When Sherwood Smith was eight years old, a girl named Clair walked into her dreams, bringing hints of a world where girls could adventure, live on their own, and best of all, didn't have to grow up. Clair traveled about looking for girls who needed a home. She even came to Earth, where she found CJ, who did not fit. CJ found herself not only taken to another world to live, but she became the princess—Clair's "left hand splat." One of her jobs as princess was to write down their records. Another was to serve as leader for the girls when Clair was busy learning to become queen. The girls had jobs too, as they discovered villains who thought it their business to take a kingdom away from a mere girl. From the shadowy Kwenz, a powerful mage with a very wicked past, to the usurper Glotulae and her son Prince Jonnicake, who in their ridiculous way were just as determined to boot Clair out, there were plenty of chances for adventure. And mystery, like why did kids from other times and worlds show up every now and then? These are the early stories—how Clair found her gang of girls, and how "the M girls" developed the fine art of the Duel to the Pie.

"I am Princess Cherene Jennet Sherwood of Mearsies Heili, hater of evil, foe to all villains, and wielder of the prune pie of justice!" That's how CJ Sherwood introduces herself when she lands into her craziest adventure yet. In this, the second volume of CJ's records, she and her gang of friends gathered around the thirteen year old queen, Clair Sherwood, find themselves beset by magical spells and various villains. They still manage to have fun in the underground hideout in the middle of Mearsies Heili's woodland. CJ loves life with "the M girls" — so she is completely unprepared to be taken away and put in a silken prison in order to forget being a princess. As CJ uses her brains and imagination to get out of trouble, she has to think about what being a princess really means. She also discovers that there are things even tougher to deal with than terrible enchantments, sinister shadows, and lurking villains: teenage boys.

If you have a hankering to experience the prune pie of justice, ask CJ or her gang of girls if they want to Save the World. The Mearsiean girls around thirteen-year-old Queen Clair prefer their villains silly, their throwing pies gloppy, and their adventures fun. But what happens when you’ve gained a reputation for successfully outwitting villains twice your age and experience? Recruitment whether you like it or not, is what. By a villain who thinks he is doing the world a favor by taking it over and reorganizing it. He’s got your friends depending on you, he’s got your queen slated for assassination. And he wants to make you his heir. CJ faces her toughest challenge yet. Her heroic thought? If all there is to save the world is me... POOR WORLD!

First written when Sherwood Smith was a teen, the series called CJ’s Notebooks feature a gang of girls around thirteen-year-old Queen Clair of Mearsies Heili. The M girls, as they come to be known, prefer their villains silly, their throwing pies gloppy, and their adventures fun. But villains don’t ask first if the girls want to be dragged into dangerous escapades, so they’ve had more than their share. Sometimes they are not the center of the dangerous escapades. Hunt Across Worlds, a prelude to Fleeing Peace, is about two kids from Earth who discover a boy from another world being kept prisoner. When they rescue him, they end up having to cross the USA before being blasted by magic to Mearsies Heili, where they meet a sailor girl who’s been stuck in charge of a Mysterious Magical Object. CJ and the gang try to come to the rescue, discovering that being on the edge of big events can lead to bigger questions; this one leads directly into Everon.