When a new principal threatens to close the school library, Jamie Grimm tries to save the day by teaching a comedy class for his fellow students.

"Rafe and Jimmy, two misunderstood "troublemakers", are finally up to something good. They're in charge of a huge celebration of books and reading -- but when a small issue snowballs into a big problem that threatens to derail the whole event, they need to work fast to keep things on track."--

"Natalie spends a lot of time caring for abused Eleven when she should be practicing barrel racing with Apocalypse"--

"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"--

Rafe Khatchadorian is horrified that because of a missed science assignment he has to go to summer school; but instead of three weeks in a school room he finds himself a volunteer at Bushytail animal refuge, which is really hard, smelly work--and somehow he needs to use the experience (and the help of a girl he meets there) to produce a first class science report.

Sometimes middle school feels like a dangerous mission in the cold, unforgiving tundra. Sometimes it literally is. Will Rafe survive his most (frost)biting adventure yet?
 
Things heat up at Hills Village Middle School when Rafe gets an invitation from Dr. Daria Deerwin to join a research study on polar bears. How many times in life do you get a chance to come face‑to‑face with a real polar...