Schooled by Gordon Korman

Capricon Anderson is a new student at Claveridge Middle School. While other students his age have been attending school, Cap has been growing up in an alternative farm commune where he has learned to care for Mother Earth, promote non-violence and compose music on his guitar. He has never watched television, played basketball or had a friend his own age.

His long wavy brown hair, tye-dyed shirts and cornhusk sandals make him an immediate target for the school bullies who plot to make his life miserable by electing him class president, arranging phony press conferences and booby trappping his locker.

Will Capricon Anderson become the biggest loser in the eighth grade or will he prove that freaks can be cool?

Lily B. on the Brink of Cool by Elizabeth Cody Kimmel

Lily B’s life is “bleaker than an orphan in a Roald Dahl novel”. Her parents, Lenny and Phyllis are two of the most boring people on the planet. Her mom actually makes beds and folds dirty towels in hotel rooms. Lily is forced to continually watch the History Channel and listen to Broadway’s Greatest Hits on road trips. Her father thinks Britney Spears is a type of imported asparagus.

Life appears to be looking up for Lily when she meets Carma Le Blanc and her incredibly cool parents, Charles and Veronique.

The LeBlancs have style and eat only imported organic food Charles and Veronique read Rolling Stone and know MTV's top ten video lists by heart. They head up Hug the Planet, a vital environmental organization. Of course Lily's totally uncool parents don't want her to associate with Carma and her family. Lily sees the LeBlanc family as her ultimate ticket to coolness. It couldn't hurt to see them on the sly or could it?

Lily B's adventures continue in Lily B. on the Brink of Love and Lily B. on the Brink of Paris.