It's a new school year, and Greg Heffley finds himself thrust into middle school, where undersized weaklings share the hallways with kids who are taller, meaner, and already shaving. The hazards of growing up before you're ready are uniquely revealed through words and drawings as Greg records them in his diary.

"Greg Heffley's on a losing streak. His best friend, Rowley Jefferson, has ditched him, and finding new friends in middle school is proving to be a tough task. To change his fortunes, Greg decides to take a leap of faith and turn his decisions over to chance. Will a roll of the dice turn things around, or is Greg's life destined to be just another hard-luck story?"--

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."

"Join the Zombie Zappers back at school for the next round of zombie mayhem. When Rotfield Middle School students start turning into zombies, Leo and his friends are the only ones who might be able to save them. Can they discover the cause of this outbreak before it's too late?"--

"Nick and the rest of the Safety Patrol investigate a secret organization in order to save Karl from embarrassment"--

Sixth-grader and self-proclaimed genius Nate Wright faces his all-time enemy, Gina, when they are paired to work on a research paper together and she also gets a position on his intramural team.

A bus crash gives four very different middle schoolers odd super powers, and although they wouldn't normally be caught dead together, they must pool their powers to find out what happened to them.

"Life in middle school is finally starting to seem bearable-until Rafe spots his grandmother standing on the free-meal line at the local soup kitchen. In order to help bring in more money, Rafe concocts a brilliant plan-a dog-walking business that soon turns into a huge money-making neighborhood empire"--

Derrick Hollis is a 7th grader at Zachary Taylor Middle School and an aspiring cartoonist, too shy to show his work to anybody but his best friend Doug. When his dog Max dies, Derrick is left devastated. But then Max returns from the other side and starts to give Derrick advice. Derrick could use it, especially when it comes to affairs of the heart and standing up to bullies. When Derrick is too scared to ask his crush Kim to the Spring Fling, Max...