Nini loves ballet, not sports, so when her mother signs her up to play baseball she sulks until the coach explains how baseball and ballet can go together--and when a timely plié in the outfield saves the game she realizes that "balletball" is really not so bad after all.

Eighth-grader Hester Greene suffers from Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, plus anxiety, which is why she loves making movies where she is behind the camera and in complete control of the action--but if she cannot improve her language arts grade she will not be allowed to enter her video in The Hoot (a showcase of student work) and write a satisfactory ending to her middle school career.

French horn virtuoso Elsie Wyatt resents having to join her high school's marching band playing a melliphone, but finally finds a sense of belonging that transcends the pressure she has always felt to be as good as her father, principal french horn player in the Boston Symphony Orchestra.

Instead of spending a carefree summer exploring downtown Boston with best friend Ollie, thirteen-year-old Moxie must solve a famous art heist in order to protect those she loves from her ailing grandfather's gangster past. Includes facts about the 1990 Gardner Museum art theft.