Just once, Sam wants to be the best on a special day at school, but on "Take Your Octopus to School Day," his pet, Thurgood, surprises even him.

"Two neighbors try to put the 'win' in winter. Determined to unseat Steve Finch's reign as the town's holiday-season king, Buddy Hall plasters his house with so many decorative lights that it'll be visible from space! When their wives bond, and their kids follow suit, the two men only escalate their rivalry -- and their decorating"--Container.

"For one month every year, five highly competitive friends hit the ground running in a no-holds-barred game of tag they've been playing since the first grade--risking their necks, their jobs and their relationships to take each other down with the battle cry, 'You're It!' This year, the game coincides with the wedding of their only undefeated player, which should finally make him an easy target. But he knows they're coming...and he's ready"--Container....

"Charlie Dean is a style-obsessed girl who eats, sleeps, and breathes fashion. John Thomas-Smith is a boy who forges metal sculptures in his garage and couldn't care less about clothes. Both are gunning for a scholarship to the private art high school that could make all their dreams come true. Whoever wins the fashion competition will win the scholarship-and only one can win. Told in the alternating voices of Charlie's and John's journals, this...

"Amy hurt her knee in a race. Now she's back on the team, but will have to get her confidence back in order to compete"--Unedited summary from book.

Kameeka yearns to continue her hula hooping competition with her rival, Jamara, rather than help prepare for Miz Adeline's birthday party, and "the itch" almost ruins the party before the girls learn who the real winner is.

When their two worlds collide in seventh grade, fraternal twins and opposites Owen and Russell find themselves in direct competition at school, on the court, and at home.

Aza Wu knows that casting magic can kill--it killed her sister--but she needs money desperately to pay off Saint Willow, who controls her sector of Lotusland, and save the family teahouse, so she secretly enters an underground casting tournament--and finds herself competing against other castors with "full magic," and where even victory could cause her to lose her freedom, her magic, and her life.

Their contest to decide who is the champion of champions almost has disastrous consequences for Gander and Duck.

Jason never turns down a dare, but when his classmates challenge him to a BMX competition Jason must learn to ride a BMX bike or this dare will be his last.