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

Relates the surprising gifts bestowed on twelve-year-old Bob Barnhart and his family, who have recently moved to a small Illinois town in 1958, by their larger-than-life neighbor, Mrs. Dowdel.

Ivy and Bean try to make money by writing a newspaper about Pancake Court but the neighbors are not pleased to read about themselves.

Publisher Annotation: Eleven-year-old Jordie Marie Wallace has been waiting forever for someone to move in next door, so she is thrilled when Professor Reece arrives: she has a laboratory in her basement and an extraordinary dog named Baxter—who seems to understand everything Jordie says. Jordie and her younger brother T.J. begin walking Baxter and helping Professor Reese in the lab. But being lab assistants ends up being more than Jordie and T.J....

One Chinese New Year, her mother sends Goldy Luck to the pandas next door with a plate of turnip cakes, but the pandas are out and disaster follows. Includes a recipe for turnip cakes and an explanation of Chinese New Year.

Mercy Watson to the rescue: After Mercy the pig snuggles to sleep with the Watsons, all three awaken with the bed teetering on the edge of a big hole in the floor. Mercy Watson goes for a ride: Mr. Watson's usual Saturday drive in his Cadillac with his favorite pig, Mercy, turns into an adventure when an unexpected passenger shows up in the back seat and Mercy finds herself behind the wheel.

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.

Nine-year-old Julian almost died when he was born and he believes that he has a special connection to the universe because of that, and he wants to make his two moms and his sister (who turned into a black hole of discontentment when she turned fourteen) happy because he is convinced that soon he will die and travel to the dog star--but now they have moved to Maine and he resolves to also use his "uni-sense" ability to help Mr. X, their neighbor,...

When eleven-year-old Kaci interrupts burglars in the process of robbing her house, she and her nosy elderly neighbor Mrs. Banducci are kidnapped and held hostage by the desperate and ruthless criminals.

Jo Jo learns about being healthy and checks on her neighbors during a snow day when she is off from school.