A visiting author teaches five friends about the power of words and writing.

Gooney Bird Greene takes charge of a class project as she and her fellow students in Mrs. Pidgeon's second grade class learn about fables by each making up their own based on an animal that begins with the same letter as their first name.

Calma, who is smart and an excellent writer, and her unlikely friend, Kiffo, a seeming all-around failure, undertake a dangerous project when they follow an abusive teacher whom they suspect of dealing drugs.

"Adelaide and Bear team up to demonstrate to the entire class, including Mrs. Fitz-Pea, that bears make the best writing buddies." --

"Her second place finish in a writing contest for third graders disappoints Emma, a deaf girl, but her best friend Izzie, who did not expect much, is thrilled to finish third, so the girls decide to celebrate together. Includes an ASL fingerspelling chart and a sign language guide."--

"'You can write about anything, as long as you write about you.' A young boy listens as Mr. Lopez explains the class's assignment: write about yourself. Marcus is going to write about his hat collection. Alia is going to write about the vampires she talks about all the time. The boy, however, doesn't have any ideas beyond a title: 'The Story of Me by Me.' His sister suggests making lists as a way to start--Thinks I Like, Things I Know. But the things...

When a contest at the local library offers a prize for the best story, a girl tries to write one using her family's suggestions, but her story does not seem right until she listens to her heart.

"Owen is doing the same creative writing project for homeschooling that Eleanor is doing in public school! They have to write an interesting story about their lives. The problem is: their lives aren't that interesting. So Eleanor decides to fix the problem by doing exciting things--with not-so-great results. When they join a community martial arts class, Owen sees a different way to make an interesting story happen ... by making something up that...

"Abdul loves telling stories but thinks his messy handwriting and spelling mistakes will keep him from becoming an author, until Mr. Muhammad visits and encourages him to persist." --

Gregory Korenstein-Jasperton is an eleven-year-old boy who likes to write stories and poems and is not excited by math, but he has a problem--he is the middle child in a family of math geniuses and his father expects him to participate in the City Math contest.