"Eight-year-old Stella finds it is not easy or fun to keep secrets. The first secret is keeping her sister, Penny, from discovering that her pet fish has died and been replaced with a new fish. The second secret involves a school assignment which Stella cannot share even with her best friend"--Provided by the publisher.

"Stella and her family have special plans to celebrate her ninth birthday but everything changes when Stella falls and breaks her leg at school"--

"Stella and her family drive to Los Angeles to attend her aunt Laura's wedding. Stella is excited to be a flower girl but things don't go as planned. She accidently sprays paint on her aunt's wedding dress and the daughter of the man marrying Aunt Laura wants to run away"--

Second-grader Stink's parents tell him he must play a sport after he gets an unsatisfactory grade in physical education, and so he masters thumb wrestling, as seen on a sports channel.

Participating in a spelling bee in the hope of winning a trip to Washington, D.C., Judy finds herself depending on her lucky penny while tackling such challenges as a nemesis and a pot-bellied pig.

Stella gets a chance to audition for her favorite television show when she meets a casting director who thinks she is perfect for the role, so she rehearses her lines until she know the part by heart, but the audition does not go as planned.

Lola is disappointed after a bout of stage fright earns her a non-speaking part in her class play, but on opening night, the curtain rises and she finds herself smack in the middle of an exasperating turn of events.

When seven-year-old Sam Graham, eager for some spending money, volunteers to look after a neighbor's chickens, the experience inspires him to get his own chicken--a special bird named Helga.

Curious is the middle-child of seven and as a budding scientist she views everything as an experiment worthy of observation--and during the week when the children are responsible for preparing dinner she comes up with a few hypotheses on family chemistry; for instance, happy families do not have younger brothers (or older sisters).

The Summer Olympics inspires Kylie Jean Carter to take gymnastics lessons, but even better than that is making a new friend, Abby, who is deaf, and starting to learn sign language.