middle-born children

Tired of being the middle sister, eleven-year-old Addie Asante uses a magical bracelet to switch places with her thirteen-year-old sister and discovers that being older is not necessarily easier--and worse, her baby sister is now living as Addie.

Aly Theland is the middle child in what she thought was a normal family, except suddenly whenever she gets angry at someone things burst into flame--and Aly begins to realize that neither her older sister, nor her younger brother is exactly normal.

"Third-grader Azaleah Lane has been chosen STEM lab monitor for the week, but on her first day Harry the lab guinea pig gets out of his cage and escapes, and Azaleah has to figure out a strategy to locate where in the room he is hiding and catch him; but she also has another problem--how to get Terrance to listen to Rose, Jamal, and herself and work with the group on their Rube Goldberg machine project"--Provided by publisher.

Azaleah's big sister, Nia, has been cast as Willa Wonka in the school musical, and the entire Lane family is looking forward to the show. Azaleah has even helped plan a surprise dinner party for Nia at Avec Amour, Mama's restaurant. But then the real drama starts. At the first rehearsal, all sorts of things go wrong: missing batteries, sets falling over, props misplaced . . . It's so many things, in fact, that Azaleah suspects "foul play." And when the special effects on Nia's costume don't work at dress rehearsal, Nia is a nervous wreck. To top it all off, the high school journalism class is covering the performance for the school blog, and the director doesn't have time to replace Nia's costume. Nia has to wear it without the special effects. Azaleah becomes determined to make sure the musical isn't ruined for Nia. Azaleah has to get to the bottom of the mysterious rehearsal troubles, and finish party preparations, before the curtain goes up.

Victoria Torres has always had a family birthday party that she shares with her beloved grandmother, but this year she is so impressed by her classmate's birthday party at GlamaRama, the mall's newest spa store, that she decides that she wants to celebrate her twelfth birthday there--and her mother refuses to do both.

Zeke's class is having a talent show, and Brassy Glass, from America's Next Superstar, will be coming to the show as the judge, but Zeke cannot figure out what talent he actually has and, as usual, his sisters are no help at all.

Zeke wants to bring home the class hamster, so to prove that he is responsible he promises his mother that he will take care of the family dog for a whole week--after that it is one disaster after another.

Zeke's third grade class is putting on a play and Zeke is unhappy and annoyed with what he sees as too small a role, until his mother teaches him the meaning of the saying "there are no small parts, only small actors.".

As if coming up with a school project at the last minute is not enough trouble, Zeke also has to deal with his cousin Sam--who is just too perfect to be completely believable.

"Takes readers through a day in the life of a middle kid, and all the challenges and advantages of a life in-between"--Provided by publisher.