When sixth-grader Mac discovers several words of his classroom copy of Jane Yolen's The Devil's Arithmetic are blacked out he is outraged, so he, his friends, and his eccentric family set out to do something about the censorship imposed by one teacher and the school board.

Ramona is very serious about beach volleyball, and she is frustrated with her summer league team--but when she learns that a plastics company is going to build a factory in their park, she realizes that it will take the whole team to try and save their court.

Six years ago, Moss Jefferies' father was murdered by an Oakland police officer. Along with losing a parent, the media's vilification of his father and lack of accountability has left Moss with near crippling panic attacks. Now, in his sophomore year of high school, Moss and his fellow classmates find themselves increasingly treated like criminals in their own school. New rules. Random locker searches. Constant intimidation and Oakland Police Department...

Gregor Maravilla wants to feed starving children, so going to a new summer camp, Camp Save the World, for teen activists sounds like a great idea; but the various causes the teens are representing are so varied and frankly, strange, (Boycott Camp, Eat Dirt are just two) that it is hard to get a handle on what is going on--and as the saying goes, no good deed goes unpunished.