While preparing for a role in the school play, twelve-year-old Leo finds an autobiography that his father wrote as a teenager and ponders the ways people change as they grow up. Includes the text for the play, "Rumpopo's Porch" at the end of the book (31 pages).

"Julia is very short for her age, but by the end of the summer run of The Wizard of Oz, she'll realize how big she is inside, where it counts. She hasn't ever thought of herself as a performer, but when the wonderful director of Oz casts her as a Munchkin, she begins to see herself in a new way. As Julia becomes friendly with the poised and wise Olive--one of the adults with dwarfism who've joined the production's motley crew of Munchkins--and with...

When tomboy Marty is cast as the princess in the third-grade play, she learns about improvisation, which helps her become more adaptable.

It is a cold and rainy evening when Gran gives her granddaughter something special: tickets to the ballet. Her granddaughter is reluctant to go. The weather is terrible and they have to wear fancy, uncomfortable clothes. But as the curtains rise on The Nutcracker, the girl's eyes light up as she's introduced to the magic of the theater. The bright costumes, the intricate dances, the magical music, and a new friend all combine to captivate the girl...

Because she is afraid to read an essay aloud in English class, young Patricia is invited to take Mr. Wayne's drama class where she paints sets, participates in fun exercises, and memorizes every part in the play the others are rehearsing.

Zander's play, Act Six, brings Da Vinci Academy into the spotlight, especially when LaShonda's costume designs win her an opportunity she can accept only if she is willing to leave her autistic brother and their group home behind.

Seventh-grader Sidney Camazzola plans to be the director of the Juicebox Children's Theater one day, but for now, he has a great idea--extortion--for keeping the theater open.

Maxine, with the help of an over-enthusiastic genie, makes a wish that has everyone at the Fairy Tale Reform School focusing on producing a musical rather than figuring out how to combat Rumpelstiltskin. With big-time villains Rumpelstiltskin and Alva still on the loose and the citizens of Enchantasia on high alert, things at Fairy Tale Reform School have been a little...tense. So when Maxine finds an old lamp that turns out to house an overly-enthusiastic...

Mandy knows she would be perfect for the role of George Washington in her second-grade class presidential pageant but Mandy's teacher has other casting plans. Mandy already leaps out of the shadows created by her younger siblings and she is not going to be ignored at school too.