Twins Leah and Dexter are always quarreling until the day they are sent to borrow eggs from their lonely neighbor, Ms. Marvis, who tells them about the Polish doughnuts she made when she was younger.

Seven fifth-graders at Snow Hill School in Connecticut relate how their lives are changed for the better by "rookie teacher" Mr. Terupt.

Amy is determined to make a perfect dumpling like her parents and grandmother do, but hers are always too empty, too full, or not pinched together properly.

"When baby says 'bah!' the rest of the family scrambles to bring him balls and books and bows and bottles, sheep and baby dolls and blankets and even a brother! But it turns out that all along, the baby was just trying to say 'bye-bye'"--

"Rebecca Rubin is growing up in the bustling city of New York in 1914. She dreams of being a star on the silver screen, but her performance this year is on the stage at school. She has to share the spotlight with her cousin Ana, though, and Rebecca fears the audience will laugh instead of applaud. Will Ana hurt or help the performance? Then, being included in a special plan fills Rebecca with joy. But what act of kindness teaches her the true meaning...

Fourteen-year-old Kevin is a hard worker, so when his income is cut off he begins a series of businesses, from poker games to selling snacks, earning money to take a girl to a dance, but his partners soon tire of his methods.

"When Stanley's Mom has to go away for work, Stanley decides to take off, too--all the way to Mars. Can the Martian who takes his place on Earth get by in Stanley's family even in Mom's absence?"--

When Baby cries, her family and neighbors try unsuccessfully to stop her tears and get her back to sleep, but Roy, the old retriever, knows that Baby needs her toy sheep for a good night.

The four Penderwick sisters are faced with the unimaginable prospect of their widowed father dating, and they hatch a plot to stop him.

A young black girl relates the daily events of her family's migrant life in the cotton fields of central California.