Greg Heffley tells about his summer vacation and his attempts to steer clear of trouble when he returns to middle school and tries to keep his older brother, Rodrick, from telling everyone about Greg's most humiliating experience of the summer.

Middle-schooler Greg Heffley nimbly sidesteps his father's attempts to change Greg's wimpy ways until his father threatens to send him to military school.

Callie rides an emotional roller coaster while serving on the stage crew for a middle school production of Moon over Mississippi as various relationships start and end, and others never quite get going.

Big Nate, a.k.a. middle schooler Nate Wright, is 11 years old, four-and-a-half feet tall, and the wunderkind creation of cartoonist Peirce. "Big Nate Out Loud" collects Peirce's Big Nate strips, originally published only in newspapers and online at comics.com.

"The school year is winding down, and Nate can't wait for summer vacation: baseball, beach trips, and...overripe bananas? Yuck! Turns out Nate has a problem with fruit that's past its prime. And that's not all that's bugging him. Kim Cressly is making Chester jealous at Nate's expense, Artur is challenging him in the Hunny Bursts mascot contest, and his replacement social studies teacher is none other than Coach John. In banana terms, it's all left...

Chase doesn't remember falling off the roof; in fact, he doesn't remember anything about himself, and when he gets back to middle school he begins to learn who he was through the reactions of the other kids. Trouble is, he really isn't sure he likes the Chase that's being revealed, but can he take the opportunity amnesia has provided and restart his life?

When Rafe Kane enters middle school, he teams up with his best friend, "Leo the Silent," to create a game to make school more fun by trying to break every rule in the school's code of conduct.

Nikki and her friends team up for another adventure.

"Whether he's fast-talking his way out of trouble or unleashing the contents of his locker on unsuspecting classmates, Nate does it with gusto. And every time he swings into action, the crowd goes wild"-- Page 4 of cover.

Sixth grader Abigail, assigned a different homeroom than her two best friends and made only the alternate on the pom-pom squad, learns a lot about popularity and true friendship when paired with unpopular Gabby for a year-long "Friendly Letter Assignment.".