""Everyone is invited to a birthday party at her parent's candy store, except Stella Batts. She needs to figure out to be a pleasant hostess when she's not on the guest list"--

Having just moved from India to Los Angeles for two years, sixteen-year-old Shalini struggles to fit in at school and to keep house for her clinically-depressed mother, but the real challenge comes when she begins falling in love with an American boy despite being engaged since the age of three. Includes glossary.

Unhappy after his parents move to a weird subdivision and become workaholics, thirteen-year-old Travis returns to his old Salinas neighborhood and becomes actively involved in saving the John Steinbeck Library and, at the same time, begins seeing characters from Steinbeck's books who seem to have a message for him.

An overprotective mother, an unfriendly older sister, and a friend-stealing school bully are some of the challenges faced by thoughtful ten-year-old Ben Hunter of Filmland, California.

Joss is given a mission to eradicate vampires in his home town of Santa Carla, where he will need to protect his family including cousin Henry, who still carries a grudge.

Steve "Sneeze" Wyatt takes half of his classes at the high school, where he attracts the attention of a bully on the varsity golf team, while at middle school all of his friends seem to be falling in love--including Sneeze, himself.

In Los Angeles, California, four fifteen-year-old best friends, Diamond, Aaliya, Veronique, and India, form a gospel singing group in order to compete in a talent contest that could take them all the way to New York City and a quarter of a million dollar prize.

While Rhyann is working as a shampoo girl to pay off her bill for having a very bad haircut and dye-job fixed at the salon Divine and Mimi use, she meets a special person who challenges, inspires, and changes her forever.

With their parents away at the 1989 World Series, fourteen-year-old Franny, her younger brother, and their cousin try to cope with the frightening events following an earthquake that destroys their home on Loma Prieta mountain.

Although her Mexican-American grandmother now forgets many things, Luciana finds that she still remembers the things that are important to the two of them. Includes glossary of Spanish words used.