By Koertge, Ronald  When a fourteen-year-old baseball player catches mononucleosis, he discovers that keeping a journal and experimenting with poetry not only helps fill the time, it also helps him deal with life, love, and loss.

By Kephart, Beth  High school sophomore Elisa is used to observing while going unnoticed except when classmates ask her to write love notes for them, but a teacher's recognition of her talent, a "client's" desire for her friendship, a love of ice skating, and her parent's marital problems draw her out of herself.

By Juby, Susan  Sixteen-year-old Alice MacLeod's life as an outcast begins to change when she experiments with being friends with different sorts of people, tries drinking alcohol and eating meat, and competes in the Miss Smithers beauty pageant.

By Haddix, Margaret Peterson  In the journal she is keeping for English class, sixteen-year-old Tish chronicles the changes in her life when her abusive father returns home after a two-year absence.

By Goldschmidt, Judy  In a weblog she sends to her best friends back in Berkeley, seventh-grader Raisin Rodriguez chronicles her successes and her more frequent humiliating failures as she attempts to make friends at her new Philadelphia school.

By Flake, Sharon  Thirteen-year-old Maleeka, uncomfortable because her skin is extremely dark, meets a new teacher with a birthmark on her face and makes some discoveries about how to love who she is and what she looks like.

By Flinn, Alex  Sent to counseling for hitting his girlfriend, Caitlin, and ordered to keep a journal, sixteen-year-old Nick recounts his relationship with Caitlin, examines his controlling behavior and anger, and describes living with his abusive father.

By DeVillers, Julia  A young woman accidentally turns in a private story from her journal instead of an English assignment and becomes a best-selling author almost overnight.

By Danziger, Paula and Ann M. Martin  Twelve-year-old best friends Elizabeth and Tara-Starr continue their friendship through letter-writing after Tara-Starr's family moves to another state.

By Carlson, Melody  Sixteen-year-old Caitlin O'Conner keeps a six-month diary in which she records the day-to-day events of her life as well as her struggles to understand herself and God's plan for her future.