Seventeen short comics stories by such writer-artists as Lauren Weinstein, Dash Shaw, and Robyn Chapman explore the middle school experience.

All twelve-year-old Josh wants to do is play baseball but when his father, a minor league pitcher, signs him up for a youth championship team, Josh finds himself embroiled in a situation with potentially illegal consequences.

In an alternate San Antonio, there have been no known cases of vampirism since a group of masked vampire hunters called the Vanquishers wiped out the last horde of the undead twenty years ago, but twelve-year-old Malika "Boog" Wilson's parents are not taking any chances, especially when Boog's new classmate Aaron goes missing.

Seventh-grader Ben, always an outsider, is led into a deep friendship with Halley, who is being treated for cancer, by the special dog he and his adoptive mother take inches

Sixth-grader Emilia Torres struggles with ADHD, her controlling abuela, her mother's work commitments, her father's distance after returning from deployment, evolving friendships, and a conflict over school redistricting.

"When Guinevere "Nev" Tallow receives an acceptance letter to the exclusive Deephaven Academy, they know it's the fresh start that they've been looking for. But things are strange from the moment they arrive--the house itself seems to breathe, students whisper secrets in dark corridors, and the entire east wing of the academy is locked away for reasons no one wants to explain. And Nev knows something ragged stalks the shadowy corridors, something...

"Max Plink's life is complicated. Her parents aren't getting along. The school bullies are relentless, and her own sister is the cruelest of them. Worst of all, her mouth is a mess. With a mismatched puzzle of a jaw, Max has a Class II malocclusion, otherwise known as a severe overbite. She already has braces, which means she lives on Advil and soft foods after each orthodontist appointment. But now Max has to wear painful (and totally awkward) orthodontic...

Seventh-grader Will's Bar Mitzvah community service project, visiting an incurably ill older boy in the hospital, leads to a friendship that is life-changing for both them and those around them.

Greg records his sixth grade experiences in a middle school where he and his best friend, Rowley, undersized weaklings amid boys who need to shave twice daily, hope just to survive, but when Rowley grows more popular, Greg must take drastic measures to save their friendship.

"It's Nimra Sharif's first time going to public school. Nimra's nervous, but as long as she has her best friend, Jenna, by her side, she figures she can take on just about anything. Unfortunately, middle school is hard. The teachers are mean, the schedule is confusing, and Jenna starts giving hijab-wearing Nimra the cold shoulder around the other kids. Desperate to fit in and save her friendship with Jenna, Nimra accepts an unlikely invitation to...