Jo-Jo is a very unhappy donkey who carries melons to the markets of Venice, Italy, every day, until his friendship with the daughter of the Doge leads him to become a hero.
Buddy hates to write and is unhappy about having to keep a nature diary for a week until he decides to survey the night sky and discovers something weird in his neighbor's backyard that makes for a truly interesting diary.
After helping to knit and sew together the squares of a blanket to be sent to a country at war, Josie dreams of what life is like for the girl who will receive the blanket as a gift from Josie's class.
A family adopts the baby on their doorstep and enjoys bringing her up, though her teeth grow in sharp and pointed, until Dracula comes to claim her for his own.
Hugo can have the gerbil he wants, but only if he can first endure the boredom of spending seven hours--the length of time he is at school each day--in a nearly-empty room to learn how a caged animal feels.
Wendy suffers torment from the school bully for being slender and sensitive, but when she brings in her grandfather's huge snake to school it escapes and Wendy gets to prove her bravery by recovering the lost serpent.
When his kindness prevents him from triumphing in a winner-takes-all contest with the evil horseman, Long Gray Norris, young Brendan O'Donnell is whisked away to a far land where a new challenge is posed each day, but friends are there to help.
A terrible oil spill in the Arctic, a lesson about food chains, and a computer game featuring a polar bear turn into a magical adventure for Billy, whose class uses email and a fund-raiser to help rescue the Arctic animals.
Jake Juggins and his pirate band decide they need a girl on board ship to do the chores while they are busy having daring adventures, but the girl they choose has other ideas.
