The Science Project by Elaine Donadio

For Middle Grade readers. Eleven year old New York City boy, Nestor, is usually the one causing the problems, but ask him, and you'd get a different story. He's always in the spotlight for the wrong reasons. Nestor learns boundaries when he exhausts the patience of his friends and classmates with his incessant teasing, until they exact a plan to reinstate the relationships with a new set of rules.

Nestor's best friend, Phil, doesn't want to know him. During the class science project presentations, Kwan Min, Nestor's most recent victim, sics his toad on Nestor's pet and science project, little Hector, the cockroach. Nestor never sees this coming.

Nestor's insecurity and lack of popularity result in poor choices. He's always in the spotlight for the wrong reasons. At first, Nestor doesn't see his part in this negative reaction. In time, Nestor notices the scratches on the surface of the science table as he realizes that his...