Virginia L Kroll

Linda, a little girl who lives in the city, learns about East Africa and the Masai in school, and imagines what her life might be like if she were Masai.

When Ashley postpones a homework assignment until the last minute, she is tempted to pass off an old paper of her brother's as her own.

Ryan thinks it is funny to call the slowest runner in his class "Doug the Slug, " until his older brother teases him for having a teddy bear.

Two pet rabbits sneak out of their cage at night to tidy the house and do other chores so that their owners will have more time to play with them.

A child describes teddy bears owned by other children, from Joshy's giant grizzly to the floppy bear Poppy's grandmother made from socks.

Mosquito buzzes around many different animals and hears "Vamoose" from Moose, "Oh, nuts!" from Squirrel, and "Good heavens!" from Girl, but the tables are turned when Bat arrives. Includes facts about mosquitoes.

Although the tradition is to present carp kites only to boys on Children's Day, Kimiko's parents find a way to make the day special for her.

Six different children talk with their parents about how their families came to be. Included are birth families, adoptive families, two-parent families, and single-parent families.

Anya gets a big surprise when she finds some abandonded goose eggs that she plans to use for the traditional Ukrainian pysanky for Easter. Includes instructions for making Ukrainian Easter eggs and information about the tradition.

Each member of a family writes an anonymous "I'm thankful for" note and places it in the Thanksgiving bowl, but after the family guesses who wrote each note, the bowl is accidentally left outside, where it rolls off on a year-long series of adventures.