Barbara Dee

Mattie, a star student and passionate reader, is delighted when her English teacher announces the eighth grade will be staging Romeo and Juliet. And she is even more excited when, after a series of events, she finds herself playing Romeo, opposite Gemma Braithwaite's Juliet. Gemma, the new girl at school, is brilliant, pretty, outgoing-and, if all that wasn't enough: British. As the cast prepares for opening night, Mattie finds herself growing increasingly...

Twelve-year-old Wren, who is learning special effects makeup, is thrilled to be makeup artist for her new school's production of Wicked, but her parents' divorce is seriously affecting her mother.--

A few white lies told during a simple game of truth or dare spin out of control and make life very complicated for a girl who returns home at the end of the summer to discover that her friends have become estranged and drama-prone. When Lia returns after a summer with her aunt, it feels like everything has changed within her group of friends. Everyone just seems more dramatic. When a few white lies are told during a game of Truth or Dare, they make...

Twelve-year-old Lyla sets out to write the perfect fantasy novel in her creative writing class, but discovers some unexpected twists and turns, both on and off the page. Includes twenty-five ways to overcome writer's block.