Hilary McKay

Seven-year-old Lulu and her cousin think their vacation house is the most perfect place ever until they find a trouble-prone, stray dog living on the beach.

When Robin Brogan comes down with chicken pox, he doesn't think it's really so terrible. After all, it gets him out of acting in the school play. And since his best friend Dan also has spots, they are staying together at Robin's house in England overlooking the ocean. When the hours begin to drag, Robin's mother tells stories about a wonderful summer she spent in their shoreline house. Bit by bit, the boys learn of a strange girl who mysteriously...

After twelve-year-old Binny hides and then loses the money she found in the ATM, she asks her best frenemy Gareth to help her find the missing money so she can return it to the bank without attracting the notice of her neighbor, whom Binny believes is a witch putting spells on Binny and her family.

The four Conroy sisters spend a wild summer at the seaside with Big Grandma, who tries to break them of their reading habit by substituting fresh air and hard work for books and gets unexpected results.

Relates what becomes of Ermengarde and the other girls left behind at Miss Minchin's School after Sara Crewe leaves to live with her guardian, the Indian gentleman.

In 1902 England, Clarry and Peter struggle with the challenges of living with an indifferent father, but the summers they spend in Cornwall with their grandparents and cousin Rupert provide much needed comfort, and in the years that follow Clarry looks back on those leisurely days to help her cope with the trying times of World War I and its aftermath.

"When a mysterious bag is left on Lulu's doorstep, the last thing her grandmother expects to be in it is a cat--a huge, neon orange cat. But Lulu knows this cat doesn't mean any harm and in fact it needs a lovely new home"--

Although she is afraid, Sophie is determined to confront the dragon that she thinks she hears downstairs at night.