Jason Pielak

Andrea's best friend moves to California. She decides to try and earn enough money for an airplane ticket to visit her friend. But babysitting doesn't pay much, and dogsitting becomes a liability when her charges wreak havoc at the Fernfield summer festival. The boy next door, whose love for volleyball, could be Andrea's ticket to San Diego. In the meantime, Buddy is dognapped and then coerced into nabbing a prized diamond for some bad guys. Buddy...

With her older brother, Josh, off at college, and her yuppie parents obsessed with the new baby, young Andrea joins the junior high baseball team to escape the tedium of her home life. She's not very good, but luckily her sports-inclined golden retriever, Buddy, is a natural. Buddy also makes the team and becomes the star player. When the team gets into the championship game, a pair of zany scientists traveling in a laboratory inside a mobile home...