Ann M. Martin

Karen is having a bad-luck day. Her favorite jeans are missing, there's no prize in the cereal box, and Boo-Boo the cat runs away. Will this be her worst day ever?

The summer that Hattie turns twelve, she meets the childlike uncle she never knew and becomes friends with a girl who works at the carnival that comes to Hattie's small town. Twelve-year-old Hattie learns that living life fully means facing both the good times and the bad upon the closing of her Uncle Adam's "school"- an institution for the mentally disabled.

Kristy's family has a new Labrador retriever puppy who is being trained to be a guide dog for the blind.

In parallel stories, Bone, an orphaned dog, finds and loses a series of homes, Molly, a family pet, helps Charlie through the grief and other after-effects of his brother's death, and lonely Henry pleads for a dog of his own.

Karen, Nancy, and Hannie, the Three Musketeers, share fun and adventure, as well as anxious moments at pony camp.