e. E Charlton-Trujillo

When Lupe Lopez struts through the doors of Hector P. Garcia Elementary in sunglasses with two taped-up Number 2 pencils--drumsticks, of course--poking from her pocket, her confidence is off the charts. All day, Lupe drums on desks, tables, and chairs while Ms. Quintanilla reminds her of school rules. Lupe has her own rules: 1) Don't listen to anyone. 2) Make lots of noise. Rataplan! 3) Have fans, not friends. But with her new teacher less than starstruck,...

Fat Angie's sister was captured in Iraq, she's the resident laughingstock at school, and her therapist tells her to count instead of eat. Can a daring new girl in her life really change anything?

Wanting fans, not friends, drummer Lupe Lopez, who is determined to rock kindergarten--literally--refuses to play by the rules until a less-than-starstruck teacher and the lack of fans make her reconsider her "no friends" rule.

Sophomore year has just begun, and Angie is miserable. Her girlfriend, KC, has moved away; her only friend, Jake, is keeping his distance; and the resident bully has ramped up a vicious and targeted campaign to humiliate her. An over-the-top statue dedication planned for her sister, who died in Iraq, is almost too much to bear, and it doesn't help that her mother has placed a symbolic empty urn on their mantel. At the ceremony, a soldier hands Angie...

Fifteen-year-old Theo isn't looking for trouble, but when he and his friends witness a brutal attack on Ricky-Ricky, the kind of kid who doesn't know better than to confront the most vicious gang leader around, he's in trouble for real. And in this neighborhood, everything is at stake.