Liz Lighty has always done her best to avoid the spotlight in her small, wealthy, and prom-obsessed midwestern high school, after all, her family is black and rather poor, especially since her mother died; instead she has concentrated on her grades and her musical ability in the hopes that it will win her a scholarship to elite Pennington College and their famous orchestra where she plans to study medicine--but when that scholarship falls through...

"When Frog and Goat turn a simple game into an all-out competition, things get out of hand...until finally, they're over it"--

When budget cuts lead to the elimination of Delano Middle School's girl soccer team, Melina Stern and the other seventh and eighth graders are invited to try out for the high school varsity team--but the older players clearly do not want the middle schoolers around, and the girls are having trouble playing as a team.

Ninth-grade hockey player Kyla Woodson is hoping to win a spot on the varsity team mid-season--but she has at least one serious rival for the coveted position, and her supressed anger over her parents recent divorce seems to keep getting in the way.

When eighth grade basketball player Shaena suffers a concussion in a game, she finds herself sidelined two weeks before the big game--and as she watches her team practice with the new freshman player, Shaena, who is used to being the star, starts to worry that by the time she recovers she will no longer be needed.