King the golden retriever struggles to communicate with his human, Kayla, as both try to clear Thor of having trashed Mr. Gary's yard.

Karen Brewer's imagination gets the best of her when she decides that her neighbor, Mrs. Porter -- who has wild gray hair, wears black robes, and has a garden full of mysterious herbs -- must be a witch.

Angry that her father has left, twelve-year-old Alice swears that she will live in her family's old Renaissance tent until he agrees to return; but after she meets her mute four-year-old neighbor Piper she finds herself becoming involved in the child's life -- and when she hears the little girl speak a word for the first time in years she sets out to prove to Piper's parents that the dismal diagnosis they received for their daughter may be all wrong....

When lonely Ravani Foster discovers his new friend Virginia and her six mysterious runaway companions are in danger, he must fight to keep them safe, or lose the only person who has ever understood him. In the dead of night, a truck arrives in Slaughterville, a small town curiously named after its windowless slaughterhouse. Seven mysterious kids with suitcases step out of the vehicle and into an abandoned home on a dead-end street, looking over their...

A neighborhood comes together to help a kitten without a home.

Introducing Nate Gadol, a new larger-than-life holiday hero who brings Hanukkah wonder and generosity to all those in need. He is a generous spirit whose magic can make things last exactly as long an they're needed. When the Glaser family immigrates to the United States, their first Hanukkah looks like it will be a meager one. And their neighbors are struggling too, with money scarce and Christmas around the corner. Even Santa's spirits are running...

Sophia knits a special hat for her elderly neighbor and knitting teacher, Mrs. Goldman.

Nine-year-old Sparrow Robinson blames herself for her elderly neighbor's accident, so she promises to take care of Mrs. LaRose's seven cats, all while trying to adjust to a new school--but things become complicated when she has to find new homes for all of the cats plus some unexpected kittens.

Emotionally crippled by his obsessive-compulsive disorder, teenager Matthew Corbin rarely leaves his room on a cul-de-sac in London, and he passes the day observing and writing down his neighbors doings from his window--but when a toddler staying next door disappears Matt is the key to solving a mystery and possibly saving a child's life...if he can manage to expose himself, and his secret guilt to the outside world.

This fun-filled collection of stories, each of which can be read aloud in five minutes, is the ticket to Busytown, where kids will meet such friendly characters as Lowly Worm, Huckle Cat, Sergeant Murphy and others.