find the perfect pet?"--Provided by publisher

The spooky old house on Surprise Island intrigues Benny.

Seventeen-year-old Greg has managed to become part of every social group at his Pittsburgh high school without having any friends, but his life changes when his mother forces him to befriend Rachel, a girl he once knew in Hebrew school who has leukemia.

The four Penderwick sisters are faced with the unimaginable prospect of their widowed father dating, and they hatch a plot to stop him.