Maple's Formula for Victory

Perfect for fans of Dork Diaries and Emmie & Friends, this second book in a diary-style illustrated middle grade series follows an anxious, science-minded sixth grader into the high-stakes world of middle school track.

Sixth-grader Maple has received absolutely devastating, world-shaking news: her health class fitness test has scored her at a fifth-grade level. That’s a whole grade level below where she should be. Having all her life been an overachiever—and fitness being an extremely important part of her twenty-year plan to become an astronaut like her hero Jackie Grand—Maple knows she has to fix this ASAP.

Maple and Lada decide to join the track team to improve their fitness scores, but they encounter new (and frankly unpleasant) variables like changing in locker rooms and periods. And when it turns out Lada is good at track, and her competitive spirit starts to change her, Maple is sent into a tailspin over her own performance and what it means if she can’t—literally and figuratively—keep up with her classmates.

Kate McMillan grew up in Houston, Texas, illustrating and writing stories in the world’s tiniest font. She studied architecture at Yale and boatbuilding in Norway before making her way to Los Angeles to start a career as a concept artist in animation. She has worked for studios including DreamWorks and Disney TV, where she gets to make up worlds every day. In her free time, she enjoys building furniture, scouring the sidewalks of LA for scraps to build said furniture, and drawing wobbly buildings that look like they might fall down.

Ruthie Prillaman is a writer and musician from Potomac, Maryland. After a childhood full of reading books and playing in extremely niche rock bands, Ruthie studied English at Yale and received her MFA in screenwriting from University of Southern California. Since completing her studies, her creative career has spanned theater, documentary, classical music, opera, and film. She currently lives in Los Angeles where she writes for television. Outside of work, she enjoys sewing new clothes, writing music with her brother, and cooking Hungarian goulash in her traditional goulash pot.