A radio contest, the impending visit of actor Sinker O. Sailor to their small Vermont town, and rumors of a black pearl in Wet Lake spur Soup and Rob on to a spectacular nautical disaster.
Decidedly unenthusiastic about spending part of her summer vacation with her grandparents, twelve-year-old Samantha is particularly upset by her prickly grandfather's secretive behavior and decides to find out what he is hiding.
After twelve-year-old Victoria wins a science contest that enables her to travel to Antarctica, she circumvents her disreputable sponsor and realizes her dream of visiting a South Pole telescope which allows astronomers to see back in time.
Eleven-year-old Sam Bamford's on-line chess pal is in New York to play in a tournament, but Sam's sister and cousin are wary because Vlad has pointy teeth, comes from Romania, and admits to keeping secrets.
Sarah Simmons dreams of becoming a writer like her idol, romance novelist Antonia DeMarco, but when Mom stops her from entering a writing contest, the twelve-year-old resorts to subterfuge.
Gentle John Applefeller enters his trampoline-size apple pancake against sly Sylvester Sweet's double-chocolate-fudge-raspberry-coconut-lime swirl in the Worldwide Dessert Contest.
Fifteen-year-old Princess Meg uses magic and her wits to rescue a baby dragon and escape the unwanted attentions of princes hoping to gain her hand in marriage through a contest arranged by her father, the king.
Wiglaf and his friends Angus and Erica find themselves teamed with the obnoxious Bragwort to represent the Dragon Slayers' Academy in an unevenly matched contest at the All-Schools Brain-Power Tournament.
Two high school rivals compete in a prestigious singing competition while reflecting on the events that turned them from close friends to enemies the year before.
