An eighth-grader who dreams of performing in a Broadway musical concocts a plan to run away to New York and audition for the role of Elliot in the musical version of "E.T.."

After many years of retirement, an old Kamishibai man--a Japanese street performer who tells stories and sells candies--decides to make his rounds once more even though such entertainment declined after the advent of television.

In Acton, Oregon, sisters Alex, Stevie, and Joey take turns telling about their lives, including auditioning for the same part in the school musical, baking contest-worthy cupcakes, and becoming obsessed with "Little Women."

Rabbit, Bear, Squirrel, and Other Squirrel make big plans for a show, but they have forgotten one very important thing and only shy Bear can help.

The Aldens become involved in a community theater production of "The Wizard of Oz," which is systematically and mysteriously being sabotaged.

"Julia is very short for her age, but by the end of the summer run of The Wizard of Oz, she'll realize how big she is inside, where it counts. She hasn't ever thought of herself as a performer, but when the wonderful director of Oz casts her as a Munchkin, she begins to see herself in a new way. As Julia becomes friendly with the poised and wise Olive--one of the adults with dwarfism who've joined the production's motley crew of Munchkins--and with...

Told from three viewpoints, thirteen-year-old scientific genius Lenny Cyrus shrinks himself and, helped by his best friend Harlan, enters the body of Zooey, the girl he has loved since third grade, hoping to physically change her mind about him on the very day her play opens.

When she wins the lead role in a school play, second-grader Ellie neglects her friends in the Critter Club and their new animal shelter.

"Following the sudden deaths of her father and autistic younger brother, Cedar Lee spends the summer working at a Shakespearean theater festival, making a new friend, and coming to terms with her grief"-- A tender and compelling contemporary novel for young readers about facing loss and finding friendship, from Ally Condie, international bestselling author of the Matched series. "Kids are awesome. And they are diverse. There are children with different...

While preparing for a role in the school play, twelve-year-old Leo finds an autobiography that his father wrote as a teenager and ponders the ways people change as they grow up. Includes the text for the play, "Rumpopo's Porch."