Queen Esther & the Second Graders of Doom — Allie Pleiter

Teaching Sunday school at her brother's church in the Bay area was supposed to help former champion athlete Esther "Essie" Walker understand boys -- the better to raise her newborn son as a stellar example of manhood. Fat chance! Enter the eight-year-old male psyche: awful jokes, disrespectful behavior and general mayhem. Essie, the queen of control, finds herself in a brand-new world of chaos.

The pressure builds on all fronts -- Sunday school class, husband's job, church pageant, aging parents, finances, friends secretly battling illnesses -- until Queen Esther has one royal meltdown. God, it seems, has makeover plans for Essie's competitive nature. Her characteristic control is in very short supply as she gains a better understanding of the nature of imperfection, the value of motherhood and the virtues of a messy but connected life.