Abby's vacation in Paris is almost ruined by her squabbling siblings, Eva and Isabel, until they get separated and Abby is free to explore the city on her own.
Abby invites the new girl in town, Hannah, on a week-long camping trip, but their new friendship is quickly strained by spending so much time with Abby's family.
Abby Hayes, her own life spinning out of control, is worried that she is headed for trouble when she is chosen to write an advice column for her fifth-grade newspaper.
Young Abby, miserable while her best friend, Jessica, is away, cannot seem to do anything right, messing up her pal's baby-sitting job and falling into other disasters.
Fifth-grader Abby Hayes turns to her best friend Hannah for help when their teacher has to go tend to her sick mother and leaves Abby in charge of the class's holiday charity gift project.
After Abby bakes some cookies that everyone likes, she decides to hold a bakesale at school to raise money for writing camp, but when she learns that it is against school rules, she wonders if she'll be allowed.
Now that she's in sixth grade, Abby's discovering new friends and new talents. She's also discovering a major new interest: a boy in the seventh grade.
