When he finds a lost beagle in the hills behind his West Virginia home, Marty tries to hide it from his family and the dog's real owner, a mean-spirited man known to shoot deer out of season and to mistreat his dogs.

En casa de Marty Preston no sobra el dinero, así que parece imposible que él y sus hermanos tengan una mascota. Un domingo, Marty encuentra un cachorro al que decide cuidar y proteger. Para hacerlo deberá mentir y cada mentira le generará un problema mayor. Pronto Marty comprende que no siempre es fácil saber qué es lo correcto.

Disgusted that a family with three girls moves into the house across the river, nine-year-old Wally and his three brothers declare a practical joke war on the girls.

After she, her older brother, and their father move from Chicago to Maryland, Alice has trouble fitting into her new third grade class, but with the help of some new friends and her own unique outlook, she survives.

As Alice McKinley begins a new phase as a student at the University of Maryland, College Park, she experiences many changes, both expected and surprising, that lead her into a future her seventh-grade self could only have imagined.

There are, Alice decides, 272 horrible things left to happen to her in her life, based on the number of really horrible things that have happened already. She figures that out after the disaster of the talent show. And she realizes that there is no way to fend them off. But, she reasons, if you don't have a mother, maybe a sister would help. Maybe lots of sisters. A worldwide sisterhood! Sisterhood means more sympathy and less likely odds that the...

Sarah, who is very good at solving problems, tries to help her friend Peter find a pet that he and his grandmother both like.

While trying to survive seventh grade, Alice discovers that turning thirteen will make her the Woman of the House at home, so she starts a campaign to get more appreciated for taking care of her father and older brother.

The Malloy girls and the Hatford boys continue to get in trouble as they try to outdo each other in bottle racing, spelling, and baseball.

A sleepover inspires Sarah, who likes to do things differently, to choose Mexico for her "Countries of the World" presentation.